Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  The four Scholars giggled at the view as they stared down. The workers beneath had to practically crawl to lower the top tier enough to get it under each door.

  Bret called down to her. His high-pitched and squeaky voice echoed along the Eternium walls and again filled Alex with a strange sense of unease that she couldn't quite place.

  When she heard Bret speak, she knew what people meant when they said someone was walking over their grave.

  "We heard you were discussing how to deal with the quakes! Mind if we join in?"

  The frog-faced man sneered down at her.

  "Why didn't you invite Plenty's greatest thinkers? Were you scared we'd pop a hole in your brainwashing? Were you scared we'd notice you useless you are? All the greatest thinkers were invited to the Council. You're just a stupid librarian!"

  Nico's mom and her friend stood and applauded.

  But Alice and Laura were giggling through their tears.

  "Your voice is so stupid!"

  Her other students burst into laughter.

  Anders roared, his stern-face turning beet red as spittle flew from his mouth.

  "Silence! Know your place! Show some respect!"

  He turned up towards her, his narrowed eyes burning with anger.

  "What have you been teaching these brats?"

  Munch leaned over in his chair.

  "Your teacher is a failure! She's just a stupid librarian! Bret is a member of the Council of Scholars! She doesn't know anything!"

  Alex stared at the Council, at the bizarre stage their servants were still carrying forward.

  The beat of her heart was steady and even.

  She flickered through the notes on her desk. She could feel the fibers of the page against her fingerprints. Her fingers were alive. When she touched the podium, blue drops danced into the air.

  It was so strange.

  She'd been so much more anxious before when it was just her students.

  But this was different. The podium had become a Paragon's cockpit. Stock had paid these people to come here and sabotage her meeting.

  This was a duel, not a class.

  CHAPTER 20: JUST A LIBRARIAN

  Bret squeaked and squeaked. The echo of his voice against the Eternium walls nudged Alex out of her concentration. Each word was a faint poke at the back of her mind, an incessant pushing that told her something was out of the ordinary.

  Where had she heard his voice before?

  "This event is ridiculous! A discussion on what the legends of Old Earth can teach us about the quakes? What are you trying to do here? Captain Ray told everyone to get the hell off of the planet. Do you think he would have been saying something like 'no wait! It's storytime!' Of course, he wouldn't. That's nonsense!"

  The men standing by his side guffawed. Nico's mom and her friend shook their heads in disgust. Bret pointed angrily at the man with the military haircut.

  "Mr. Munch is an expert on the legends, and he's concluded the only thing any reasonable person would conclude. Director Stock is Captain Ray come again. We must all unite behind him to get back to Old Earth. Anyone saying or doing otherwise is just going to kill us all!"

  He rampaged on before Alex could even take a breath.

  "You're just wasting your time here! You need to get a real job! Southern Robotics is willing to hire anyone - even a stupid librarian! All of these kid's parents are investigating the source of the quakes. You should be there too! Instead, you're wasting your time sitting around filling people's heads with nonsense. I've heard about the lies you told in your previous classes. That there are dangers to creating Eternium? That Captain Ray wanted to take everyone with him? Mr. Munch knows that this is a load of shit. All you have are lies! They fall apart as soon as you look at the facts! You're brainwashing these kids! You're leading them towards a lifetime of worshiping mediocrity! What are you going to attack next? The Paragons themselves? Who do you think you are anyways to attack the Paragons? Do you know what Southern Robotics has done for humanity? You're just a librarian! You're just a stupid book clerk! You shouldn't be saying anything!"

  Bret was speaking very quickly, spewing the words out of his mouth in a nonstop barrage. He gave Alex no time to defend herself.

  Her mind whirled just trying to process it all.

  He'd accused her of lying about the legends.

  He'd accused her of wasting everyone's time.

  He'd accused her of not doing anything about the quakes.

  Alex grimaced.

  There was nothing she could say about that. That accusation was true, even if nothing else was.

  He'd accused her of deceiving her students.

  He'd accused her of hating the Paragons.

  Alex opened her mouth again, but Bret wasn't done yet.

  "No wonder you're lying to these kids. You know that when Director Stock finally brings us back to Old Earth, useless lying librarians aren't going to make the cut. You hope that if you trick enough of these kids, they'll beg their useful parents to take you with them. You're using them as human shields!"

  What?

  Human shields?

  Southern Robotics wanted her students to sleep on the streets! And they'd done something to their parents. She didn't know what yet, but those messages couldn't be ordinary.

  But now she realized what Bret was doing. She'd seen this technique in the simulator before. It was almost always used by low-ranked pilots. He was just spraying and praying, firing out as many arguments as he could in the hopes that she couldn't respond to all of them in time.

  She looked out at her students. Some of them were rattled.

  Nico's mom and her friend looked very impressed, and Alex couldn't blame them.

  Bret had put out an undeniably impressive number of accusations, and he spoke with such confidence that it seemed like he had to be correct.

  It was time for her to strike back. A single well-placed blow always cut through a hail of haphazard bullets. She just had to make sure her words struck true.

  Alex pounded the flat of her hand against the podium until the melodic drumming drowned out Bret's rapid-fire squeal.

  "Are you going to let me talk?"

  Anders leaped to his friend's defense.

  "What are you doing? Know your place! Why are you interrupting him? No wonder your students are such brats if you act like that!"

  Her breath caught in her throat. She felt a blush blooming on her cheeks.

  It was hard arguing with them. Alex didn't like interrupting. But they'd interrupted her first by barging into her reading room!

  "What the hell are you saying? Is this a fucking joke? You barged into the middle of my class to start arguing with me, and now you're accusing me of interrupting?"

  Her students laughed.

  Alex's heart beat faster. Excitement surged through her like a rushing river. Landing a good point was almost as good as striking an accurate blow with her Paragon's sky blue sword.

  Bret glowered at her.

  "Ok, fine. You get a chance to respond."

  Alex took a deep breath to try and marshal her thoughts. She didn't know where to start.

  There was an awkward silence.

  The Scholars began to snicker.

  Alex rushed forward, afraid of losing her chance, worried that she'd look foolish if she thought for too long.

  "You know what, Bret? I also think we should use all our resources to investigate the quake. How can you say we're doing that if we have people sleeping on the streets? How can you think of good ideas if you're sleeping on the streets? And there's an easy way to fix this! Just cancel the simulator tournament! Why do we need -"

  Bret cut her off.

  "Again! Again with your nonsense! Build homes! Cancel the simulator tournament! Always questioning Captain Stock's decisions! Always trying to sow doubt and discord when humanity needs to be unified!"

  He waved his finger angrily back and forth. Spit flew from his lips.

  "Stop holding back your st
udents! Stop using them as human shields! Stop encouraging them to worship mediocrity! You're just going to get them culled when it's finally time to deal with overpopulation! Just read the note! It will be a humanity transforming event! You want to stop a humanity transforming event!"

  Alex didn't understand what he was saying.

  How was she using her kids as shields? She just wanted to give them homes!

  She didn't even know what they were arguing about.

  She didn't want the tournament to happen. She didn't care about this event Bret kept rattling on about.

  Couldn't Southern Robotics just host the event without going through all the trouble of a giant simulator tournament? The prize money was just lying around!

  And what was this about overpopulation?

  Bret's annoying squeal cut clean through her swirling thoughts.

  "Prove it! Prove it! Prove you aren't using your students as shields! Say that even if one of them gave you the chance to go to Old Earth, you'd still refuse! Say it!"

  What?

  Why would she refuse?

  Everyone wanted to go to Old Earth.

  What was he saying?

  Bret whirled to her students.

  "See? Look! She's using you! I just proved it! She just wants you guys to beg your parents to take her to Old Earth! Look! She can't answer!"

  Of course she couldn't answer.

  She was still trying to figure out what the hell he was saying!

  But she certainly wasn't using her kids as shields!

  Alarmed, Alex opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, her students started jeering at him. Their traces of doubt from before had vanished in an instant.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Of course, I'd take Ms. Alex to Old Earth!"

  He scowled.

  "She's brainwashed you! She's just using you and your parents!"

  None of them listened to what he said. Soon, all of her students were yelling. Most of them were just insulting Bret, calling him short or ugly or screaming that his voice was annoying. Soon the other members of the Council were shouting too. And then her co-workers joined in, standing and yelling to make their own points.

  The words all jumbled together.

  Bret waved his little finger at her again, spitting furiously as he scolded her.

  "Evil! Evil! What you've done to these kids is evil!"

  Alex felt like her brain was on fire.

  She sifted through Bret's torrent of words, trying her best to get back on track.

  She'd been wrong. This wasn't like a Paragon duel at all. It wasn't even a debate or argument. He was just shouting out accusations and giving her no time to respond.

  "All you're doing is selfishly holding humanity back! Captain Stock wants to host a humanity changing event. But you want to distract people. You want to brainwash kids, so you have a free ticket to Old Earth!"

  Alex shouted in frustration.

  "I just think we should rebuild houses instead of hosting a simulator tournament!"

  Bret shouted down to the thin man with tangled hair.

  "Allen! Allen! Look up where she lives! Find out of her house got destroyed!"

  When the thin man nodded, all the Scholars started shouting at once.

  "I knew it! I knew it! You only care about yourself!"

  "It's all for her own house! She doesn't care about you!"

  "Selfish bitch!"

  "What? No! It's for my students! I'm happy living in the Spire!"

  The Council burst into laughter.

  "The Spire! She's living in the Spire!"

  "Oh, man. Who's going to tell her!"

  Bret sneered.

  "Well, if that's good enough for you, why isn't that good enough for your students?"

  What?

  It was so hard to wrap her head around what Bret was saying.

  Of course, she didn't want her students to live in the Spire! She wanted them to live in a nice and comfortable home! And even if they did want to live in the Spire, they should at least get the choice to live elsewhere!

  None of what Bret said made sense once she thought about it, but by then, he was already moving on to the next nonsensical statement.

  She was just about to open her mouth and say so when the Scholars suddenly stood up and turned away from her. They bowed deeply, going even past their waists.

  "Sir!"

  Some of her students were gesturing excitedly. Others glared and muttered. Nico's mom and her friend imitated the Scholars' deep bow.

  Alex turned.

  In the middle of their argument, someone else had entered the Spire.

  Irl Stock, Jr. was standing in the entrance to her reading room.

  ____

  "What else are you going to make me do with my money?"

  Dark eyes filled with hatred glowered at her from underneath a strangely exposed forehead. Stock's hair was cut so a perfect square framed his face.

  Alex frowned.

  She'd never looked carefully at pictures of Stock. She just hadn't cared very much for him. But now that he was right in front of her, she recognized that style at once.

  It was from the twentieth page of Famous Paragons and Pilots. One of the Mad Nobles had a haircut just like it, a deep square-shaped cut that sharply framed the forehead.

  Alex frowned.

  Why would someone emulate a haircut from the hated Mad Nobles?

  Stock's voice turned even angrier.

  "You! You! What are you frowning at!"

  Alex cursed herself for getting distracted.

  She could not be disrespectful to Stock.

  He had the resources to fix the devastated homes immediately. He could free her student's parents from work.

  It'd be hard, but she had to try and convince him.

  He didn't give her a chance to speak.

  "I heard the nonsense you were saying. How dare you? You want me to build homes instead of embracing greatness? Do you know who I am?"

  He lifted a finger high in the air.

  "I'm going to be merciful. I'll give you one chance to take it all back. It's more than you deserve. Get off that podium and bow. No! Kneel. No! Lie on the floor. Yes! Lie on the floor, take back everything you said, and beg for mercy. Do it! Do it now!"

  His eyes bulged out from beneath his square-framed forehead.

  Alex took a deep breath then spurred herself on, pushing past her doubt and anxiety.

  She did her best to sound polite and pleasant. Her best chance was still to convince him somehow.

  "I stand by what I said. The efforts to investigate the quakes would be much stronger if everyone could get involved. It's hard to focus when you don't have anywhere to live! We should -"

  He cut her off, screaming and shouting and jumping up and down. Alex gaped at him, doing her best to keep the surprise off her face. He didn't look like a successful businessman. He looked like a giant baby throwing a fit.

  "How dare you? How dare you question me. Bret just destroyed you! I heard your little argument! He destroyed you! He left you totally speechless! He exposed you for the fraud you are! I'm Captain Stock! I'm god! You're just a stupid librarian!"

  The Council hastened to agree with their boss.

  "Who do you think you are? You're just a librarian!"

  "Apologize at once!"

  "How dare you insult humanity's greatest hope!"

  "Do you know who he is? He is Director - no, I mean Captain - Stock! The greatest inventor in human history!"

  Then her students started shouting back.

  Mrs. T and Emile leaped onto the round table to make themselves heard.

  "Who do you think you are barging in like this?"

  "Criminal! Criminal! You're just a criminal!"

  Just like before, everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs before long as Alex watched in stunned silence.

  Stock screeched with the best of them. Sweat glistened on his prominent forehead.

  "Who do
you think you are? Do you know who I am? I'm the Director-Captain of Southern Robotics! I'm going to be god! You're nothing to me! Nothing! I'd like to see you create a Paragon. I'd like to see you try and fight a Southern Robotics Paragon. I'll kill you on the spot! On the very spot! None of you should ever dare talk back to me! None of you!"

  The noise rang over and over again in her ears. Her heart pounded in her chest and a sour lump formed at the back of her throat.

  The noise was completely overwhelming.

  Alex felt like she was going to faint.

  She leaned into her podium.

  How had everything fallen apart so quickly?

  She just wanted to have a class, but Bret spent the whole time screaming insults at her.

  Once she finally started getting the hang of arguing with Bret, Stock came in.

  She just wanted this to stop.

  The podium flared and burned. Blue light flashed, and her hands sunk into the holy metal, just like what happened to the entrances of the book-corridors.

  She let out a cry of surprise and jerked her hands back. The blue vanished. Her prints stayed there, permanently engraved on the forever black.

  It was just like the book-corridor entrances.

  Her students gaped.

  "Ms. Alex! What was that?"

  "Did you see that?"

  Stock stopped yelling.

  "You! You! What was that!"

  He ran up to her, everything else wholly forgotten.

  "What was that?"

  He jammed his face right in front of hers, so close that she could see every drop of sweat on his square-framed brow.

  "Do that again! Do it!"

  Alex recoiled in surprise. Stock leaned in even closer. His face was poisonous with greed.

  "Did you hear me? Do that again!"

  She heard Mrs. T and Emile yelling.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Get away from her!"

  Alex tried using the podium to push herself away from him. She'd only meant to get away, but the metal responded to her touch.

  The blue coiled again. Tendrils snaked out and shoved Stock to the floor.

  He let out a yelp of surprise.

  The Council wailed.

  "Director-Captain! Director-Captain! Are you alright!"