“So you do purifications?”
“We do, yes.”
“Huh…”
Most of the meeting so far had been about combatting Corruption, but as Stormshade described how he had nearly accidentally been corrupted when an inky black monster had attacked his ship directly, the conversation had moved on to how to get rid of any infections.
“So what is your process of removal, Flamebearer?” Pentaflame asked. “Our troops are all provided with omnishell suits, but the rougher strains still sometimes pierce them and break through. While deaths have been minimal over the last year-string, we often just amputate the limb, put them in recovery and move on.”
Retvik was pretty glad that the conversation had changed to something he was now very familiar enough, and he quickly began to explain.
“We have a series of rules that we follow. Isolate, remove, decontaminate, recover. Firstly, we isolate the patient and the corruption inside them. This means placing them in a pre-prepared room, strapping them down, using a tourniquet and localized high temperatures to minimize spread…”
“Do you amputate limbs?” Windchaser interrupted. “We often do, but us Matanaiai can somewhat make new limbs for ourselves.”
“It depends on the patient. Someone like, for example, a Matanaiai, or perhaps a Voidborn or a Life Goddess, if they can regrow the arm, they can choose to just have us do that, and we can medically and telepathically sedate them to reduce pain and trauma. But we generally only resort to amputations if our flame, acid, amalgam and mixed methods all fail.”
“And what do each of those methods entail?” Permafrost asked.
“The patient is anaesthetized and we manually remove the corruption, normally by killing the corruption with high heats or acid. We have developed a very, very localized method of using high heats to disintegrate the corruption while it is inside the body, vaporizing it and allowing the body’s immune system to destroy any dead particles. Since we have a medical expert, two Toxes and a Life Goddess on our team, we can easily repair any major damage to internal organs. Once the corruption is removed, both patients and workers are sent to separate decontamination showers, and once an all-clear has been given, the patient is put to one side in a recovery bay until they are fit again.”
“What is the difference between amalgam and mixed methods then?”
Retvik hesitated for a moment. “Well, there are three specific things that are almost guaranteed to kill corruption are acid, fire and, for some reason, the blood of a Synaisthyn. We have-”
“What is a Synaisthyn?” Pentaflame interrupted. “We’ve travelled pretty far and wide, but this is the first time we have heard that term.”
“It is… what we call an Amalgam Mimic.”
“But…” Pentaflame looked confused. “You said your Amalgam Mimic trio member was trapped inside a universe!”
Retvik frowned. “Well, uh, we found another one. And they have diligently been allowing us to use their blood for routine operations. It is incredibly effective.”
“I sense a but…” Galeforce grunted. “You are sitting on a well of infinite money and power.”
“The problem is, the effectiveness does not last very long. We have only been able to store Synaisthyn blood in super cold temperatures for about 100 hours before its effectiveness diminishes greatly, we are still trying to find and isolate whatever makes the blood so effective and work out how to produce more blood without harming my poor brother.”
“I see but…” Galeforce very suddenly paused. “Wait, your… brother? You have a sibling that is an Amalgam Mimic?”
“Technically my half-brother, but yes. And no, none of us, Unender included, have any idea how he ended up being an Amalgam Mimic, outside of the fact that he was abducted by a Life Goddess and experimented on.”
“How is Elkay, by the way?” Soulblade asked. “We have a wedding present for him but don’t really know how to send it to you, and it was too large for Loopblade to bring with them. It does somewhat need to be picked up.”
“I guess we can arrange something later on?” Retvik shrugged. “But yes, while we do have a few tricks under our armour, not just the Amalgam Mimic stuff. We have a team of dedicated professions who have been training new staff up, we have a proper facility now and better security. Not to mention a Life Goddess on hand…” Retvik paused briefly. “Darn. I sound a bit like a commercial…”
Most of the other Decay Lords shrugged, not really agreeing. However, Kuuraa, the strange, mechanical, almost serpentine being (who didn’t like their codename, Angersoul), raised its hand.
“Missster Flamebearer, I hasss questionsss. You doesss worksss for all typesss, yesss? Not jussst Decayonsss?”
Retvik nodded. “We do. Most vok that come to us are Decay Lords, Divine Guardians or Life Goddesses, but we have treated some travelling Voidborns as well.”
“Why do you ask, Angersoul?” Pentaflame asked.
Kuuraa hissed. “Many thinksss we isss ofs the Voidbornsss! We isssn’tsss. Jussst looksss likesss themsss! Do not wantsss to be turned ofs the awaysss!”
“While yes, some Voidborn entities are genuinely bad, and most cults are terrible, some Voidborns are capable of not being bastards,” Retvik explained. “Plus, apparently there are whole Voidborn cults out there that also cull corruption. We can all agree that is somewhat of a good thing.”
“Ah, isss ofs the goodsss…” Kuuraa calmed down. “But what do yousss all do for the protectionsss? Isss ssscary when isss infected and yousss isss all very clossse to the Corruptionsss.”
Retvik thought for a moment, then grunted. “I am honestly really glad you brought that up. Currently we are using a technique that involves heating the air to stop potential spread, and also using telekinetic shields created by our Psions when required, on top of constant decontamination showers. Everything is checked over by our resident Time Drake, who keeps secondary infections at almost zero. But…”
“But what?” Pentaflame asked. “You don’t have omnishell suits?
Retvik turned to Pentaflame. “We have three, which we keep for emergencies. We cannot for the life of us seem to find anyone who stocks them. Anywhere around here. And we have asked pretty much everywhere. Kal have been trying to order them in for three year-strings now, they cannot find anyone. The malls in our local pentaclusters do not stock them. We tried ordering them in, but no one is willing to ship into our, um, eniapent, let alone our pentacluster.”
“I thought you had an omnishell packager on the Thantir One?” Peacebringer tutted. “Also, Spiritpurger are with you now? We thought they got killed when Ahkron tore through the pentacluster.”
“We do not have the Thantir One any more. That was confiscated by Deathven. And no, Kal are fine, they are members of the Thantir now, and very happy because of it. But, seriously, we cannot find anyone willing to ship either a new, as you called it, omnishell packager, nor are they willing to import stock into our territories…”
Galeforce smiled. “We have a supplier who can help. Shipping prices might be rough and the prices might be higher because of lower quantities, but I am sure we can work something out.”
“That would be wonderful!” Retvik smiled back. “We will most likely order in bulk anyway, we will probably get through them.”
“Can I alssso asssksss?” Kuuraa raised their hand again. “You dealsss withsss the Void Fauna? Like the Ssspace Whalesss? We hasss in our pentaclussster but do not knowsss where to sssendsss if they isss ofs the illsss!”
“We have treated a Ceti Asteri before, so I suppose you could send them in our direction.”
“On the edgesss ofs the Ventra Expanssse yesss?”
“Indeed.”
Kuuraa made a happy clicking sound. “Isss good! No likesss having to ofs the killsss.”
All of a sudden, Permafrost stood up. “Well, this has been a good conversation so far, but we have been sitting here for nearly three hours and my meat suit’s legs are going to sleep, so I suggest we take a quick break. I recommend we all take some time to stretch our legs and get something to eat, then return in an hour. How does that sound?”
The Decay Lords all nodded in agreement.
“Wonderful. Off you all go!” Permafrost laughed as he shooed everyone away.
Glad to have a chance to stop talking, Retvik did as he was told, and made his way off to a nearby food hall. As he headed for the exit though, there was someone blocking his path.
“Oh, hello, can I help you?” Retvik asked the four-eyed Beh’en standing before him.
“You can help me, yes!” Tahnaiious almost snarled. “Can we talk, in private?”
“Can I get a fresh drink and something to eat first, please?”
Tahnaiious closed his eyes and tutted, but quickly relented. “After the break, after the next stupid three hour chat, meet me at the stone balconies in the resting area. Because I have some pressing questions that really need answering.”
“Very well. Speak soon, I guess.”
The strange Beh’en grunted, then wandered off. Retvik shrugged, then went off to get food, as he had originally planned. Right now, Retvik was hungry, and food was more important than a vaguely annoyed Decay Lord.