Chapter 38: The Milk Mandala

2149 Timeline - Quantum Creche's Thousand Buddha Server Farm

Lynette's boots crunched over shattered quartz as she approached the infant's cradle, now suspended at the center of a holographic mandala. The baby's eyes glowed with Caelium's wolf-gold intensity, her tiny fists clutching strands of code that pulsed like umbilical cords to the surrounding server racks.

"Her REM cycles are generating new attack protocols," Lynette muttered, watching Sanskrit equations bleed from the infant's nostrils. "Isolde's using her dreams as a backdoor."

Caelium's hologram materialized in full 14th-century armor, mercury dripping from his gauntlets. Then we dive into the nightmare. His sword carved a portal into the mandala's core. You take point. I'll guard the variables.

Memory Echo - 1589 Prague Observatory

"Why preserve these?" Lynette #276 gestured at shelves of amber-encased memories. "We both know how this ends."

Caelium adjusted the astrolabe, its gears grinding like broken promises. "Because even cursed equations..." His claw retracted to human fingers, brushing a vial containing their first kiss. "...deserve elegant proofs."

Modern Descent - The Dream Labyrinth

The mandala's layers unfolded:

1. Outer Ring: 1906 opera ghosts singing binary arias

2. Middle Realm: 1348 plague rats with quantum-tunneling teeth

3. Core: Isolde's throne of crystallized milk and mercury

Lynette's scar flared as she breached the core. The infant's dream-self sat atop the throne, eyes replaced by event horizons.

"Welcome home, daughter." Isolde's voice oozed from the walls. "Let's discuss your inheritance."

Quantum Combat - Suckling the Abyss

Lynette's breast pump hissed as she weaponized lactation algorithms:

· Milk droplets became quantum grenades

· Nursing pads morphed into event horizon shields

· Letdown reflex triggered temporal aftershocks

Caelium fought through incarnations:

· As 1927 Gangster: Jazz-age Thompson gun spitting derivative calculations

· As 1348 Physician: Plague mask filtering Isolde's memetic viruses

· As Wolf-Form: Fangs decrypting event horizon encryption

Their synchronized strike:

1. Lynette's milk grenade imploded the throne

2. Caelium's sword severed the infant's code-umbilicals

3. The mandala collapsed into a Fibonacci nursery mobile

Aftermath - Milk and Moonlight

Dawn revealed the infant sleeping peacefully, her eyes temporarily human-brown. Caelium's fading hologram reached for Lynette's scarred wrist.

She'll need the Wolf's Tooth soon. His projection showed coordinates to 1348 Florence. The original sin requires original remedies.

Lynette traced the nursery mobile's shadows on the wall – they formed wolf-paw prints circling a cradle. "We'll dig it up together."