Мастер Исандер
Verse and Dimensions: Stories
The extreme awkwardness of the moment was mercifully broken by Conceptilum spinning directly into the center of the group and colliding with all of them at once, like a bowling ball knocking over a set of pins and then accidentally whacking itself in the face while trying to strike a menacing pose. Kalyutim seriously doubted he would ever get used to his lack of Omniscience^3, and quickly demanded the other four scatter in different directions; Conceptilum would surely be furious at him, so he could draw the cretin’s attention. Paradoxus wasted no opportunity to grab Imaginatim and leave as quickly as possible. Logixel and Unthil shared hesitant glances before ultimately doing as he said, Unthil glancing back at his other self quickly as he ran away.
Conceptilum randomly tore through the Staterium binding a nearby Monocosm for no other obvious reason than wanting an excuse to loudly roar “YOU’VE DONE DID IT NOW, SON!!!!” while breaking something. Kalyutim immediately registered the incredibly tensile Staterium as a highly useful weapon in a fight that cannot come down to raw strength if he wants to not die. Kalyutim hoped he’d have an opportunity to snatch it at some point, which he would, as Conceptilum immediately threw it at him as a “projectile”. Kalyutim expected the Staterium to harmlessly bounce off him, yet for some reason it instead knocked him backwards with far greater force than he was expecting, shoving him into the edge of Beyond… which, somehow, appeared to be rapidly expanding as he fell faster and faster. A frightened Kalyutim wondered what the hell Conceptilum had done, but Conceptilum himself seemed just as baffled as the violet vannoyingidiot fell out of Beyond and into Transcendentem. The instant Kalyutim left the Bubble, his acceleration skyrocketed as he found himself flying through Transcendentem at unimaginable speeds, eventually finding himself in a void between countless other Transcendentems, the sheer force at which he was travelling completely dissolving the Staterium, before eventually rocketing him into a strange red realm.
Kalyutim looked around at the bright red verse he had found himself in, no discernible size and no discernible end. He shouted out “HELLO?” to anyone who might potentially hear him. He felt as if he was surrounded by countless complex processes being executed all at once, yet he could see nothing. Just as the red light around him began to glow brighter and brighter, Kalyutim could’ve sworn he heard a familiar voice faintly whisper the word “incredible…” before he was whisked away once more.
Any sense of direction was inaccessible to Kalyutim as he tumbled through the infinite expanse of red light, before suddenly colliding with the side of an ordinary Tunnel. Immediately, his thoughts were flooded with useless information about the number of Toyota Corollas that could fit in the Omniverse’s largest bagel, not as thrilled as he expected to have his Omniscience^3 back. Kalyutim looked around him and was confused to see the outside of this seemingly ordinary Tunnel… slowly stabilizing itself? As if the Collapse was somehow being undone in front of him. Kalyutim looked around and noticed a spring green Supergod standing at the opposite end of the Tunnel, looking confused and interested. Kalyutim tried to call out to Peralitus, though the older Supergod then began retreating away from him. The purple Supergod attempted to advance forwards as Peralitus ran away, clarifying he didn’t want to hurt him and just wanted to know what was going on! This seemed to work as Peralitus slowed down slightly, though before Kalyutim could say anything else, the red light returned once more and completely enveloped the younger Supergod, transporting him now to what could only be the inside of Hellensoerensen.
Kalyutim did his best to remain as quiet as possible, noting he had somehow materialized right in the center of one of the automaton’s six modules, gripping hold of the module’s core for balance. With his Omniscience^3, Kalyutim could detect that all eight Supergods seemed to be alive and well; the only ones currently active being Empiroxus moving towards Module 6 and Matharin in Module 4, examining a device she had created. As Kalyutim tried to look around, he felt the return of the same energy that had teleported him twice before, yet in far smaller amounts. No longer directionless, he was still unable to isolate its point of origin since there seemed to be… countless points of origin, everywhere around him.
His mind became strained as the energy emanated stronger and stronger from almost every direction, before the far more powerful directionless energy began to close in once more, no doubt signaling another teleportation. Kalyutim hastily grabbed hold of the module’s core and did everything he could to avoid letting go as the rest of Hellensoerensen faded around him. The core was ripped away with the purple Supergod as he was thrown weightlessly back into the barren center of the now silent Monocosm which he had originally entered. It now contained no strange orange verse, only himself and the piece of Trosinium he was still clutching.
Kalyutim stared at the object in his hand. Though he feared the consequences of removing a key source of energy from Hellensoerensen, that was the least significant of the thoughts on his mind. If this Trosinium had been abruptly teleported, it might be able to…
Kalyutim rushed out of the Monocosm as fast as he could and flew straight towards the five Monocosms maintaining a security system meant to detect trespassers in the Bubble. He hurriedly demanded they turn their detection systems near the Monocosms as high as possible. If even a Hartgod flutters by, he wants to know about it. The mortal administrators were very confused and wondered if this had to do with the supposed intruding Supergod nobody but Kalyutim seemed to have any record of, but Kalyutim considered whatever happened there completely insignificant compared to this. The mortals reluctantly did as he said and immediately their systems detected the presence of a highly impatient purple Supergod in the vicinity. Kalyutim then asked them to relay all information they had on the piece of rare and powerful Trosinium he was holding, which should emit more detectable information than any Supergod in the Cohort. And yet, as he expected… their systems detected nothing. It was completely radio silent. When Kalyutim heard this confirmation, he could barely contain his excitement.
Whatever teleported him through all those various locations copied the information directly. None of it was altered to suit the environment, which meant the metabytes composing this Trosinium were still effectively in Hellensoerensen! At least for any process Omnipotent^1 in execution or lower, it was operating in two completely different places simultaneously! Processes like creating Tunnels…
Kalyutim scrambled to find the Tunneling device he dropped earlier and hastily collected some select pieces of conceptual scrap from the remains of the Bewilderer and used them to connect the Trosinium and Tunneling device together. Small, specifically aligned strings of Elder’s Glue bound themselves to specific attributes of the rushed contraption and linked them to specific crystals within the rare Trosinium. Immediately, the device was filled with energy and began gravitating towards an area outside of Beyond. Because all Omnipotent^1 or lower processes within Transcendentem acted as if the Trosinium was still within Hellensoerensen, Kalyutim was essentially able to hold in his hand a Tunneling device that believed it had already reached its destination, and thus there was no dense information in its path that could obstruct it, making the process of creating a Tunnel directly to Hellensoerensen virtually effortless! He raced into Transcendentem as fast as he possibly could.
Tracidel was still extremely confused as to what was going on, but she could tell Kalyutim had made some kind of breakthrough in his attempts to create Tunnels, and feared if she didn’t act now, he would make a grievous mistake. She tried to convince herself it would be a bad idea to intervene in his obviously far better thought-out plan, but against her better judgement, she ran forward after him. Tracidel hesitated momentarily on the edge of Beyond, having hoped to never need to exit her Bubble again, yet eventually worked up the courage to step out into the Tunnels beyond.
The Tunneling device sent Kalyutim exactly down the path he had previously chased the mysterious Supergod down the other direction of, desperately rushing almost as fast as the traveler previously in his manic attempt to reach Hellensoerensen. Tetta noticed him as he sprinted past, confused at his frantic behavior, and worried as to why he was flying directly towards a completely collapsed area of open Transcendentem. Kalyutim did not even slightly slow down as he reached the Tunnel’s end, knowing his device would be able to create Tunnels faster than he could move through them. The newly created Tunnels were small and uncomfortable, but they were able to be safely traversed, and he was desperate enough to rescue the others as soon as possible that Tunnel quality was hardly a factor. Now that he was closer than ever to Hellensoerensen, his Omniscience^3 could unmistakably confirm that not only were two Supergods completely missing from Hellensoerensen, but a third had since vanished while Kalyutim was being whisked from verse to verse. Metatime was of the essence to a greater extent than ever; Kalyutim could not stop for anything. Tetta buzzed around him in random directions, unsure what exactly his plan was or how he could avoid accidentally disintegrating himself if he encountered an object too difficult to stabilize at such a speed.
Kalyutim vaguely heard Tracidel attempting to catch up to him and notify him of something. Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be as important as rescuing the stranded Supergods. Tracidel attempted to press forward through the newly created Tunnels despite her deep discomfort at just how volatile they felt to the collapsed Transcendentem around her, as if the usual Tunnels weren’t difficult enough for her. She did her best to ignore the memories of her experiences with unstable and collapsing Tunnels as a hatchling, reminding herself that Kalyutim made these Tunnels—they had to be safe. He would never put her in danger again. Tracidel desperately tried to get Kalyutim’s attention, she really thought he’d want to hear what she had to say- but before she could finish, he swiftly changed directions at lightning-fast speed, leaving the terrified Tracidel to almost crash into the highly unstable corner of the Tunnel. Tracidel lunged backwards in fear and contemplated running back to the safety of Beyond as quickly as she could… but if she couldn’t ever be helpful to Kalyutim in any other way, the least she could try to do is help him now. Tracidel pressed forwards through the increasingly unstable Tunnels towards her brother.
As the Tunneling device began to overload and leak energy, Kalyutim feared he may be forced to slow his rapid pace, or the device could potentially explode. Luckily, he appeared to have encountered the remains of a pre-existing Tunnel from Xenixel’s planned network that he could momentarily stop in to recalibrate his device. As he did so, his Omniscience^3 gave him flashes of a battle that once took place here between a furious green Supergod and their frightened red target—Peralitus and Matharin. Just as he was confident he could continue, Kalyutim heard the absolute last thing he needed right now from behind him:
“Kalyutim, I-”
The purple Supergod struggled to contain his anger as he demanded Tracidel leave him alone. He was so close to completing the goal he had given everything for! Tracidel understood how much this meant to him, but she really wished he’d consider the potential consequences of this before- but Kalyutim did not let his younger sister finish. He shouted that the other Supergods WERE GOING TO DIE if he didn’t rescue them! Hellensoerensen’s power is depleted without the sixth Trosinium shard, and Kalyutim has already lost any trace of three of the Supergods! They could already be dead! Is Tracidel SO delusional and SO desperate to find ANY scapegoat to blame her own failures in life on that she’ll seriously condemn eight Supergods to death to keep some stupid fantasy image of her siblings intact?!?
Tracidel tried to explain while fighting back tears that she didn’t want them to die! That was never the point! I-if Kalyutim needs to save them from whatever is happening right now, then he should save them! Return the Trosinium, find out what happened to the missing three and stop it from happening again! Give constant supplies to Hellensoerensen, anything! But bringing them back to Beyond? The same Supergods who- who sabotaged the Bubble before the Collapse, who conducted countless genocides just for efficiency, who left their own children to die in the nightmare they created with barely a second thought?! Does Kalyutim really think that will end well?
Kalyutim could not begin to comprehend that this was what Tracidel was thinking about right now. If she was so selfish that she could only think to care about the two Supergods occasionally within her line of sight, then he promises that no matter what happens, he won’t allow any harm to come to her or Omnarin, okay?? Now can he go save the others from imminent death now?!?
Tracidel could tell Kalyutim was becoming increasingly furious yet did her best to continue anyway. She knew he was always looking out for them but, h-he just couldn’t possibly be sure of that! Has he considered what would happen when Xenixel returned? When he saw the state Beyond was in- t-the state Kalyutim turned it into?! Has he thought about what Xenixel might do? To him? Kalyutim began intensely gripping the Thet InVerse as she continued to speak, doing everything he could not to react violently. Tracidel pleaded that Kalyutim had built a perfect home out of what he was given- a-a home mortals and Supergods alike all agree is a vast improvement over Xenixel’s dictatorship, and he wants to tear it all down, because- because it’s a goal he needs to accomplish? Beyond is Tracidel’s home, i-it’s the only place she feels safe, she doesn’t know what she could do, or where she could go if-
“If you care so much about Beyond, THEN WHY ARE YOU SEEMINGLY INCAPABLE OF DOING A SINGLE THING TO IMPROVE IT?!?!?!?”
Kalyutim threw the Thet InVerse towards the edges of the Tunnel with such force the sides cracked and let out a blinding flash of light.
“Do you have any idea how much I do constantly, just to allow you and Omnarin to survive?! Any idea how much work goes into just keeping Beyond from falling apart at the seams, that you contribute ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO?!?!? I can’t trust you with a single important job in this entire nightmare of an operation, because your obsession with self-deprecation and clinical inability to carry out the simplest of my instructions properly is somehow able to perfectly cancel out the purpose of ANYTHING I ASK OF YOU!!!”
“Oh, but why should you ever bother with anything if you’re so completely incapable, because GOOD OLD KALYUTIM WILL HANDLE IT!! He’s so perfect at everything that he might as well be left to do everything, since he’s the ONLY ONE ACTUALLY WILLING TO EVER HELP ANYONE!!! And yet, when good old Kalyutim decides that maybe as the ONLY ONE who EVER DOES ANYTHING, he might have some idea of how to rescue the rest of our family, oh that part you are just absolutely beyond qualified to weigh in on!!!! The first time you’ve attempted properly contributing to anything and your fantastic idea is to let your entire family painfully die!! EXCELLENT contribution Tracidel, what would I EVER do without you?!?? You know what, if NOBODY ELSE is ever willing to help me in ANY USEFUL WAY, maybe you’re right that you both have no purpose in this “council”!”
Tracidel could do nothing but stare at her brother in complete shock and anguish. She could just barely see the quickest ounce of regret on his face before he hastily turned away and began furthering his Tunnel towards Hellensoerensen.
Kalyutim regretted every word he said to Tracidel and meant almost none of them, but he couldn’t focus on that now. He tried as best as he could to force the entire argument out of his head. He needed to focus on reaching Hellensoerensen. His recalibration had only done so much, the device was critically damaged and had gone far past its breaking point long ago. Nevertheless, Kalyutim accelerated himself even as the Tunnels became smaller and more unstable. He needed to reach Hellensoerensen. He couldn’t give up. He would find them, no matter what.
“Why did you shout at Tracidel?”
The sudden baffling appearance of Omnarin was so startling to Kalyutim that he almost leapt out of the Tunnel in shock. Kalyutim didn’t even want to begin working out how they managed to get here so quickly, and simply grumbled “get out of my way” to his younger sibling. Omnarin made no attempt to obstruct Kalyutim but did continue to follow him as he attempted to regain speed, asking again in a deadly serious tone why he shouted at Tracidel. Kalyutim ignored them. Omnarin persisted, claiming he likely upset her quite a bit. Kalyutim ignored them. All that mattered now was reaching Hellensoerensen, everything else would be dealt with later. As if they had read his thoughts, Omnarin pressed that if he thought he could solve everything by focusing all his energy on this one goal, he’d likely end up disappointed by where it took him. Kalyutim didn’t know what else Omnarin expected of him: the stranded Supergods desperately needed to be saved. If he wasn’t fast, they could die. Simple as that. But Omnarin knew it wasn’t. It’s never been this desperate before. The only variable to have changed, as far as either of those two know, is the missing Trosinium Kalyutim happens to have. Omnarin doubted he was simply holding it at the wrong metatime by accident, was he?
Kalyutim didn’t want to hear another word out of Omnarin. No matter what had happened or why, he was going to save the others. He had decided. And nothing, nothing, was going to stop him. Omnarin wasn’t concerned about Kalyutim failing, she was concerned with the damage he’d be willing to do getting there. Does he think that if he “decides” this one goal is all that matters, that he’ll really be able to ignore everything else? Omnarin had overheard him claiming the Council’s lives are all in imminent danger now, only now, right after he stole- Kalyutim tried to object, but Omnarin didn’t allow him to interrupt- stole that Trosinium, so what if he reaches Hellensoerensen and finds half of them dead, because of him? Will achieving his goal have been worth it then? No matter how much Kalyutim doesn’t want to admit it, that’s a possibility. And none of that damage, to Tracidel, to the Council, to himself, is going to go away just because he completes this one task.
Kalyutim finally, for once, stopped, and stared back at Omnarin.
“I don’t care.”
Kalyutim rushed forward again as fast as he could, having now almost reached Hellensoerensen, close enough to detect the specific locations of the five remaining Supergods. Though these positions, and anything else he would usually sense nearby, were being rapidly drowned out by the sheer amount of energy leaking from his device, overwhelming his sensitive Omniscience^3. It was clear that the device was now critically close to shattering. Kalyutim merely hoped his Tunnel could reach Hellensoerensen before it did, so even if he died the others could still have a route back to Beyond. But even this was beginning to seem impossible as the device began glowing exponentially faster, and he received piercing, painful visions of an explosion mere metaseconds away. Panicking, without any other plan, Kalyutim desperately threw the Trosinium ahead of him as far as he could. The Tunnel around him narrowed without its presence as the corrupted Transcendentem closed in around him. All he could do was watch the Trosinium fly forwards before erupting in a colossal bright yellow explosion that completely obscured all his senses and instantly knocked him entirely unconscious.
Chapter 4: The Fractured Council
A harrowing scream echoed across Hellensoerensen.
Conceptilum detected it in union with a colossal burst of energy emanating from the center of Hellensoerensen and rushed to the scene as fast as possible. Having arrived virtually as fast as all the other Supergods, the entire council was shocked to find a fatally injured Abstractil, seemingly still trying to process whatever had just happened to her.
As a horrified Empiroxus quickly attempted to see what injuries she had sustained and desperately tried to figure out how he could potentially heal her, Abstractil’s expression turned from one of shock, to concerned determination, to a warm smile directed at her partner. As she told Empiroxus there was nothing he could do, she slowly extended her hand out towards her son. Conceptilum clasped her hand and continued holding it, still in complete shock and having no idea what to do, as Empiroxus began to break down in tears, having no idea how any of them could carry on without her. Abstractil calmed his nerves and asked her partner to look after Conceptilum, glancing towards her son and specifically their inter-linked hands while saying this. Conceptilum tried to force himself to say something, anything, before Abstractil faded away, but before he could find the words, it was too late.
As Xenixel examined her remains coldly and disgracefully, Conceptilum opened the palm of his hand and became paralysed with shock at the sight. Conceptilum closed his palm as fast as he could before any of the others could see. Xenixel’s assessment of the situation became nothing but unintelligible gibberish as Conceptilum stared down at his clenched fist.
Paradoxus wandered around the remains of Hellensoerensen, investigating anything he could find within module 3 that might give some explanation for the missing Trosinium or its connection to the recent murders. Paradoxus had thought a great deal about the events surrounding Abstractil and Peralitus’s deaths – more, he suspected, than the other Supergods thought of him. And no matter how many times he ran through all the potential possibilities in his head, no matter how many pieces of information he considered, the exact same blatantly obvious conclusion always became extremely apparent:
He had no idea.
Obviously there was a clear answer. Obviously there was. It was probably inconvenient and surprising and difficult to accept for certain red idiots who placed far too much faith in this charade of multicolored morons he reluctantly called a council, but of course there was an answer. All this petty drama and arguments and accusations meant nothing, because the undeniable fact was that one of Matharin, Empiroxus, or Xenixel killed Abstractil and Peralitus. All the contradictions and lack of clear motivations meant is that it could’ve been any of them. Xenixel’s mind had been decaying ever since he came back from his mission. That had to be it. That was why there was no public execution. Methods and motives and consistent decisions don’t matter if your mind is barely functioning. Or Matharin, her excessive use of Omniscience^3 to frame Peralitus had damaged her mind too. Or Empiroxus, he had been exposed to Piro right before the Collapse. That was all it had to be. Of course there was an answer. There will be an answer. If he could just find a little more evidence…
Technically, Paradoxus was looking for any potential evidence he could find, which would include the massive burst of red energy exactly like that which killed Abstractil and Peralitus suddenly materializing in front of him and ejecting a purple Supergod Paradoxus had never seen before at near-elastic speed. To say Paradoxus was pleased to encounter this particular evidence, however, is somewhat questionable. The rapidly decelerating purple Supergod appeared to be attempting to evade notice while quickly trying to exit Hellensoerensen, however they seemed to notice Paradoxus’s presence and immediately stopped, whispering a sentence enhancer to themselves. Paradoxus immediately deduced this unknown individual as very, very obviously being the killer. Of course there was an answer! Paradoxus immediately attacked the killer, who viciously shouted “Wait! Wait! Wait!” in vile retaliation. Paradoxus substituted following those instructions with imagining a certain younger brother of his being stupid enough to actually follow those instructions, getting extremely angry, and then taking his anger out on the very obvious killer. Said killer continued their attempts to trick an increasingly loud Paradoxus who grew closer and closer to drawing the attention of the rest of the council, before the assailant suddenly shouted “PARADOXUSYOU’REAMEMBEROFTHESUPERGODCOUNCILANDYOU’VEJUSTHADTWOOTHERMEMBERSKILLEDANDTHERE’SGONNABEAFOURTHSOONANDI’MTRYINGTOSTOPTHATFROMHAPPENING!”
Paradoxus hesitated for a metamoment, before confirming that all the given information could’ve been acquired simply from spying on them with Omniscience^3 and was prepared to continue his assault.
“Oh, for Elder’s- YOU’VE COME HERE TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE BECAUSE EVERY METASECOND THIS ISN’T RESOLVED IS ANOTHER METASECOND YOU’LL HAVE TO SPEND IN THIS CURSED AUTOMATON!”
This did a significantly better job at halting Paradoxus. The purple Supergod seemed desperate to convince Paradoxus that he knew a great deal more information than he should, as if somehow this would make him trustworthy and not even more highly suspicious. They realized it might look a bit like they were the killer, but it was absolutely crucial that none of the other council members knew they were here.
Paradoxus listened, found such logic understandable, and immediately did everything he could to alert Matharin to the situation. The killer shouted “NO!” and desperately tried to stop Paradoxus physically, then once that failed miserably, attempted to convince him that “alerting Matharin would only- would you please stop shouting- WOULD ONLY MAKE IT HARDER TO KILL ME!!” Paradoxus stopped, if only to hear them try and defend that absolute gold standard argument. The purple Supergod explained that they were in fact one of Paradoxus’s younger siblings left behind during the Collapse. Matharin must have told him about ‘Kalyutim’ at some point, and… … …okay, well, if Paradoxus asks Matharin about ‘Kalyutim’, she’ll give him a matching description. And the point is pleasedontshout, if Matharin recognizes him, there’s no way she’ll let anyone hurt him, so if Paradoxus really wants to kill him, he should do it quietly! Okay? Yeah?
Paradoxus strongly considered the ‘killing him quietly’ option, especially since he didn’t see how Kalyutim being his sibling made him any less likely to be the killer. Not like any of his other family members aren’t completely insane already. How did he even know there was going to be a third death anyway?! And- did he say fourth earlier?!? Kalyutim apparently “didn’t have time to explain” but promised he was doing everything he could to fix whatever had ‘gone wrong’. It was just- look, it’s hard to explain because Paradoxus was focusing on all the wrong things, and he didn’t know what would happen if he told the grey Supergod to focus on the right things. For all he knew that could make everything even worse, and him just being here could already be ruining everything so he really can’t take his chances!
Paradoxus noticed that Kalyutim seemed to be intending to jump into open Transcendentem and wondered if he could just deal with this situation by staying quiet and letting him disintegrate himself. He couldn’t believe this lunatic was somehow expecting him to allow a third death. Even if he weren’t the killer, that’s awful enough on its own! Kalyutim seemed completely unable to explain just why he shouldn’t help. After thinking it over for far longer than an Omniscient^3 should need to think anything, Kalyutim ultimately decided to help. He didn’t know if it would work or what it would cause, but he’s probably a horrible person if he were given the gift of hindsight and didn’t at least try to use it…
Kalyutim grabbed a discarded Inscripverse and added the relevant information to the topmost layer. He claimed the Inscripverse contained not just the killer and victim’s identities, but a potential method of stopping the murder from happening as well. If Paradoxus wanted to make this information at all useful, he should go to module 1 as soon as possible. Kalyutim just needed Paradoxus to trust that this was the best he could do for now. But for three deaths to be the worst this gets, Kalyutim needed to leave now. Paradoxus considered warning Kalyutim that jumping into open Transcendentem after a Collapse was obviously an awful idea, however the purple Supergod vanished before he could say anything.
Even now Paradoxus had no reason to believe any of those claims, yet out of curiosity still examined the Inscripverse anyway, and-
Yeah.
It was nonsense.
Only now did Paradoxus consider all the obvious reasons he never, ever, ever should’ve indulged that fraud. Only now did Paradoxus realize he never verified whether he was in fact Matharin’s third chil- one of Matharin’s children or not. Only now did he realize “go to module 1” gave all the useful insight of a vague horoscope. Only now that he had just let the killer go when he had the perfect chance to end all this. Great.
It meant nothing.
There was no reason it had to mean anything. There was no reason Abstractil meant to give him anything. It could’ve just been in her hand, there are countless opportunities for it to get there. It just happened to rub off on Conceptilum’s Godsmoke when she tried to hold his hand for the last time. That’s all that happened, Conceptilum was certain. It meant nothing.