Chapter Text
Doc’s plan for season seven was the exact same as for the previous ones. He just wanted to spend some more time with Ren and build world-breaking machines that would usually put any other player into a coma. That included his admin, who despite having to fix whatever Doc decided to destroy for years now, was yet to be completely fine seeing the demolition and mess of a code that Doc turned redstone into. He got way too many speeches about the difficulty of fixing every server they started with Doc. Which to be honest, he broke a few too many to be surprised the admin had enough and was tired.
After a few seasons spent together, Xisuma was quite used to his players finding new ways to demolish the worlds or destroy whole chunks, but each time it was equally stressful to deal with, especially when it came to Doc’s machinery which despite breaking, was always a blow up hazard.
It always took the admin many sleepless nights to deal with the aftermath and even more days of whining from Keralis about not taking care of himself.
But this time, Doc’s new pet project was not supposed to break their home world and neither has he planned to use it to be a menace to his friends. Void, it was quite the opposite. With the right connections on the nether roof and some code magic sprinkled on top, the device would be able to teleport small objects and switch it with an item chosen in his communicator.
Doc grimaced silently. He could already hear Xisuma in his mind, scolding him for playing with magic he shouldn't touch unless absolutely necessary.
The machine was complicated compared to his regular farms that Doc was used to doing every season and could construct with his eyes closed. He didn’t believe that it would work, definitely not the first time and neither did the Hivemind. More than a half of them already fell asleep, too bored to continue watching him struggle with simple calculations. His tired mind couldn’t quite comprehend what his own hands were writing on the empty sheets.
The redstone dust was lazily laid out in complicated lines, completely uncovered. He thought about using some blocks to keep it in place, but finally dropped the idea. Not like he thought it would actually do something once he turned it on and it only would give him more work to check up what went wrong.
That’s why Doc hissed with surprise when after pulling a lever, the piston actually moved and his device crickled into life.
His ear flicked nervously and another surprised noise escaped him as he took a few steps back. The pistons moved loudly back and forth, dragging slime all over the floor with wet squelches. He winced at the uncomfortable noise. He was glad that Bdubs had already moved out of his side of the mansion, because he would not appreciate that noise in the middle of night. Especially Bdubs, out of all the Hermits on the server.
He looked back at the level, considering turning it off for the night and just picking up where he left it in the morning. The blocks wouldn’t stop, not when the redstone lines shone brightly with power, bringing a constant buzzing noise in the room. He quietly observed everything that was happening, the note app on his communicator filling with more information.
If he were to destroy yet another chunk of the server, at least he wanted to know what went wrong and maybe avoid the same mistake in the future.
His curiosity turned into suspicion after he noticed the air around the plant he put inside the machine started to glitch. The green and purple lines of code were flashing, replacing the flower for a second, just to reveal the pot once again after another moment. The process repeated, faster and faster with each time until the lines mixed into one and the box started flashing bright, white light.
The language he used would earn him at least a long scolding from most Hermits when he started to get closer to inspect the problem. Sure, maybe he played with code of the shulker box filled with his redstone, but it was purely so the machine could recognize items that were inside the tube and what Doc wanted to get around the server. Who would blame him? He might be a crazy scientist, but he didn’t really want to unravel codes of given things!
Doc was somewhat glad he didn’t test it on himself if that was the case.
And Xisuma would definitely blame him if something terrible was about to happen to him or any other Hermit. Of course after helping him to the best of his abilities, but the scolding would be harsh.
The machine made an especially loud buzzing noise and Doc sighed. It sounded like everything would explode in mere seconds. The device wasn’t done anyway, not much would be lost, but he’d rather not have the room covered with soot and black marking. If the room survived the explosion in the first place.
The goat pulled the lever right back up and waited a second for the redstone to stop transferring energy.
He stood straight and pulled the pickaxe from his inventory when the machine didn’t stop. It was quite the opposite, the noise of redstone working worsened and after a while, got replaced by the wailing of wind that suddenly picked up on speed. Doc turned around, but the door outside and every window was closed off. His hair and fur moved violently despite that fact.
“Shit…” he murmured and looked down at his communicator. He wasn’t messing up the code of the whole server too much or Xisuma would be already texting him in panic. “What the hell is going on?”
He wasn’t one to get scared easily. Usually, it was Doc who was the one to cause fear in others. His height, strength and an unusual appearance was the reason why people at the Main Hub would stare and rush away if caught in act, causing him to feel a spark of pride. But he couldn’t deny that his heart picked up on speed as he frowned at the sight in front of him. The dust still somehow passed a signal, even when it was moved across the whole room by wind.
It was against every rule of the universe and everything Doc learned about redstone in his long life, yet it was still happening right in front of him.
Everything stopped suddenly when both the flower and pot disappeared into the thin air with just a few particles, similar to those of enderman, taking away the flashing code as well. Doc stared at it expectantly, waiting for something more to happen. His heartbeat was drumming in throat and he could hear his own blood rushing through his body. The silence was deaf in his ears after the chaos.
The machine was set to replace the object inside with wool, something super common on Hermitcraft. Most of the players already had their own sheep farm or at least some spare blankets; it shouldn’t be hard to obtain, not with Cleo of all people on the server. Yet, nothing happened. The buzzing of hot redstone was still there, but much too quiet to get Doc’s attention.
He sighed disappointed. His pickaxe felt way too heavy in his hands when he went to mine the observers and pistons.
It was late at night and he spent the last thirty or so hours doing advanced math. Even Hivemind, except for singular voices that murmured something to each other with disappointment, went to sleep already. His head was pleasantly quiet. He dropped the tool back into his inventory. He’d try again tomorrow, with a fresh mind and some voices of actually competent entities and not tired-drunk ones that wouldn't have a clue about redstone even if fully rested.
There must’ve been an error in his redstone, he did those lines quite messily or maybe the power cut off too early from lines being moved too much. He probably should have covered them with some glass. But everything like that was for future Doc to check out and eventually fix.
For now it was time to put away all his shulker boxes, give up and rest for a bit, before going back to work. Maybe Ren would be up to some late night hangout until they fall asleep, they haven’t got a chance to meet like that in quite a while.
Doc barely laid his hand on the handle of the door when he heard his machine crackle back into life. He quickly glanced towards his inventory and the lever that was safely stored there, right next to the enchanted pickaxe. He took it just in case a too curious Hermit got inside while he was away, but if the lever was still inside, why would it-
His breath hitched.
The lights of flashing code lines that followed the noise were the exact same as before, but the sound… when earlier it was just loud, now it was actively hurting Doc’s ears. The code started to glitch once again, but this time there was no object to teleport, no code to delete. Those lines that appeared, the numbers were put in unknown to Doc combination as he tried to read it.
With each passing second, the redstone was getting back its energy, buzzing louder than previously. The lines were brightly red, threatening to catch on fire or explode at any minute. The panic that settled in Doc’s chest was stronger now that he realized his ears started ringing.
If the machine actually glitched some important part of the server’s code, Xisuma would straight up kill him. And then some other people would help him out if the changes affected their builds or bigger projects. He was about to pull out his communicator once again, when something inside the tube drew his attention.
It was a light.
Or more clearly, lack of the pure, white light that appeared when the plant started to glitch. The air that was being pumped inside the machine out of nowhere laid low on the ground and slowly climbed higher and higher towards the ceiling. It was thick and dark, despite the room being nicely lit up with lanterns that Bdubs insisted for days on adding.
It reminded the goat of the void that surrounded each world. The air outside the bedrock underneath their world was impossible to breathe for most creatures and the rest of the species were able to spend just a few moments there without dying of suffocation. Xisuma was one of the very few people Doc ever got to meet that enjoyed being in void. Not a lot of voidlings decided to leave it in the first place, entities like him were a rarity in the Web.
The dark cloud made Doc unable to see what was happening inside the machine, but there were a few noises. It sounded like multiple voices, speaking a language that he couldn’t understand. After he tuned out the rest of the noise, it was more like uncomfortable whispers and rustles rather than an actual spoken language.
The noise echoed inside his head and Doc could already feel the migraine build up by every second he spent here.
The wind slowed down and the redstone, once again, started to lose its power. These were the only signs the creeper got before it absolutely turned off. He looked around briefly, at all the redstone he’d have to sweep later. It was in every, even the smallest, crevice in the room. The thick air inside started to slowly disappear, like nothing even happened in the first place.
Doc took a quick and sharp breath in when the inside finally cleared out, leaving only a silhouette of a person inside.
But if it was just a fellow Hermit he wouldn’t care that much. Most people here wore clothes made by Cleo and they preferred to make them out of soft wool. Maybe the machine didn’t read the code properly, took any woolen item and accidentally brought a person wearing it as well. He’d understand if that was the case and just apologize to the Hermit, promised some recompensation and move on. The literally worst case scenario would be accidentally kidnapping Zed due to his sheep hybrid status and wool that grew on some parts of his body. It would add much more work on the coding side of the machine.
But no, not this time. His breath got taken away after recognizing the cloak that covered its whole body. The dark and rich purple with a white symbol on the back.
A Watcher.
He hissed angrily as his ear lashed out.
His machine somehow teleported a whole Watcher onto Hermitcraft, despite the firewall and many protection spells that were put on the server by Xisuma. It should’ve been stopped in the Deep Void before even spawning in the Web. Yet, here it was, unconscious on the floor. At least Doc hoped it was unconscious, he wasn’t nearly prepared to deal with a Watcher in this small room with just his pickaxe and some redstone in inventory.
Docm77: I might need some help in the lab
Xisuma: Doc, it’s almost 2am
Xisuma: Why are you awake?
Docm77: Just come here and I’ll explain everything
Docm77: Please, don’t be mad.
He winced silently at the wording. It would only make Xisuma extra worried and he would most definitely still be furious to see it here.
The hybrid put away his communicator back into his inventory. He shouldn’t get close to the entity. Watchers, no matter if asleep, unconscious or fully aware, were always a danger to be reckoned with. Every player that moved servers at least once was made aware of that, either by their parents or the admin of their first server. But a groan of pain and a quickly covered… some sort of noise made Doc’s curiosity win over his reason. The entity curled up into a ball even more, as if feeling the scientist’s intention.
Doc was never really good at following rules. Perhaps, that’s why he was kicked out of so many servers and partially why X to this day ends up having to fix so many broken worlds.
The creeper opened the door of the machine and waited a moment for anything. Mostly at a quick lunge and an attack or the eyes to open and look him straight into the soul to get inside his head. But there was nothing. The figure twitched at the crack of doors when they were finally unlocked after that show, but it stayed still on the floor.
“No, I don’t know how to deal with you.” Doc murmured and he nudged the entity with his shoe. Another pained groan was barely heard, mostly due to its face being covered by a fabric and a porcelain mask.
Despite the sound being quiet, it still made Doc tense. Something in his gut told him to stop, move back towards the door and wait for Xisuma outside of the room. He shook his head and took a step closer to the entity. He had a few minutes before X arrived. He leaned over the figure and with one move, he shifted the fabric around. He wanted to pull it back entirely, but Doc stumbled back with surprise when he was instantly greeted with colorful wings covering its trembling body before he even managed to uncover its head.
That was… definitely new. Every drawing of the Watchers he saw in the books was like a replica of other pictures from different perspectives. No one survived a meeting with a Watcher close enough to tell the difference between individuals. Their whole bodies, including faces, were covered by those purple cloaks. And if it wasn’t enough during a fight, they had those hunting white masks with black symbols painted on them. But the wings, no matter what book you read, were always purple with eyes wide open on each feather. They allowed the entities to enter the player’s mind and read their code like an open book.
Those were… not like anything he expected.
He wanted to pry further and touch it again, but the sound of rockets outside his base kept his hands away from the colourful feathers. He moved back out of the tube and quickly opened the door, inviting the admin inside.
The man didn't have his bee suit on. Clearly caught off guard after the notification popped on his communicator, he couldn’t find time to get his bee outfit or mask, instead opting for his regular clothes and enchanted armour.
Xisuma already had the panel opened, searching for any glitches in chunks or other code problems as he passed Doc in the doorway. His head snapped up to ask clearly what went wrong, but before he got to say a word, his eyes widened in pure shock as he noticed the figure laying in front of him.
“Doc, you have exactly five seconds to explain what you have done.” he gritted out; the usual gentle calmness in his voice was now forced.
“Alright, I know that this might look bad-” the creeper snapped his mouth closed as he noticed the admin’s left eye twitch through the visor in the helmet. The voidling leaned back slowly, waiting for his friend to continue. “Okay, it is bad. But I promise that it wasn't my intention. I wouldn't bring anyone outside Hermitcraft here, especially not…”
He trailed off weakly, looking back at the Watcher once again. It looked so peaceful and perhaps even a bit pathetic laying like that, though it probably passed out only from being teleported from wherever those monsters lived. Not that it mattered at all, the entities tended to heal quite quickly and it would surely be up and running in no time.
And then they’d all be in trouble. Keeping Watchers out of the server isn’t nearly as hard as getting Them out of it. Neither of the players in the room were sure if Xisuma himself would be able to do that if more than one appeared right here.
“A Watcher.” Xisuma finished his sentence with a hard glare. He then took a few steps closer to the tube, inspecting the entity from a safe enough distance. Doc moved out of the way, keeping quiet. “You somehow brought an entire Watcher onto my server. Mind you, one that I spend months putting on special protection spells against Them. And you expect me to stay calm. Doc, you know how dangerous They are!”
He knew. So did many of Hermits who faced and fought them before they joined Hermitcraft. They were all promised a safe heaven and with it on the server-
The hybrid decided to stay silent. He stood to the side, waiting for any further instructions. His eyes wandered between the tube and walls, anything to avoid making eye contact with the admin. Xisuma seemed to need a moment to shout at him. Not that Doc would hold a grudge against him for that, after bringing that monster onto their server, their home, he absolutely deserved those words. He just looked at the entity, defeated.
Xisuma’s hands hovered over that small body. From that angle, the creeper couldn't read his eyes and what emotions the admin felt so Doc stayed anxiously next to a wall. His gloved finger brushed over the ledge of the colorful wing, so gently Doc wouldn't believe he was touching a monster he so desperately hated. But then, almost like he shook himself out of a trance of some sort, X grabbed it by its arms and dragged it outside the machine. He hesitated for a moment as he picked up his communicator from the floor and glanced towards Doc. He then texted someone and waited for a ping of response. It was clearly something positive enough to make Xisuma hum with satisfaction, even in those conditions.
“I’ll reinforce the building with some more spells and we’ll keep it here for the time being. But I need to call for a meeting with Hermits sometime soon first. They need to know what’s happening.”