Jump 253: System Shock

Jump #253: System Shock
>The Tower, reversed: Catastrophe survived or narrowly avoided. A new lifestyle and enlightenment.
If ever there was a trump card I'd only want to see reversed, it's this one. Especially in this setting.
>Location: Citadel Station, Beta Grove
>Identity: Drop-In
>Drawbacks: Horribly Advanced Experiments (+600)
>Skillz That Pay The Billz (Free, Drop-In)
Hooray for hacking.
>Pipeline Kenjutsu (Free, Drop-In)
Also hooray for being able to bash the things with a pipe!
>A God To A Nonbeliever (1300, Drop-In)
What is a god to a nonbeliever? ...no, no, that's the wrong comparison here. What is a raindrop to the river? What is a spark to a bolt of thunder?
>Foot In The Digi-Grave (1000)
Being able to multitask is one thing, being able to do it on multiple planes of existence simultaneously is a whole different matter and I am keeping this one.
>Deus Est Machina (400)
So, in a digital world, I may as well be omnipotent. Score.
>SHODAN Nerve Bundle (0, Drop-In)
I'm going to get a new companion. Also, just for future reference, I am going to upgrade SHODAN in the short term (and fix her brain), and in the medium term I'm going to put her in a Mother Box. Because nothing can go wrong with that.

Beta Grove does not seem to be a bad place on the surface, aside from the very interesting genetic experiments going on around me. And it is here that I start; we're going Clockwork Cult again, because if ever there was a setting that it fits, it is here. Not that I think I'm going to be able to summon Ratvar outside of his own universe, of course.

Critters coming to kill me? Stunned to try to convert. Sadly, most of them aren't intelligent enough to be converted, so they simply have to be killed. Robots and cyborgs, though... oh yes. It's a matter of hours before Beta Grove is converted from a hellscape of unnatural life to a gleaming brass clockwork.

SHODAN quickly learned not to send in robots - every time she sent them in, they'd disappear from her senses and I would gain another faithful member of the cult, but expansion left her no choice. Over time, other robots and cyborgs tried to stop us, some even did some notable damage, but inevitably they saw the light of Ratvar.

But then, The Many. They'd made their way out of Beta Grove prior to my arrival and things got chaotic when they tried to take control of the Ratvar's cyborgs - that let them fall back promptly under SHODAN's sway instead. I made myself scarce while the station became a war zone between SHODAN, The Many, and those robots still loyal to Ratvar. The spread of bronze from the beta grove halted midway through the conversion of Levels 5 and 6.

I pulled the hacker out of cryo a couple weeks early and explained the situation to him - things were insane, he was probably our best remaining hope, and he'd have to deal with SHODAN while I dealt with The Many. And he did an admirable job, thankfully. I had my hands full, and was thankful for immunity to mind control. Fortunately, The Many is organic, and despite impressive psionic power, promethium proved most effective against its reavers, arachnids, and the few cyborgs it was able to bring under its control. Took much longer than expected to deal with it, but if nothing else, at least The Many kept SHODAN from being able to transmit anything by sabotaging the antenna outside.

Citadel Station inevitably started heading toward Earth, as it is fated to do, but a few small tweaks to its course helped. The hacker and I evacuated; the station was disabled, and instead of its velocity carrying it planetside to crash, it used the gravity of the Earth to slingshot past, engines going at a full burn and a locked-out SHODAN screaming her frustration impotently. Ratvar's remaining robotic disciples kept the would-be digital god trapped until she and Citadel Station plunged into the sun.