This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

Language was something that was always important for any kind of communication to exist. Whether it was spoken word or maybe machine language, one could argue that any form of contact with another living thing constituted some form of language. Sign language, written language, spoken, physical, visual, it was all a means of letting someone or something else know of your intentions. Even the slightest frown was telling that something was amiss, and most people would notice it immediately if even the very air itself seemed to feel thick with some kind of nebulous tension.

So color me alarmed when I just heard that Guidance didn't recognize what Shizu was even seeing anymore.

"W-What're you saying? It's still just ones and zeroes?" Shizu worriedly argued, her own tone audibly betraying her worry.

"The arrangement of them is what's the problem," Guidance morbidly explained, stashing her keyboard away as she sighed. "They might still mean something in binary, but they're all lined up in a way that wouldn't make sense from a logical standpoint."

"W-Wait a minute here... What do you mean when you say 'Binary?' What are these ones and zeroes?"

Huh, I was wondering when one of the other people not in the know would finally ask about what we were even talking about. I expected Shen to be the first one to do the honors, but it seemed that the girl was more busy frowning at Guidance more than anything. I wonder what she was thinking about right now.

But anyway, "Binary is the one thing Guidance uses to interact with the world around us. You've seen her using her [Manifest], yes? She can't do massive changes alone. She still needs to see what exactly she needs to change."

"So you mean to tell me that the Go-Lady Guidance can't see what's wrong with her own.... creation?" Shade pensively asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," I shrugged, letting Guidance and Shizu hash the problem out themselves as they shared hushed whispers with one another. "Shizu can see the ones and zeroes that are arranged in binary, which Guidance then interprets and uses to push changes to the world."

"I see," Shade nodded in seeming understanding. "So that is the true [Language of the Gods] then..."

I raised an eyebrow at the term he used. I haven't heard that term ever since Shizu told me that I was using those things whenever I opened menus. Wait... what if the world itself was trying to trim out the fat in its own lore? Would that even work? Even more, how would it feel for us that might remember such things despite the retcon?

Well, might as well test it out...

"Say, what exactly is the [Language of the Gods]?"

Shade looked at me as if I had just asked him something stupid. Which, was kind of on brand, really. "What kind of stupid question is that?" Yep, I expected that. "Aren't you supposed to know what that is in the first place?"

I froze up. Now that wasn't part of the plan at all. "I mean, what do you think it is?"

Shade looked suspicious of my question, but he answered regardless after a few seconds of deliberation. "For one, such language allows someone to interact with the world around them. Some say that [Moves] are an offshoot of it, seeing as [Manifests] are also a product of the [Eld]. Or so they say, at least."

"Huh, so Binary really is that spot on..."

"At least those freaks in the research department would get a kick out of it," Shade shrugged. "The Marqueans would also throw a fit if they learned that there's a whole new avenue of study they somehow missed. Not that it'd do them any favors."

Somehow, the conversation died down as we both leaned into our respective consoles. Well, a wall for his case, but it was the same. The sound of the engine humming below us filled the bridge as Shizu and Guidance kept on talking with one another. Shen had moved on from glaring at Guidance to just lazily trailing her hands underneath all the doodads on the bridge, and Maruki was still vigilantly standing guard for any kind of mystical opponent that might come in.

I let out a sigh as I turned around, facing the glowing chart that still hovered over the main console. There was a white blinking triangle at the bottom of the chart near the largest continent on that side of the Deep. Seeing as it was connected to the mountain, along with it glowing green, I could only assume that it was Kattleyna.

Heh... At least their obsession with jade helped with the consistency of it all.

And from there, I could assume that the blinking triangle was the [Rig] itself. So looking towards the two other largest continents, the one near the topmost part of the chart glowing all red and menacing was Vestyge, while the one near the southeastern side of the mountain range glowing blue was Marquee.

Huh, talk about color bias.

Hearing around, seeing as everybody seemed to still be busy with their own thing, I placed my hand on the console, notably at what looked to be some kind of trackball that also glowed blue. Seeing as it also had a built-in compass, I had a feeling that moving it around would do what I was hoping it would do.

With a small breath, I rolled the ball around, gently of course, as was custom for standard movement for any vehicle.

[*VVRROROOOOMMM!!*]

"What was that?!"

"We're moving?"

Looking out of the windows on the bridge, the horizon moved ever so slightly the more I rolled the trackball around. The blinking triangle on the chart also started to move, leaving behind a small dash behind it as we slowly went out to sea.

"Moriya, you're moving us along?"

"Just had a feeling we should at least get a move on," I admitted to Guidance as they all stared at me. "At least we'll have made some progress."

"R-Right," Shizu nodded, her eyes already back to their usual golden hue as she breathed out. "We can't waste any more time than we've... well, wasted."

"I agree," Shade agreed for what seemed like the first time in ages. "Traversing the Shallow Deep can take months depending on the weather and the general temperament of the warm seas. At best, we'll reach our destination in around a month."

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