Aside from my complete certainty that Midnight was alive, I had little feedback beyond that. Actually, I had been much closer during the mission on Bunvorix but I was focused on other things at the time. Any potential distress could have simply been a reflection of how he felt about what I was supposed to be doing. Now my connection to Midnight was distant.

  I wanted to go support him immediately, but I barely had any mana left so it was better to rest. I did send him a message, though. Not with Sending, but just through the embassy. The reply was brief but encouraging. “Busy at the moment, but things are going well here.”

  So I waited. The section of Celmoth Midnight was planning to frequent was currently a very different time zone- the days didn’t match up between the planets to begin with, but they were particularly divergent at the moment. But that didn’t stop me from staying awake to wait for him.

  While meditating to recover mana, of course. I had a high enough maximum mana that I could spend over a day recovering even with the high free mana levels of Earth. Meditation could cut that in half, or better. If nothing else, I wanted to be in positive mana as soon as possible.

  Midnight arrived back on Earth feeling ragged. When he got back to our apartment complex I met him in the hall where he gave only a short explanation before going to collapse in his room. “Things went pretty well. Bunvorixians teleported in with those supers and snagged Spot.”

  I wasn’t sure how that was ‘going well’, but even his adaptive suit looked tired as it formed a hand to open the door. I silently noted that it looked a lot more like a humanoid hand now instead of a mechanical grasper. Still made out of weird silvery material, but much less symmetrical.

  -----

  I woke up before Midnight, so I distracted myself by heading over to engage in some other work. Specifically, casting Translate for Extra. We had a number of Bunvorixians to communicate with, and my magic was significantly better than most of the tech they had for it- though their language models were catching up with more exposure to Bunvorixians.

  I wasn’t quite sure how, but we’d ended up bringing some guards back with us. Zeb was helping interrogate them.

  “I’ll never turn!” said the Bunvorixian Zeb was interrogating. “Nothing you can do will-”

  “We have treats.”

  “Don’t think you can bribe me!” A long pause. “What kind, though?”

  “All kinds! You should try this jerky.”

  I finally got an angle to see into the room- through one of those one-way mirrors. The Bunvorixian’s head was turning back and forth as Zeb waved a piece of jerky with her collar graspers. Probably much more sanitary than with her mouth, and Zeb would probably just eat the jerky.

  “Well, I’m not going to tell you anything even if you give that to me,” the shaggy furred Bunvorixian said, tail down.

  “Gotta risk the attempt,” Zeb said, handing it over.

  The canine couldn’t resist, and their tail betrayed their joy. Zeb also ate some jerky.

  Then one of Zeb’s squirrels chittered at the Bunvorixian. They didn’t really speak a language, so Translate wouldn’t help. It was the classic ‘good cop, squirrel cop’ routine.

  “... I didn’t even like Baynard anyway,” the Bunvorixian said. “What did you want to ask?”

  “Nothing! I just wanted to be friends.”

  “I saw you threaten the warden. He almost wet the floor!”

  Zeb nodded. “I was imagining he was my least favorite superior officer.”

  “Oh! You were military?”

  It seemed like things were going pretty well there. Hopefully the resistance would get another few good members soon. But there was still the actual Warden to deal with.

  “... is this kibble? I demand food befitting my station!”

  The human woman feeding him probably couldn’t understand what he was saying. “Yeah, yeah, go lodge a complaint with the authorities. It has all the nutrients and macros you need.” Then she spotted me. “Ah, Mage! This guy won’t shut up, but it seems he hasn’t been saying anything useful.”

  “You there! Green monkey! This food is inadequate, just like your medical treatment! I shall see that fat woman’s license pulled!”

  I stepped closer to the cage. And closer. I towered over any dog- even the big ones like Spot- but this fellow wasn’t a big dog. “You’re the fat one, Barnyard. Just because people are heavier than you doesn’t mean anything. Did you even pass the fitness exams?”

  “W- of course I did! With flying colors!”

  “Really?” I tilted my head. “How many people did you have to bribe?”

  “T-that’s none of your business, green ape! Release me immediately or you’ll suffer retribution!”

  “Spot’s execution was scheduled for yesterday. You know, that one guy. What do you call him… General Sporticus?” I cast the weakest Enlarge spell to just barely increase my height for better menacing. “You think you’ll end up better off?”

  “I’m not some random general. I was in charge of very important prisoners!”

  “All of whom escaped with us. You know those portals I can make? I could send you to literal hell.”

  Probably not, actually. I’d only witnessed Pandemonium or something that fit the description, and this guy didn’t have any mana so he probably couldn’t enter that dimension to begin with. Pandemonium wasn’t one of the hells, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t just as bad. It was more of an academic difference.

  “Anyway, I’m here to tell you that if you snitch on your least favorite superiors we can lighten your sentence.”

  “As if I would-”

  “They wouldn’t know it was you,” I continued. “And cooperation can earn better treatment. Like a second pillow and blanket.”

  To be clear, the ones he had were already bigger than him. Extra always provided adequate conditions, and Bunvorixians had fur anyway. He’d probably be fine on cold cement for a while. But Barnyard probably couldn’t live without his climate controlled uniform.

  The reason the other guy got treats already was partly because it was Zeb, but also due to the hierarchy the Bunvorixians had. They had effectively declared war on Earth, so treating their officers like friends wasn’t something people were interested in. But we’d already seen enough engineers and regular soldiers turn against them once given the slightest education.

  While the propaganda the Bunvorixian government put out was pervasive, it seemed as if they weren’t very good at brainwashing. It was just that most of their citizens had literally never had access to any other information. Once given an alternate source of information, many of them cracked instantly. Others were loyal to the government cult, though. They would take longer.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  -----

  Zorphax found me a short time later. “Didn’t expect to see you active here. You were in a big off-world mission yesterday.”

  “I’m just distracting myself while I wait for Midnight to wake up and tell me how his stuff went,” I commented.

  “Ah. Then you wouldn’t be interested in some real work? We need someone to check in on Raglubithex.” His face twitched. It was tough to just say it once. I fully understood.

  “It’s good to trade off,” I said. “Have you actually managed anything since last time?”

  Zorphax made a face. “How should I say it… we managed to direct Raglubithex to somewhere it could have maximum freedom while still being monitored. At the same time, people are kept safe.”

  “Where is that?” I asked.

  Zorphax sighed. “The sewers. Fortunately- in this case- Raglubithex likely doesn’t share any sensory components with us. Or potential diseases. Or dimensionality, probably.”

  “I guess that’s safe,” I said. “But what about heroes chasing after people and stuff?”

  “Officially, the area is marked as unstable. Those with sufficient clearance can get the full story. It’s actually quite helpful that the number of mutant creatures in the area is lower now.”

  “Like giant rats and stuff?”

  “Plus random experiments mad scientists release down there. Anyway, we do need you to check in to make sure things are fine. We’ve had some visual confirmations. About half the cameras still work. Once they get the wrong angle though…” Zorphax shook his head. “It’s likely best that all the files get corrupted.”

  “I can head over now,” I said. “Are you coming?”

  “Can’t send you in alone. Even if you’d probably be fine.”

  -----

  Most of the ‘sewers’ didn’t actually have direct access to anything terrible. It was just directly adjacent to a lot of gross stuff, and there wasn’t much good drainage. With all the monsters and random things dying, the general vibe wasn’t great. My suit would warn me if the air quality dropped too sharply, though.

  Zorphax seemed to know where we were going, so we walked around without issue. Saw a couple sewer crocs, but nothing too problematic.

  We did run into Rodentia, though. As we were passing by a turn, Rodentia was looking from the opposite end as she walked along with a swarm of robo-rats. Maybe some organic ones, too.

  I pointed ahead of us. “Stay out of that section.”

  The already exaggerated eyes on her mask rolled. “I know. It’s a fine buffer zone, aside from scaring my little babies.”

  Then we continued down our respective hallways. I would still have to report the sighting, but Zorphax had nothing to do with the situation. It was extremely likely that Rodentia was a homegrown human and she didn’t do anything with aliens or portals, so she was pretty well out of Extra’s domain. Neither of us needed to get into a pointless fight down here.

  Last time, Extra had put Raglubithex into a small room. That had probably been a mistake, because it had been really good at blocking the whole terror thing Raglubithex had going. Walking into it from a distance was a lot more reasonable than suddenly having it all wash over you. It might actually build up in small areas too.

  I did still cast Mental Freedom on myself and Zorphax, as it slowly worsened during our approach. I also didn’t need to give Midnight nightmares.

  Raglubithex was waiting for us.

  “Rapid remembrance,” it commented. “Turlough Turlough.”

  “Good greetings, Raglubithex Raglubithex. Content circumstances?”

  “Pleasant pastures. Serene solitude.”

  It was good for me to focus on other communication to keep my head clear, so I summarized for Zorphax where I could. “It’s fine here alone. More than fine, I think.” I cleared my throat. “Repeat restrictions?”

  “Taper terror,” Raglubithex Raglubithex agreed.

  I cast the inverted Mental Freedom to cut off the aura, at least for the moment. It was an immediate relief, ominous oppression departing without delay.

  Without the negative mental influence, looking at Raglubithex was just weird. Bubbling blood, transparent tubes. All sorts of weird bits.

  “What else do we need to know?” I asked Zorphax.

  “... Can he use a phone?” Zorphax held one out to me.

  The significantly overcharged Translation spell I was using was hard on my body. Being aware of that, I had prepared with Enhance Body. I couldn’t rely too much on that for my safety because bodily damage might be a symptom, but I certainly felt more functional at the moment.

  “Tactile technology,” I attempted to explain. “Common communication. Digital distance diminishes danger.” Did two doubles mean I was getting better at the language or was I veering into risky territory? “Attempt access?”

  Raglubithex took the phone from my hand. I couldn’t quite see with what. Maybe a touch of telekinesis, but I had seen limbs reaching out so it might be extradimensional bits that simply resembled telekinesis. “Gentle gesture,” Raglubithex Raglubithex said. “Unfamiliar unit.”

  Yeah, our method of communication was probably pretty alien to Raglubithex as well. Still, it didn’t need to be concerned about breaking a phone. Probably.

  “Durable device,” I commented, tapping mine against the wall. “Moderate movement. Functional facets?”

  I could sort of make out the screen, and it seemed that Raglubithex’s ‘skin’ conducted electricity to some extent so it worked. We probably should have gone with physical buttons, but the larger screen seemed relevant to Zorphax. The actual device was relatively cheap, though. It wouldn’t be able to play the latest games or create fancy projections, but it would text and call.

  “Correct contact?” Raglubithex asked, holding it up. Well, I hadn’t really explained what the point was.

  I moved closer with my phone. “Simple syntax, simply swipe, see screen, speak safely.” Oh no it doubled again. “We have to flee forthwith,” I commented to Zorphax.

  “Run?” he tensed.

  “... go soon,” I rephrased my words. “Not that urgent.” One more thing. “Comprehend clicks?”

  Raglubithex Raglubithex showed me entering the phone app, typing in words, and sending a message. Well, ‘words’. That was crazy, because I hadn’t even really said anything about all that. I wanted to teach it, but I kind of thought I’d only gotten to… swiping and the idea that we could communicate.

  “Clear conversation?” Raglubithex asked.

  “Practice preferred,” I said. “Return regularly. Manifest magic.” I should have tried to use Translate on Raglubithex. However, it might also hurt for it to communicate in English, so we could do that next time.

  “Goodbye gesture,” Raglubithex said. And then presumably performed. Even if Translation theoretically applied to physical movements, it was hard to tell what I was picking up from where.

  “Short separation,” I said finally, promising to meet again soon. Raglubithex Raglubithex Raglubithex Raglubithex helpfully moved in the opposite direction as we left.

  -----

  I was dizzy when we got to the surface. “Temporal total?” I shook my head, but that hurt. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy that it was more my neck muscles than head that hurt, though. “How long was I talking?”

  “Six or s- maybe eight minutes max,” Zorphax Zorphax said.

  “You don’t have to avoid it when it’s normal,” I pointed out. “Enhance Body really helped. Anyway uh, as you can probably see from the message you got… I need to go back for further lessons.”

  Zorphax looked at the garbled letters, numbers, and symbols. “Yeah. Even so, I’ll have some analysts check this to see if it’s got any meaning. Just in case. You sure you want to go back?”

  No. “Not completely. But I don’t dislike it. Even if Raglubithex… isn’t safe.”

  “Some heroes would want to annihilate it.”

  I snorted. “Hah. Good luck to them, I guess.”

  Zorphax frowned. “Would you be fine with Raglubithex… being removed?”

  I shook my head. “It’s innocent. I merely meant to wish them luck with entering a decent afterlife.”

  Zorphax stroked his chin. “You think that’s how it would turn out?”

  “You know that’s all passive. Can you imagine hostility?”

  “I’d rather not.”

  “Right? Anyway, Midnight’s awake so I have to go talk to him about interstellar affairs.”

  “Ask him to make sure we get a report too. It doesn’t have to come from him, though.”