Homestar Saga

Chapter 100: Crystal Communion

Yvian gazed out the viewports as the Encounter descended. New Pixa lay spread out before her in blues and greens and browns. A whole planet, teeming with life and water and fresh air. It took her breath away sometimes. Even now, she felt a swell of pride that she'd won such a place for her people.

As beautiful as the landscape was, City 43 was even more majestic. Nestled between forests and plains, the city formed a many pointed star over two hundred kilometers across. Buildings and streets and wide open spaces, all made of brilliant crystal, a city of glass reflecting the light of the Homestar. Buildings rose in geometric pattern. Prisms, then pyramids, then multifaceted spheres, then an open space, and the pattern would repeat. The buildings grew in size as they approached the center of the city, reaching over five hundred meters in height before the wide expanse that contained the central Spire.

The Spire dwarfed the rest of the city, a three kilometer prism piercing the sky. The top of it was often obscured by cloud cover, but the day was clear, and Yvian could see it in all it's glory. A glance told her Lissa was also staring at the sight. Yvian hoped her sister felt the same stirrings of wonder and pride.

Mims didn't so much as glance out the viewport.

A single crystal ship was parked near the Spire. The Skygem. Yvian had rescued it from a mostly derelict Crystal Mother. The Lucendian ship was made of the same crystal as City 43. It took the shape of a long pyramid laying on its side, with a shorter pyramid attached to it's base. At one hundred meters in length, it was roughly the same size as the Random Encounter.

Yvian had been gifted an implant that let her communicate with the crystal ship. Skygem didn't think like a person, but she was very much a living being. Yvian's implant allowed her to feel what the ship felt, and Skygem had been lonely on the shipyard. That's why Yvian had brought her to City 43. The city was lonely, too, and Yvian hoped the two of them would be able to comfort each other.

"Alright Yvian," the Captain deftly landed the Encounter next to the crystal ship. "Grab the Skygem and let's head back."

Yvain stood. "I need to talk to Shard first." Shard was the being that lived in City 43. She'd been a Lucendian once, a person like Yvian, but her mind had been trapped in the crystal of the city. As far as Yvian knew, she was the last sane Lucendian member of her kind. "Let her know what's going on."

Mims hesitated, then gave a nod. "Make it quick. And ask her not to use a Pulse unless she absolutely has to."

The Pulse was the Lucendian's greatest weapon. The crystal that made up the city could release some kind of energy. Despite numerous tests, Lissa hadn't found a way to classify or even detect it directly. Whatever it was, the Pulse disrupted technology. Lucendian cities and ships could broadcast a low yield version in a wide radius, disrupting computers and sensitive equipment.

The crystals could also flare out a full Pulse. A full power blast would cause a violent reaction in all tech, damaging and destroying anything that was turned on along with every power supply in it's range. If Shard fired a Pulse, she'd disable every Peacekeeper on the planet and cripple every piece of equipment within ten thousand kilometers of New Pixa. She would also die, unless she was immediately given more energy to feed on.

"I will," Yvian promised. "Twenty minutes." She jogged down to the airlock and let herself out.

Once she was off the ship, Yvian didn't waste time with walking. She activated her jetpack and shot straight through the Spire's entrance. The light of the Homestar shimmered through the crystal walls, illuminating a vast space. There were doorways leading to stairs scattered on the edges of the main hall, but Yvian only had eyes for the dais in the center.