Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  That was what Jon thought anyways.

  He wished him the best.

  But it'd be nice to see him again.

  He didn't know which was worse – Southern Robotics guns or the ground exploding beneath your feet. It sounded like you'd be good and dead either way.

  If the world was going to end no matter what, Jon just wanted to see his brother again.

  What would Fred say?

  Or rather, what argument would even Fred have to listen to?

  His brother had this strange way of finding his way to the truth of things, a way to speak a word or phrase or sentence that would convince Jon he was right. It'd always leave Jon scrambling to catch up.

  Mr. Chen had done the same thing by insisting that leaving The Wastes was a more significant threat than hiding inside. It was harder to adapt to a gun in your face than a quake.

  Fred almost always got him with those kinds of arguments, but there were times when Jon could say something to shut him up.

  His brother would stop arguing at once.

  Sometimes he'd get mad and storm away. That was when Jon knew he'd somehow stumbled on the right thing to say, that he'd somehow stumbled onto a point that not even Fred could argue against.

  That's what he needed right now.

  Mr. Chen and his supporters sat politely and waited for him to speak. They were against him, but they weren't going to jeer at him. None of them mocked him for his age either, even though he was arguing against the most respected man in their community.

  People in The Wastes knew they had to stick together. They knew they had to listen to what everyone had to say.

  And then he saw it.

  The thought scared him.

  Part of his brain felt like it'd gone cold.

  It wasn't just that the quakes were different.

  Even if it wasn't the quakes that killed them, they needed to escape The Wastes as soon as possible.

  "Mr. Chen. You made a good point earlier. It's harder to adjust to a Southern Robotics gun than a quake. After all, we're already working on the quakes. We might still adapt."

  Their experiments had thus far been unsuccessful, but nobody could doubt their ingenuity and diligence. At the moment, they were trying to pierce through to the Eternium core and build a sturdier foundation for their homes. They didn't have the tools, but they were still fighting, still trying.

  The people of The Wastes always fought. They always adapted.

  "But it's easier to adjust to Southern Robotics now than later. Think about it. They've already locked us away. We thought that was the end of it, so we adjusted. Now they started the quakes. We will almost certainly adjust to it too. But I don't think it'll be the end. Will we adjust to the next thing? What about the thing after that? What if they do an experiment where they just blow up the Block?"

  The whole room began to murmur.

  Mr. Chen looked at him with keen interest.

  "As long as we stay here, we are totally under their power. And even worse, nobody else knows about us. Think about it. The people on the outside think what happened to us was an accident! They probably think the quakes were an accident too! We need to let them know what's happening. Going outside is frightening. We might just get shot. But it's our only chance. If we stay here and hide, we have no chance at all. We're just at Stock's mercy, and we know he's not a merciful man."

  Jon let out a long and shaky breath when he finished.

  Mr. Chen smiled.

  He thought for a long time. Then he pointed at the people sitting behind Jon.

  "You have all the young on your side."

  The older man laughed a little.

  "I thought it was just because of their rashness. But you're right. For your future, this is something we must do."

  Mr. Chen stood up.

  "Gather up as much scrap metal as possible. We'll need shields. When we're ready, I'll open the Gate."

  That was the real miracle of The Wastes. The most respected man of all was willing to listen to just a little boy.

  ____

  The thick Gate opened.

  The light was blinding.

  Based on Mr. Chen's predictions, there should have been an entire force of Southern Robotics workers waiting on the other side, armed to the teeth and ready to attack them.

  They flinched as they stepped outside, cowering beneath the thick metal sheets they'd harvested as shields.

  But there were no guards.

  There were no people at all.

  The entire Block was abandoned.

  Noise poured down from the sky.

  "What the hell?"

  "What is that?"

  The sky was the first thing they all noticed.

  Four men sat on top of a monstrous table. It was strange to describe a table as monstrous, but that's what it was. It was built from gleaming black Eternium, and it was all weird and twisted with strange monsters drawn all over the side.

  "Come to the Spire! The simulator tournament will be the greatest event in the colony – no in humanity's – history! It will be a humanity transforming event! I repeat! It will be a humanity transforming event!"

  "Yes! Captain Stock has completely outdone himself. I've seen what he's planning for us all, and it's certainly something that nobody will ever forget! How wonderful! An unforgettable humanity transforming event!"

  That must have been where everyone was.

  They must be at the Spire.

  The twisting tower was the second thing they all saw.

  Seeing it in life drove home the building's enormous size and precarious design in a way that the pictures never quite could.

  The twisting and turning tower of black metal soared so high into the sky that Jon could see it from miles and miles away. At countless points in its winding ascension, the Spire looked like it should fall over. Sometimes it was leaning so significantly to one side it looked horizontal.

  Jon gaped.

  His parents cursed in shock at the sight.

  There was only a moment of deliberation before even they all agreed on what they had to do.

  They'd already come out, and anyone could see that the Gate had been opened. They could huddle here and wait for Southern Robotics to return, or they could go to The Spire and present their case before the whole colony.

  The secret of The Wastes had been lost to everyone. It'd been a perfect cover-up, but they would not allow that to continue.

  Everyone would see exactly where trusting Southern Robotics had taken Block 12. They'd tell everyone at the event. The company was strong, but it couldn't hold if everyone stood against it together. Block 12 had been one of the most prosperous Blocks with countless Southern Robotics workers. They'd wound up first trapped in the darkness and then nearly dead due to the quakes.

  Just looking through the Gate was a lesson in and of itself. On one side was the palatial splendor of Block 1. On the other was the rotting ruin of The Wastes, which had once been nearly as beautiful.

  They all walked forward, carrying the evidence of the company's crimes in their starving forms and wretchedly pale skin.

  Jon led the way.

  If the whole colony was at the Spire, then maybe Fred was there too.

  CHAPTER 27: THE GHOST IN THE SPIRE, PART 2

  What was Stock planning?

  Alex peered outside constantly, but all she saw was the same thing day hour after hour.

  The Scholars sat at their table, spewing out nonsense. It was the same thing every day.

  Stock was a genius. Jared – who they called the Hands Paragon – was a small-minded idiot. She soon stopped listening.

  The Southern Robotics workers in their stiff white uniforms went from floor to floor, replacing the treasured tomes of the Spire with new books in sleek black covers. They placed the Eternium busts of Stock's head on every single story. Soon, his countless copies of his own head were looming down from the tall pillars - void black and burnt red.

  When he commanded them to attac
k her, he'd called the workers thralls and slaves.

  Something had been done to them, but Alex didn't know what. It was like they'd been programmed like robots.

  Stock himself only appeared occasionally.

  Sometimes he'd berate the Scholars, who cowered in his presence. Other times he just sat and giggled as he watched the workers decorate the library.

  "Finally! Finally! Finally, the workers I deserve! No attitude here! Yes! No attitude!"

  Every so often, he'd try to open the shelves just as Alex had done. He'd squeeze his eyes shut and slam his hands into the black Eternium, but always with the same result. Nothing would happen. Stock would rage. And then he'd command his servants to find her.

  The people Stock called his thralls couldn't twist the Eternium either, but they knew about the entrances. And over time, they dug a gaping hole on the second floor. They'd simply worked and worked with their hands, cutting them up and staining the bookshelf burnt red, until they finally cleared out a massive pathway.

  But there was nothing they could do to find her.

  Alex ducked through the trapdoors between floors and scampered up the shelves. When she had to, she'd just walk through the wall.

  The Eternium responded more quickly every time she touched it. Her mind was getting stronger and stronger. She was getting better at focusing. Her thoughts diffused through the metal faster and faster.

  Alex tapped the book-corridor shelf, and this time, the wall became the precise shade of blue as the core of fire.

  A platform emerged and carried her into the air.

  She created this sort of alcove – a half-floor – whenever she was reading.

  It gave her more options to escape. She could either push herself upward or escape through to the side of the wall. Alex pulled Mrs. T's heavy book out of her trusty bag.

  She often wondered how they were doing. Mrs. T. Mark. Emile. Margaret. And all her students. Even Nico's mom and her friend, who'd both argued against her.

  She wanted to send them a message, but the silence smothered her tablet, and Alex didn't dare step out of the book-corridors.

  There were so many people outside.

  So many hypnotized victims.

  So many even footsteps.

  She pushed the worries out of her mind. She was terrified for them, but she was still in the middle of a battle.

  She needed to discover what Stock was planning.

  He'd brainwashed all these people. He boasted that he was going to become a god. He idolized the Mad Nobles. But all he was doing was decorating the Spire. There had to be something more nefarious than an insane ego trip. He already had the sky singing his praises.

  Mrs. T's book might hold the answers.

  It was impossible to discuss Plenty's recent history without examining Southern Robotics. And it was impossible to examine Southern Robotics without investigating the rumors swirling around the company. Like most of Plenty's residents, Alex had always dismissed them as too outlandish. She remembered how Jared and his dad had sneered at the story of Block 12 as a conspiracy theory.

  But after seeing what'd happened right in front of her, Alex thought the conspiracy theories sounded very plausible. Stock had ordered the Scholars to shoot her. He commanded a brainwashed legion of workers who were hunting her down. His Eternium was soaked in blood.

  Alex wrapped her new cloak – the one made from the dissolved remains of Stock's false simulator pod – tightly around her. She twirled the bright blue metal in her hair, smiling at the warmth.

  Then she pulled out her familiar worn-out bookmark and started to read.

  "The most infamous rumor swirling around Southern Robotics is the destruction of Block 12. The Waters administration has always insisted that no evidence of wrong-doing was discovered after a rigorous colony-wide investigation. The experiment Paragon was destroyed because someone on Block 12 – not Southern Robotics, and certainly not Stock Jr. – made a mistake. Southern Robotics promptly ceased their production of the machine, fearing further pilot error. Unfortunately, the explosion had interacted negatively with the poorly maintained pipes on the Block. All the citizens died, and the area was sealed off for safety purposes."

  That didn't sound like Stock at all. The Stock she knew was the one who threw a fit during their simulator fight. He was the sort of man who cheated at simulator duels and cheated at life. If it was a pilot error, he wouldn't cancel production. He'd have the pilot imprisoned and plow on despite the risks.

  Mrs. T felt the same way.

  "An official picture of the prototype was provided to, and later deleted by, all of Plenty's news organizations. A copy of the schematics can be seen below."

  The proposed Paragon design was a nightmare. In an attempt to lighten the machine's weight without recreating Eternium, Stock had created a bare-bones rocket. There was only a tiny space for the pilot. The arms and legs were built out of gigantic fuel tanks. The inside of the cockpit had no vision at all. There was no panoramic view. There weren't even cameras. There was just a tiny slit the pilot was expected to peer out of as he flew.

  Worst of all, there was no steering gear. The machine's route had to be pre-set.

  The article lauded the design as a genius innovation. The headline shouted out in blaring bold font "The Next Great? Irl Stock Jr.'s Brilliant Invention!"

  The design was a death trap, and it'd exploded almost on its debut, injuring hundreds.

  "Despite the countless injuries, there was no evidence of a toxic gas leak or anything of the sort. In the days after the incident, posts on the Forums and even news interviews directly blamed Stock for the disaster. Block 12 hadn't even agreed to be the site of a test. A journalist discovered an internal memo where Stock Sr. simply told his son 'test your invention far away from my headquarters.' For a while, there was even speculation that Stock Jr. wouldn't be allowed to lead the company or that he might face prison time. But all that was soon forgotten. The Forum messages were deleted. The articles were retracted, and the journalists publicly apologized to Southern Robotics. And soon, Block 12 was sealed away."

  Mrs. T's description of Block 12 didn't sound like a conspiracy theory. It sounded like a cover-up. Alex couldn't believe nobody was talking about this. She couldn't believe so many people had already dismissed Block 12 as an insane conspiracy. It reminded the librarian of how so many people instantly agreed with Stock when he said building homes was a waste of his time.

  Alex shuddered at the thought of what happened to Block 12's surviving citizens. Hundreds had died in the crash, but thousands of people lived on every Block. Were they killed? Were they trapped when the Block was locked away?

  Stock would do anything to achieve his goals.

  The hidden librarian took a deep breath and set the book aside.

  She climbed down from her alcove and returned the books to their rightful place with a gentle push on the wall.

  To Stock, the black tower had only ever been a resource to harvest. In an earlier chapter, Mrs. T had documented the company's attempts to mine the Spire. Alex didn't know why he wasn't mining it outright. He was all alone with no supervision. His workers had already dug a hole in a wall.

  It was time to look outside again. Perhaps she'd see something this time that would explain all the bizarre behavior.

  She peeked through a loose portion of the wall and saw her friends.

  ____

  Their faces were wide and staring, their expressions nothing like the ones that Alex knew so well and loved.

  They were all there.

  Every single person who'd attended her class.

  Emile.

  Laura, Gigi, Blake, and Alice.

  Nico and his mom.

  Her friend, the stern-faced woman with the beautiful dress. Like everyone else's clothes, the dress was now torn, dirty, and tattered.

  Mrs. T.

  Margaret and Mark.

  Like the other workers, they were placing books on the shelves and busts of Stock on every
floor. Mark balanced on Mrs. T's head as he flung down books from the top shelf. Her students stood one on top of the other so Nico could place an Eternium bust at the top of a tall pillar.

  Alex acted without thinking.

  She slammed her hand against the wall.

  The Eternium flashed the blue of the sky just before sunset, a color that she'd only ever seen in pictures.

  Alex fell off the shelf as the metal surged forwards.

  She hit the ground with a melodic crash.

  The wave brought them all inside.

  They stared at her.

  And then they charged forward with inhuman speed and precision.

  Their limbs pumped and pumped until they became blurs.

  The librarian's Eternium cloak burned furiously as it flapped around her. Her hair seared with heat so hot she was surprised it didn't ignite.

  She knew these people.

  She loved them.

  She couldn't believe what Southern Robotics had done to them.

  Alex fell back, but there was nothing she could do.

  Hiding out in the book-corridors had made her stronger than ever before, but the strength and speed of the brainwashed friends were like nothing human.

  She leaped for the shelf, but before she could even pull herself up the next ledge, they'd knocked her off.

  Alex slammed onto the ground and bounced off the Eternium floor.

  The beautiful sound echoed and echoed in the corridor, ringing in Alex's ears as she scrambled back, her arms and back screaming in pain.

  Her brainwashed friends pursued her relentlessly, giving her no room to breathe.

  Alex smashed her hand into the wall, desperate to cut them off. The Eternium roiled like the sea at storm.

  Emile pounced towards her.

  Alex hesitated.

  If she closed off the wall, Emile would get caught in between.

  Her friend crashed on top of her.

  The wall formed after. There was a loud thud as the person immediately behind Emile – Alex thought it might have been Laura – crashed into the wall.

  Alex slid her pack off her back and whirled it around her head, building up its velocity as Emile sprinted forward, her fingers reaching out like ten brittle knives.