1:4:3 Republic (Part 2)

They returned to the foyer, Brian looked around at the other doors. “Where first I wonder?” He smiled to himself. “Save the best for last I think so in that case… The mission rooms.”
“Mission rooms?” Lore was somewhat unnerved by Brian’s grin. “What is this place? Why’s it so big?”
Char nodded. “And where did all of those versions of us go?”
“They probably went back to work.” Brian stopped, his grin turned upside down. “They weren’t too pleased to hear that you’d be joining us so soon but The First and Emm basically told them to get used to the plan changing.”
“We weren’t part of the plan?” Lore tried to look surprised. “The only two clones weren’t part of the plan?”
Char layered on the sarcasm equally thick so Lore could understand it. “They’d never mentioned anything like that before.”
Brian chuckled. “You two are more controversial than you think. First you got the wrong memories which was strike one; most of them were only on board with you two if you thought exactly the same as them. Then you went and successfully saved Illia; some of them were cheering when Crait set you up. And then…”
“Crait set us up?” Lore’s jovial tone was gone. “What?”
“After you left, things were peaceful. There were going to be talks between humanity and the Sat’Mach but Crait gave a load of weapons to the extremist factions triggering a war. There would have been a lasting peace on Illia if they hadn’t have interfered.”
“What about Rexel? Did we screw up as bad as they said we did there too?” Char’s eyes flitted between Lore and Brian nervously.
“Your impact on Rexel was actually beneficial to us. No Rexian fuel for The Protectorate means fewer quick response ships are available for when we reach Johned. It does screw up outer rim shipping lanes and we’re not sure how The Syndicate is going to run the Rexel system but it was nowhere near as bad as they said it was. They just don’t trust you two. Like Emm and Clayton, you’re independent thinkers.”
Lore scoffed. They felt a little better about their journey.
“Okay. So, this ship is split into two sections: Business and pleasure. We’re going to tour the business sector first before moving on to the best part.” Brian’s smile returned. “And you’re going to love it.” He opened the doors opposite the council chamber; a long metal corridor span ahead of them. “This is the Central Passageway.” Brian tapped a tablet on the wall which illuminated revealing a list of all of the Passageway’s amenities. “Everything in the business sector is accessible via this corridor. On the left, thanks to a lot of really clever and near impossible spacial engineering, you have hangar access. On the right, canteen, clone quarters, multi-faith space, planning rooms, labs, astrometrics and the war room.”
“War room?” Lore questioned.
“Its just what they call the room where they come up with their strategies and have last minute meetings before combat and stuff. I didn’t name it. You’d have to take it up with The First or one of the earlier Lores. I suppose Quart might know though.”
“That’s a good point.” Char pointed at the tablet. “Sorry, you talking about the other Lores and it got me thinking: There aren’t any quarters for Lores or Chars so where do they stay?”
“They stay on the fun side with everyone else.” Brian nodded back towards the foyer. “Commander Aloe and her other team leaders decided that it would be for the best that the clones remain here where they could quickly respond to any threats. They’ve got good access to the hangars to launch fighters to combat space based threats and they can repel any boarders before they get too deep into the ship.”
“Are they allowed to access the rest of the ship or are they stuck here?” Brian’s answer would have a great effect on Lore’s disposition towards the others.
Realising Lore’s feelings, Brian responded carefully. “When we aren’t at alert status, the clones are free to travel to any part of the ship, excluding the Lores private quarters. It wasn’t always the case but Clayton was just as annoyed as I think you are about it.” Brian ran his finger down the list. “I think we’ll visit the war room then the Multi-faith room before we skip to the fun stuff. Come on!”

The war room was exactly what they were expecting. A large room with most of its floorspace dominated by a large table and fifty two chairs; the chairs seemed to age as they got further from the door with the two at the very head looking as though they were close to falling apart while the ones at the table’s feet were still wrapped in plastic. Lore span their chair around and noticed the number twenty six embroidered into the seat. Char did the same, finding the number fifty two on hers.
“This is where the Lores have all of their high profile and important meetings. Guests are invited to join via hologram and take their place on the table.” Brian looked longingly at Lore’s chair. “I’ve only been allowed in here a handful of times.”
“Take a seat then.” Lore offered him their chair.
Char chuckled. “We won’t tell.”
Brian considered it. He shook his head a few times as the idea turned over in his head. He didn’t get a choice in the end; Lore held their chair still and Char gave him a shove, forcing him down. There was a look of despair on his face followed by a cheeky grin which soon faded into slightly saddened apathy.
“This… is possibly the worst chair I’ve ever sat on. Including the one they tried to execute me on.” Brian tried to get comfortable. “It’s horrible. The support is in all the wrong places and there’s next to no room for my shoulders. I honestly don’t know why they didn’t ask anyone to design them a better chair or why they’re so particular about people sitting on these things. Not worth the hype.”
“Learn something new every day.” Lore held out their hand. “Come on, my turn.” Lore helped Brian up then took his place on their seat. Contrary to what he had said, the chair was rather pleasant. It would seem the chair had been so carefully designed for the Lore body, that it was alienating and borderline harmful to anyone else. “Not bad. Destiny’s got better chairs though. Nothing’s better than my captain’s chair.”
Char sat opposite them. “You know what, that’s not too bad. You’re right, not as good as Destiny’s but still, not bad.”
“Well, as you can see, you’ve got comfy chairs. Great place for a meeting.” Brian moved over to the door. “Not a whole lot else to talk about here so shall we?”
They walked down the corridor a little more, following a navy blue line on the floor to the Multi-faith room. “This was one of the first rooms built during the construction of The Occam’s Razor. It’s changed use more than a few times; it was originally a bunk room for the clones while the Lores got their quarters built, then it was a mess hall, then a temporary lab but it’s been used as a Multi-faith, prayer and wellness room for the last four or five cycles.” Brian checked a tablet beside the door before unlocking the room and allowing them in. “This is one of the few communal rooms that can be locked and features a bioscanner to allow for privacy during prayer.”
They were expecting a room similar in size to the war room but got something similar to a cathedral in scale. It confused them for a second but they quickly accepted it as something they would do. There was iconography from all of the religions of Earth; paintings of religious figures from at least three different species and four symbols carved in wood adorned the walls.
“Officially this is called the Multi-faith room but most of us just call it The Church of the Fifty-two.” Brian pointed to the different religious icons. “We’ve got texts and practices from fifty-two different religions from the various planets and cultures we’ve encountered on our journeys.” Lore stayed with Brian while Char wandered towards the four wooden carvings in the corner. “The religions are organised by planet or culture of origin starting at Earth and moving on to universal and then near extinct.” Brian gestured over to Char. “Thanks to Crait, The Cornerstones are now little more than a rumour.”
“I’ve heard of The Cornerstones. They were higher gods on Quatarr.” Char anticipated a question with Lore’s sudden inhalation. “Beings of great power prevalent in the religions of at least fifty-two planets.”
“What are they though?” Lore looked at the four symbols. In the bottom corner of each plank was a tally. “And what does that mean?”
“Although they weren’t called The Cornerstones by every religion that worshipped them, the iconography remained constant across the stars. Four key elements through which we have everything; Death, Life, Space and Time. The tally represents the forms or Paragons of each element. Death is the most varied element, having four Paragons to encompass the ways in which life ends; Life has only one Paragon.” Char pointed to the two tally marks. One was shorter than the other. “Eternal life gets lonely so Life’s Paragon may choose someone to spend their eternity with. Space has two aspects; matter and anti-matter. And finally Time has three.”
“The past, present and future.” Lore finished her sentence.
“Exactly.” Char nodded.
“But why have all of these Paragons when The Cornerstones themselves exist?” Lore moved over to look at the sigil of Time.
“Because The Cornerstones are too powerful on their own. If they were to exist on our plane without their Paragons, they’d begin to exude their aspect and things would go wrong quickly. Death hangs around for too long, and you get an unexplained massacre, opposite is true if Life stood in a hospital; Life could stand on a ward of terminally ill patients and no matter how close to death they were, no one would die, in fact they’d get better.”
“What about Time and Space?” Brian looked over to Lore who looked as though he had stolen the question from out of their mouth.
“We don’t actually know. All records show only the Paragons of Time and Space but never personal visits from The Cornerstones themselves. The religions of Earth detail three Norns, Moirai or Parcae. Earth never saw any Paragons of Space though.”
“Those names sound familiar…” Lore ran their finger down the central tally, a golden light leaked from the wood and filled the right side of their vision before it quickly spread over their left eye.