Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  Alex quickly reassured him. She didn't think they were lying.

  "Can you tell me what the ghosts looked like?"

  "Shiny. But thin and wispy. They looked ghosts. Like in the stories."

  Shiny.

  That piqued her interest.

  She'd just made a model fly across the room. It would be an easy task to make ghosts out of Eternium.

  "Did the ghosts look like they were made of Eternium?"

  All three of them spoke at once.

  "No."

  This time, Nico answered.

  "That's what I thought at first. But they were so thin. And they weren't...you know they weren't like your machine. They weren't the color of souls. They were just kind of wispy and gray. Almost like smoke."

  He shuddered at that word.

  Smoke.

  Stock's goddess of Ignorance had parts made of smoke as well.

  Jon was quick to agree.

  "Yeah. It was shiny - sort of like Eternium - but the shine was different."

  "Is there anything else?"

  The three children looked at each other. Jon and Nico began to shake their heads, but Alice cut in.

  "Well, like I said. I didn't see my parents. But we also saw some people we didn't recognize who looked like they weren't from the colony at all."

  Nico clapped his hands.

  "Yeah! That's right!"

  Jon nodded eagerly.

  "They dressed really funny. They were wearing suits like the Scholars did."

  The Council of Scholars had been a group of fraudulent intellectuals funded by Stock to justify his lies. He'd sacrificed all of them at the beginning of his ritual.

  "They even walked funny."

  "Yeah!"

  Alice started strutting along the floor, shunting her shoulders back and forth in a very exaggerated motion.

  "Like that."

  She shook her head.

  "Like that, but it looks good instead of dumb."

  Jon mused to himself.

  "You know, Fred used to walk sort of like that."

  "Alright. You kids need to rest. Just leave this to me, and everything will be fine."

  Her students grinned and walked down the stairs to wait for Jared to pick them up.

  Alex felt a small spark of pride.

  They believed in her. Now all she had to do was deliver.

  She looked at the notes she'd written down on her tablet. The story was so strange. She stared wistfully at the books on their shelves. The answer might have been hidden inside the Spire, but between rebuilding and training, Alex had no time to read at all.

  There was a big stack of books waiting inside her office, but Mrs. T and Emile had skimmed through them already. Based on their reports, there shouldn't be anything about ghosts.

  Trying to find what she needed from the Spire's walls at this abrupt juncture was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it was nothing more than what she'd done for years.

  Alex smiled and headed for the nearest shelf.

  ____

  Alex worked until she heard the workers returning for the night. Because of the Spire's central location and endless floors, people frequently slept overnight so they could quickly get back to work. Countless independent shacks, tents, and structures had spawned along the Spire's hundred floors. Alex had stopped outside every single one of them, reshaping the Eternium into makeshift roofs in case there was a quake and books fell in the middle of the night.

  The spread-out structures were a far cry from the floor-length refuges that'd spawned during the quakes, but it was a different time now. Most people wanted their privacy.

  Alex sighed and stepped away from the walls. She'd found nothing on the shelves - just damaged book after damaged book. The librarian cursed Stock yet again as she turned to greet the people she recognized. Many of her student's parents were staying in the Spire. They were eager to quickly rebuild the colony for their children.

  Bringing up the very rear was a tall fierce-eyed woman wearing a sparkling red dress. It seemed impractical to work in such finery, but Leanne was probably the hardest worker on the whole colony. She woke at five every single day and didn't sleep until long past midnight. Even after returning to the Spire, she organized books and cleaned out rooms.

  Truth be told, Alex was afraid of her.

  Everything about her was scary.

  Her rigorous schedule.

  Her towering height.

  Her ferocious coal-black eyes and her long hair of the same color.

  Scariest of all, she'd once been one of Stock's most ardent supporters. She and Nico's mom, both former high-ranking Southern Robotics engineers, had even attended one of Alex's classes and criticized her belief that Stock should repair homes instead of hosting his simulator tournament.

  Of course, that'd been before Stock made them sign Contracts.

  To Alex's surprise, Leanne smiled and approached her.

  "How's Nico doing? I hope he had a good time in class today."

  Nico's mom Amy had died during the final clash against Stock, so the young boy was living with Leanne now. Amy had died protecting her son in the final battle.

  She might have returned though.

  As a ghost.

  Alex smiled shakily.

  She wasn't going to talk to Leanne about ghosts. She didn't want Leanne to think she was crazy.

  "Good. I sent him off to Jared's house today. He's staying with his friends there."

  Leanne shot Alex a curious glance.

  "Oh. I thought he'd just go back to our home."

  Leanne lived on Block 1, so her house had survived easily. But Nico hadn't gone home in a while. He'd been in the Spire worrying about ghosts. He and Leanne had slept in the same building, but the Spire was so massive that neither of them had realized it.

  "I think he's excited to be with some friends."

  Leanne pursed her lips. It was a face that said she was ready to keep working.

  "Okay. Do you guys have some more books that need sorting?"

  "Yeah. Mrs. T has the list."

  "Okay, got it. Want to come with me?"

  Leanne's intensity made her hard to refuse. Alex had spent several nights working alongside the other woman, silently sorting books without saying a word to her until three or four in the morning. Those nights were part of why Alex needed to catch up on sleep.

  She almost told Leanne to sleep too, but then thought better of it.

  "I have something else to do today."

  The words almost caught in her mouth. She didn't want Leanne to think she was lazy.

  But the other woman just nodded.

  "Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow."

  She smiled, baring her teeth a little, and Alex had the utterly irrational thought that she was scared for the books. If they knew better, they'd fall in line before Leanne got to them.

  Alex had just returned to the window of her office when the first ghost flickered into existence.

  Her first thought was a flooding sense of relief. Her kids really had seen ghosts. They hadn't imagined things because of fatigue.

  Her second thought was to wonder what the fuck was going on. Why were ghosts walking around in the courtyard?

  It was just like her students said. The ghosts were shiny, and their vague glow hinted at Eternium origins. But the color just wasn't robust enough. To Alex's eyes, they didn't look like smoke either, despite their wispiness. There was a strange solidity to them.

  Alex didn't recognize the first ghost she saw. He was followed closely by an elderly lady hobbling around on a cane. A pack of young kids chased after the pair of them, laughing and joking amongst themselves.

  Her fingers trembling, Alex pulled out her tablet to take a picture.

  Just as her students promised, the ghosts twinkled and then disappeared as soon as she shone the faint light of her tablet toward them.

  But the courtyard remained empty for only a short moment.

  More ghosts spawned,
rising out of the earth.

  Based on their beautiful clothes, many of them looked like residents of Block 1.

  That made sense.

  Despite the mines and the forever dark prison of The Wastes, Block 1 had taken the heaviest casualties. Stock had sacrificed them wholesale.

  Alex set her tablet aside. Her students said close contact would make the ghosts disappear too, but she had to see for herself.

  For a moment, she considered summoning her Paragon, but it was a foolish idea, and she quickly dismissed it. There was nothing her Paragon could do here. The great machines had the strength of a thousand people, but they couldn't solve every problem. What could raw power do against a ghost?

  She stepped outside, and stealthily climbed down the stairs. The Spire was completely quiet. By now, even Leanne was asleep. She didn't want to wake anybody up.

  The ghosts made large shadows through the window.

  Alex stepped outside right as a whole pack of them erupted through the ground.

  She saw Amy, Nico's late mom.

  She saw the strange ghosts with their bizarre outfits that strutted back and forth. They were wearing suits, much like those from Old Earth. The sight made Alex shiver. The Council had worn suits like that, and so had Stock himself. They'd been obsessed with the Mad Nobles. It was only after her discomfort faded away that she noticed something even stranger. These ghosts had swords strapped on their waists.

  Alex warily kept her hand on the Eternium door of the Spire. The muscles in her arm tensed. She was ready to call the metal forward if they attacked.

  But the armed ghosts paid her no mind.

  They strode across the courtyard back and forth, back and forth. A few looked right at Alex, but there was no recognition in their faces. They only acknowledged each other.

  Alex felt a faint chill whenever one came too close to her. Whenever one came close enough for her to touch, it would simply dissolve into the ground, vanishing without a trace as if it'd never been there at all.

  She pulled out her tablet again, but the machine's camera once again caused the ghosts to vanish into the mists.

  Alex sighed and set her tablet aside. It seemed as if she could only observe.

  There must have been at least two dozen of them marching back and forth. Occasionally, a ghost disappeared only to reemerge on the other side of the courtyard.

  It was almost dawn when Alex saw something that made her blood run cold. Her tablet slipped through her numb fingers and clattered against the ground.

  Amy strode from one end of the courtyard to the other, a block of gleaming Eternium held in her hand. With the holy metal so close, the differences between the thin gray shine of the ghosts and the perpetual radiance of Eternium were only further accentuated.

  Alex sprinted toward the ghost, calling out for it to stop, completely forgetting what would happen if she went too close. Stock had forced everyone who signed his Contracts to steal Eternium from the colony's core. Now, their ghosts were doing the same thing.

  But Alex was hardly halfway across the courtyard when the first rays of the sun's light gleamed on the horizon.

  All the ghosts vanished at once, and Alex was left alone in the courtyard.

  ____

  Amy carrying the block of raw Eternium. That was the image that stuck with her. It'd been a solid block too, dark and forever black just like the material of the Spire. That seemed like the key to this mystery. Alex pulled a pen out of her bag and squiggled on her arms as she mused to herself.

  The ghosts might have just been ghosts. Stock had performed a profane ritual on an unprecedented scale. He'd sacrificed thousands to create that monstrous goddess-Paragon fusion that'd towered high in the sky. It wouldn't be surprising if there were side effects, including haunted spirits. Alex had carefully observed every one of the wandering gray wraiths. They'd either been Plenty's fallen victims or people who she didn't recognize, particularly those with the strange suits. As far as Alex could tell, there hadn't been a single ghost of someone who was still alive.

  Yet there were other possibilities she had to consider. Alex could bend Eternium into any shape imaginable. The ghosts didn't look like they were made of Eternium, but the strange shine had an uncanny resemblance. Beyond that, they could be some sort of robots. It was a bizarre possibility, and Alex felt a little like a conspiracy theorist thinking it. But she couldn't discount anything, not after the reality of Stock's horrific crimes. What Stock had done sounded like a conspiracy theory too.

  If the ghosts weren't actually ghosts, that led to the two other possibilities. It was either some sort of naturally occurring phenomenon, such as a bizarre echo from Stock's defeat. After all, they'd defeated the goddess by dissolving it to nothing with their stories, and now that Alex thought about it, the strange smoky color of the ghosts vaguely resembled the goddess's smoke.

  But she just couldn't get her mind off of Amy carrying that block of Eternium. Alex didn't want to believe it, but she feared the worst.

  Portions of the core were still missing, and if someone were trying to smuggle away enough Eternium to create a Paragon, using the ghosts of Plenty's fallen would have a profound psychological effect on the survivors. It seemed like the sort of thing the big man in the orange pod might have considered. He was ruthless enough. He'd killed Falo in the tunnels without any hesitation.

  Her mouth yawned abruptly, jolting her out of her thoughts.

  She shook her head and sighed.

  After fixing her sleep one night, she'd promptly ruined it the next.

  But she had no time to rest now, not while something so unusual had happened right before her eyes. The librarian pulled her tablet out from her pack to check with Jared. She wanted to know how far the core reconstruction had progressed.

  He responded at once.

  "You can come see for yourself! I'm outside!"

  Alex craned her head. The Hands Paragon had landed on the other side of the Spire. Jared's personal machine was painted bright yellow in honor of his late father.

  A ladder popped out of his cockpit.

  Jon, Alice, and Nico - all looking substantially better rested - stormed toward her. Jared stayed inside his cockpit, waiting to take them to the core.

  "Ms. Alex! Ms. Alex!"

  "Did you see them? Did you see the ghosts?"

  "What happened? Are you alright? You look tired!"

  She smiled reassuringly at her students.

  "Yes. I saw the ghosts."

  "What happened? Did you find out what's wrong with them?"

  Alice cut in hurriedly.

  "Did you see my parents? Did you see them?"

  Now that she thought about it, Alex hadn't seen Alice's parents.

  Her student sighed.

  "I know dad's dead. I saw him. I saw him hit the wall. But my mom. She's just missing. And she's not a ghost. Missing doesn't mean dead, right?"

  It didn't, but a lot of the people who were missing had been sacrificed.

  "And she wasn't a believer! She was always doubtful about Stock. She hated him. She said he's why our house was small, him and his rules. So missing doesn't mean sacrificed, not for her."

  She'd probably just died in the mines or the refinery. Alex didn't know what to say to Alice. The librarian remembered reading about the most dreadful responsibility of an ace - visiting the homes of their dead comrades and telling their families that their loved ones had died. It was the fate of those skilled and lucky enough to survive the battlefield.

  And now, it was Alex's responsibility too.

  Alice's voice grew sharper.

  "You didn't see them, did you?"

  "No, I didn't."

  Her student's desperate smile was heartbreaking.

  Alex's words caught in her throat.

  The librarian shuddered and left things as they were.

  "Nico, I saw your mom. When I tried to talk to her, she dissolved just like you said. But then she appeared again on the other side of the courtyard. Whe
n I tried to pull out my tablet..."

  She shook her head and cursed.

  "Disappeared again."

  "Yeah. It was like that with us too."

  She thought about what to say next, but this time, the answer came quickly. Her students were smart and persistent. They'd discovered the ghosts before she did. And the colony had already decided to let children listen to the survivor's stories. It was better to be honest with them than to have them find out later.

  "She was holding a block of Eternium."

  "You mean like the ones we mined?"

  Alex winced.

  She never had the misfortune of signing a Contract and digging through Eternium with her hands. Nico was missing two fingers on his right hand and another on his left.

  "A perfect set of cubes, right? Stock thought it was funny to make us waste time filling them down. He'd stick his head right in front of us and giggle."

  "Yeah."

  It'd been a perfect cube. Alex remembered that much.

  Nico frowned.

  "That doesn't sound like mom."

  Jon had turned even paler than usual. The survivors of Block 12 had almost paper white skin. Even with the sun shining right above them, they never tanned and never burned.

  "Do you think it's the Contracts? Even when she's a ghost?"

  Nico shuddered. His eyes were wide and frightened.

  "Even when she's a ghost! You mean he's making mom work even when he's a ghost?"

  Alex was quick to comfort him.

  "No, no, I don't think so."

  The light of the sun had freed everyone from their Contracts when she shattered the sky. It should have been the same for everyone, even if they'd died.

  At least she hoped so.

  Jon suddenly cried out in fright.

  "What about the orange pod! The people in the pod that dropped off Stock! They could be trying to steal the Eternium too!"

  Alice cried out as well, her voice squeaky with terror.

  "What if that's why the ground is shaking! What if the ghosts are mining Eternium?"

  Alex carefully chose her words. She thought the same thing, but she didn't want to alarm them too much.

  The librarian suddenly felt very tired.

  It was all such a difficult balance.

  There was so much to do.