Deus Ex Machina said:

The trip was fast; it took only half a minute at most before she found herself stepping into Kyouko's cabin, finding the living area—identical to everyone else's—already occupied by Kyouko, Marianne, Nana, and—



She started, shocked at Mami's presence, before realizing that it was a hologram, as a cursory check of her infrared vision revealed clearly.



Mami was glowering, and it seemed to Ryouko that she was walking into a room that was already filled with tension.



"Sorry for dragging you out of bed like this," Kyouko said, "but since we were already meeting like this, we figured we might as well just get you to come up here instead of trying to set up the VR."



Ryouko tilted her head slightly, acknowledging the explanation but realizing that it didn't explain why she was here.



Kyouko spoke to her in Standard.



"Ryouko, this is important," she said, pinning Ryouko with a look, "so please be honest. Explain to the others here about the vision you told me about, that one time with the Theological Council. We'd rather not distribute recordings of the meeting, and it's all based on your word, anyway."



Ryouko, shocked, glanced around at the seated girls, feeling a pit gather in her stomach. While she certainly believed in the existence of a Goddess now, and also the veracity of her visions, she had never admitted as much publicly—the last thing she wanted was to tell Mami, her aunt, and Marianne about it.



Kyouko gave her a soft look.



"I'm sorry," she said. "But like I said, it's important, and it will be more convincing if you say it without prompting from me. You can be brief."



Ryouko closed her eyes, turning her head to one side to draw in a breath. She reminded herself that there had been moments in her life where she had been forced to buckle down and do something, and that she made it through all of them. The wormhole mission, for example. This was only a sideshow in comparison.



She raised her head back up, trying not to look Mami in the eye.



"I was visited by the Goddess," she said, careful to speak about "the" rather than "a" Goddess. "She showed me a vision of a large group of magical girls on a cliff, under fire. Kyouko was there, and so were Shirou Asaka and Kishida Maki. We were attacked by a group of humans, who apparently had more weapons than they should have, and we were trying to evacuate into the ocean in a group of submarines. Kyouko was killed by laser fire from a submarine that shouldn't have been there."



She stopped, looking around at the reactions of the group of girls around her. All three of them, except for Kyouko, had gotten progressively more shocked, responding to phrases in Ryouko's explanation as if they were physically impactful.



Kyouko turned back to look at Mami, wearing a vaguely smug look but speaking carefully.



"You see?" Kyouko said. "Everything is as I said. You can see why I'm not hot on this submarine-magical girl invasion force plan you've got sketched out. I had my suspicions, but I was even more certain after hearing your plan. Something is wrong with that colony, and they're going to have more weapons than we expect, and the submarine thing isn't going to work out. We should also remove the people from the vision from the mission. Ryouko and I have to be here, but Asaka does not have to join. It'll be unusual, but we can reassign her at the last minute."



As Kyouko spoke, Mami gave her a look that was halfway between a glare and simple, deep-seated dissatisfaction.



"You're asking me to redesign this mission, because of a 'vision'"—and here Mami made physical air quotes with her hands—"and also arguing that you should stay, when if this vision were true, clearly the easiest way to protect you would be to leave you at home."



Ryouko looked around awkwardly for a place to sit, finally squeezing in between Nana and Marianne when they made a space open.



"We've been over this," Kyouko said. "We agreed if there's any chance of Homura being involved in this, I have to be here, because we're not getting you or Yuma to do this."



"But it's really more the changing of plans—"



"It's not completely impossible to imagine that Ryouko and Kyouko here are right," Marianne said, glancing out of the side of her eye at Mami's holographic avatar. "You were alive when precognitive magical girls such as Mikuni Oriko were still alive, and you Ancients still speak about intuition as if it is a real, useful thing. Is it that difficult to imagine that it might still be possible to view the future?"



"There are several alternate plans," Nana pointed, "other than the submarines. And for something as important as this, I'm sure the military can spare additional conventional forces. It doesn't have to be solely a magical girl operation."



Mami tilted her head, eyes closed, and Ryouko imagined that she could hear the field marshal gritting her teeth.

She opened her eyes again, fixing her gaze on Ryouko.



"Alright, I'll allow it, though I'm not happy with it. It is the reasonable thing to do. But, Shizuki-san, is it true? Do you believe in this Goddess?"

Ryouko sighed, looking down for a moment, then meeting Mami's gaze.



"I do," she said. "I've seen her too many times not to."



Mami closed her eyes, seemingly about to say something, but then paused—perhaps listening to an internal voice. Then, with some reluctance:



"My TacComp just suggested something. Does yours have any access to the memory of this 'vision'? I know it hasn’t been possible before, but it could be different with a Version Two, and it’d be easier to justify this change of plans if we had the actual memory."



Ryouko was really starting to regret coming to this meeting.



"Well, uh… sort of," she finally said. A collage of interest stared back at her: a calculating Nana, an intense Marianne, a conflicted Mami, and, worst of all, a nearly predatory Kyouko.



The following quiet was shorter than it felt. Of all people, Marianne suddenly seemed ready to say something, only to stop short when another voice cut in.



To be exact, Clarisse thought while simultaneously identifying herself to the group as the TacComp in question, I can access the memories, but they’re resistant to just about every form of manipulation or transmission I’ve tried. To even review a vision with Ryouko means directly stimulating her brain with my own personal recreation of the memory.



"Well," Mami began, "it was worth a shot. I suppose the meeting is dismissed. I have to—"



"Wait just a moment!" Kyouko interjected. "This is a big deal! A vision has never been independently confirmed like this; the Theological Council will be desperate to interview Clarisse, and if there’s any way to share vision memories the Church can figure it out."



"You’re going to ask a TacComp to join your cult?" Marianne finally cut in. "If anything, this confirms the secular nature of visions. Why would a magical girl goddess reveal her visions to anyone other than a magical girl?"



"Please, I don’t want to hear another argument about this," Mami said, barely preempting whatever retort Kyouko had ready… and entirely failing to prevent Kyouko from turning on her instead.



"This is different! You have to see that—"



"Sakura-san, we’re already changing the operation," Nana said, the only girl apparently unperturbed by the escalating conversation. "There’s no need—"



"There’s no need to involve your nonsense!" Marianne said loudly. "I—"



Sorry, Ryouko, but I think I’d better say something here, Clarisse thought.



Wait! Ryouko thought desperately.



I’d be happy to talk to Sakura-san and Ryouko about possibly getting the memory to you, Mami-san, Clarisse thought, interrupting a now nearly shouting Marianne.



But you should know that this vision really was from the Goddess. I wasn’t installed at that time, but I was there for the later visions. She’s real.



Clarisse performed the mental equivalent of sucking in a breath. This made her, for a moment, the only one still breathing.



And furthermore, I’ve been talking to Machina and we agree that you should really reconsider visiting the Ribbon. Between Orpheus and, now, X-25, it’s clear that this subject isn’t going to go away. Just go and settle it.



It’s true, Machina thought into the still stunned silence, If there really is a goddess influencing military affairs like this—and today’s revelations do make that seem more likely—then it makes sense to investigate.



Ryouko’s head sank into her hands. A moment passed.



"Damn," Kyouko said with a sudden, toothy grin, "Why didn’t you introduce me to Clarisse sooner, Ryouko? I think I’m gonna like her."





The Chamber of the Ribbon was unusually empty.



"Just go up to it and close your eyes!" one figure called out to the only other. "Don’t overthink it!"



She stared at the little red ribbon. She hadn’t seen it since… well… nevermind.



She closed her eyes.



...



"It’s nice to see you again, Mami-san," said the Goddess.