In the event of a cabin leak, a flash suit would save one's life long enough to get into a properly-armored scarab suit. The ninety bars of pressure and seven hundred kelvins of temperature the Venusian atmosphere would shove into the cabin would turn an unprotected human into goo in seconds. A flash suit would allow the wearer to escape with little more than a few broken ribs. All Venusians would wear them whenever they were in a vehicle or other bubble of fragile armor, and they kept their scarabs close at hand.

Eidolon seemed intent on committing suicide, Maria thought sadly. Maria herself followed standard safety protocols to the letter, and it had saved her life on a couple occasions in the eight years she had lived on Venus. Eidolon seemed to enjoy taking risks. Maria had never seen her wearing a flash suit, and she had simply nodded dismissively when Maria had showed her where the emergency oxygen masks were stored. When Maria had angrily demanded why she had so little interest in her own safety, she'd shrugged.

Maria had then pressed her against the wall and informed her coldly that placing herself at risk also placed Maria at risk, because in an emergency Maria would be obligated to go to her rescue as well. "If you do not care if you put yourself in danger, do you at least care if you endanger me as well with this foolishness?"

Eidolon had mumbled an apology and promised to be careful.

But she still wasn't wearing a flash suit.

As Maria piloted the vehicle over the rolling hills that characterized most of the terrain in Beta Regio, she tried to draw out some information about her companion. As usual, she came up empty-handed; when faced with any question that might give Maria some idea of who she was, she changed the subject quickly and started talking about how beautiful the ruddy landscape was. Maria did not press the issue, and after awhile she sighed and returned her full attention to her driving.

Halfway through the trip (to a nearby ghost town that had some atmospheric converters they needed) Maria stopped the vehicle and gazed thoughtfully northward to the mountains ahead. After watching the nearby Maat Mons for a few minutes she sighed.

"I think that mountain is up to something," Maria said softly. "I'm going to skirt it's eastern face..."

Eidolon looked at the mountain, a dormant volcano that had seen no activity in a million years... or so it was believed. There was activity in the fiery heart; pressure was building up within its magma chamber and the plug of rock on top prevented a normal eruption. Shortly, the lava and gas would explode and the mass of stone would be unable to contain it. The discharge of pressure would rip the side of the volcano out... and the weakest section was the western face. Maria seemed to know it, and was trying to avoid the danger.

But it would not be enough. The blast of atmosphere pushed forward by the blast would bounce off the cliffs to the west, and as thick as the atmosphere was, there would be more than enough force in that ricochet to roll the crawler end over end. Neither of them would survive that.

Eidolon stared at the mountain for a long moment, then said softly, "brace yourself." Maria looked back at her wildly, her arms automatically wrapping around the arms of her chair.

An instant later, several cubic kilometers of solid lava were converted to energy in a blaze of violet light. As Maria looked back at the flash, she froze solid in her chair.
The gas exploded upward through the volcano's newly-cleaned throat, forming a perfect fountain of spraying red lava that umbrellaed outward in the thick atmosphere, falling back down on the volcano's flanks in a symmetrical shower of fire.

The shockwave was minimal, just a brief, gentle rattling. Maria blinked a few times, then looked back at Eidolon, who stood, her arms folded over her chest as she leaned lazily against the bulkhead, regarding the erupting volcano with a faint, self-satisfied smile on her face.

14 January 2838

Eidolon ran down the narrow streets of the Knight's compound on the outskirts of Nova Columbus, toward the setting sun. Behind her, guards were pouring into the streets, waving various weaponry and shouting at each other. Eidolon hoped her shield of invisibility would hold long enough to get her past the barrier and into the city proper; there she could find a place to hide easily. She looked down at her arm, noted that it was indeed still transparent, and ran on.

A mechanical growling sound startled her: metal rubbing metal. She looked to her right and nearly tripped in her surprise. She was transparent in visible light, but apparently not in ultraviolet or infrared.

A turret, mounted with dual fusion cannon, was turning toward her. She looked down the barrels of the massive weapons looking like malevolent eyes staring at her, laughing evilly.

"Not again, not again," she whispered as the weapons' magnetic impellers spread wide, and a ball of pure fusion fire began to form in the middle, like a golden pearl held in a gigantic hand.

Twin fireballs burned past her, exploding violently as they struck the ground not three meters behind her. The shockwave knocked her to the ground and she lay there a moment trying to catch her breath. She looked up suddenly, her body arching as she craned her neck up to watch the fusion cannon cycle to their prefire phase.
"Uh-oh."

The cannon fired again, and this time their aim was true. She stared into the raging hearts of the pair of fusion fireballs as they bore down on her, entranced at the surreal beauty of this latest death.

The fireballs seemed so complex, so rich with life, so unpredictable. She watched a particular flare of a sub-explosion spark and shoot off of the fireball on the left, marking the death of an airborne insect perishing in the flames. An instant of radiant fire, incredibly beautiful, then nothing.

The fireballs reached her, and she gasped as an intense heat, like Mercurian sunlight, prickled the skin on her face. White light blazed, blinding her in the same instant it impressed itself on her mind, in the same instant that she felt her death.

It was like pure light, burning her away like a candle, engulfing her mind and body in a slow but inevitable wave. One last thought: here we go again...
And she surrendered to the light, and the beautiful death it had in store for her.

20 May 2855

Dreaming, she lay in cryosleep on the ship of darkness. Outside, in what some shortsighted people would call the real world, her friend maintained her vigil over the sleeping torchship Farsight, working to bring the vessel and her friend to the center of the galaxy. Alas, even Maria's awakening powers could not simply kick the vessel into the shimmering red starclouds of the Core with one step, so the journey would be accomplished by slowly traversing chains of wormholes, a long and tedious process.

Eidolon did not care. This gave her time to dream, time to get it right.

You already have, her other self said in an amused tone.

Eidolon sighed. "I keep getting toasted by that turret."

The legacy of the Devastation is stored in the ship's archives, isn't it?

"Well yes, but I haven't succeeded in obtaining it yet. It's there and I put it there, but I haven't yet. You know how it is."

Mmm. Intriguing paradox, is it not?

"Yes it is... and you sound like Maria. Stop it; that's scary."

Maria does not exist in this universe, the voice said, and it was laced with sadness. If she did we would not have this mess.

"And I would not have been burned to slag by an MFAC turret, what is it now...?"

Sixteen thousand four hundred twelve times, came the dutiful response. Be glad you at least forget the last death each time your new one approaches. At least this way you get to experience it without all the other memories ruining the surprise.

"That's morbid."

Who could look at the mess these four tangled universes (?) has created and not be? And Devastation's Legacy was never lost here. I envy you.

"Why?"