Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  By the time she finally removed them, it was too late. Emile brought her arms around for a crushing bear hug. Claudia slashed down, but her claws just deflected uselessly against the shoulder shield. She tried firing the chest cannon, but it thumped emptily. She was out of ammunition.

  Emile slowly brought the ram on her chest forward. The spiked shield crushed Claudia's machine to bits as she screamed and screamed.

  Alex winced.

  She didn't want to think about how the pod simulated a crumpled cockpit.

  Her grayed-out screen lit up.

  VICTORY flashed across her screen in big red letters.

  Emile's Roly-Poly lifted a thick and triumphant arm into the air as Alex laughed and laughed in joy and disbelief.

  The other students stared in shocked silence as Alex and Emile climbed out of their machines.

  Only Hank spoke. His face had turned bright red, and he screeched incoherently with rage. Veins bulged against his neck.

  "Don't you dare come back here! We'll show you what happens in a real war! You guys just got lucky! Who the fuck uses an all-shield machine!"

  He glared at Alex with hate-filled eyes.

  "You're trash! You're not nearly as good as they said you were! Trash! Trash! Trash!"

  Each word sent a spike of anxiety through Alex's stomach.

  She didn't like getting yelled at.

  Emile giggled in her ear.

  "Maybe I should have just sat there, letting her hit me to see what else she had, but I wasn't going to let you lose to those assholes."

  The anxiety faded, and she felt better. Alex tried to hide her smile. What these people said didn't matter. Her home was on Plenty.

  Claudia stumbled out of her pod without speaking a word. She still looked very woozy.

  The instructor had an easy, almost lazy, smile on his face as he quickly ushered Alex and Emile back to the hangar.

  "Marvelous! Marvelous! By my blood, you've taught my class a lesson, that's for sure."

  He reached out a hand to each of them.

  "I'm Jim Sooner. Thanks for your time, and I'm sorry for the rudeness of my troops."

  He shook his head, paternalistically.

  "We're trying to build some solidarity, you see. It's all about the "us against them mentality," you know what I mean? Sometimes it can backfire a little. I assure you that you're the Governor's treasured guests."

  They didn't seem like treasured guests. Hadn't the Governor delayed their meeting so he could have a three-way?

  Sooner handed them each a thick stack of papers. His white teeth glistened as he smiled. His smile was vaguely unnerving, but Alex couldn't quite place the reason why.

  "The Governor is hoping for your advice. He's always been a big admirer of Plenty, and he wants to see what Diligence can learn. Please read these through and see if you'd be interested in advising us."

  He bowed deeply, then left without another word.

  If he saw Alex and Emile shudder, he didn't say anything.

  Stock had worn a suit and dressed like a Mad Noble. Sooner wore a red military uniform and looked for all the world like a charismatic rebel commander. It seemed like they had nothing in common.

  But people from Plenty didn't like contracts.

  ____

  Their shuttle slowly inched forward as she piloted it back to her childhood home. Alex had carefully set the thrusters at the lowest setting. The screech of jets had always bothered her when she was a girl. It kept her up at night and broke her focus when she was trying to study.

  The librarian glowered angrily at the dashboard. She was still upset at everything that had happened. She didn't want anyone to think she was looking down on them. And she didn't understand why Steel was working with so many shitty people.

  Alex was most bothered by how Hank and Claudia had acted when they were pinning Emile with the cannonballs. Everyone knew the shaking was a game mechanic. Everyone took advantage of it. You were supposed to – just like how in a real fight you'd take advantage of a disoriented pilot.

  But Alex had only ever fought one other opponent who thought shaking people was funny – Stock. It was just a game. You shouldn't try to hurt people.

  The thought of her friend smashing Claudia with her battering ram brought a smile back to Alex's face.

  "Still can't believe you won us that fight. That was one of the craziest finishes I've ever seen."

  Emile grinned.

  "Like I said. I wasn't going to let those jerks beat you. That was fun, though! We should practice when we get back home."

  "Yeah, definitely!"

  Alex sent a message to her family's group chat to let her know she was returning soon. Her mom responded at once. Her dad was trying to make it back from work in time, but she'd managed to re-schedule for the night shift.

  Emile read through the contracts as they flew back to her house.

  After the Stock incident, Alex thought every single person on Plenty would read every line of every contract for the rest of their lives.

  "This looks pretty standard. It seems like he just wants us to consult for him."

  "Huh."

  Alex frowned.

  They were pretending to be two wealthy heiresses from Plenty. What could Diligence possibly learn from them?"

  "I'm sending a report to Jared, by the way. Just letting him know what happened with the Paragons. It definitely seems like they're training for something."

  "Yeah. I just don't know what it's for."

  She sighed.

  "Hopefully, it's just Stock defrauding a new Governor who doesn't know what's up."

  She just couldn't see any possibility of Stock selling 50 Eternium-gilded Paragons. He would happily slaughter every single person on a hundred colonies for the slightest bit of profit, but he cared too much about his own skin to risk giving somebody else such powerful weapons. It had to be a scam of some sort.

  "It's been driving me crazy too. But honestly, it doesn't matter. We'll find out once we get the schematics. It's not like we can build machines just based on what we saw in the simulator. They might be different in real life. If they are true Paragons, we'll deal with when the time comes."

  The two librarians sighed.

  If Stock had promised true Paragons, it would be a disaster for the colony. Steel would want to visit Stock, and then their secret would be exposed. It might mean war. Alex didn't know what Steel would do, but Hank, Claudia, and many of the other soldiers seemed painfully eager for bloodshed.

  As they flew further and further away from the floating city and toward the outskirts of the service area, Alex heard an angry chanting outside, which steadily grew louder and louder.

  Emile gaped out the window.

  "What's going on?"

  Alex shook her head in confusion and peeked outside. Her surprise only swelled when she saw what was happening.

  A massive crowd of Strangegods marched angrily through the streets. They were immediately confronted by a group of soldiers in red uniforms, just like the ones they'd seen in the hangar. The soldiers had a few Strangegods among them too. On both sides, men and women pumped their relics up and down, up and down. The Eternium treasures were black as the void. They looked like little holes in reality. Even though Alex couldn't make out anyone's faces, she could clearly make out the shapes. The Eternium relics had been kept since the days when Diligence served the Mad Nobles. The four most common were a six-sided star, a cross shaped like a lowercased t, a crescent, and a small star, but there were others too.

  The Eternium was battered and chipped. They'd been carried for hundreds of years. As soon as the holy metal was discovered, the first thing the Strangegods had done was honor their god. The Strangegods even had relics from the time before Eternium, crumbling treasures they carefully kept deep inside their temples and churches.

  When she was just a girl, Alex doubted their god existed, but now she knew better. She'd tangled with gods before, gods that'd been forgotten. She shuddered to thi
nk of how powerful a god who was still remembered might be.

  But she wasn't sure if the Strangegods' god could help them now. The soldiers looked very angry. None of them carried guns, but a few of them waved their batons and riot shields menacingly back and forth.

  She shuddered when she remembered the pilots' chants from before.

  "First the Strangegods, then the foreigners."

  The protesting Strangegods clearly felt the soldiers' disdain. They loudly proclaimed their innocence.

  "We have been loyal workers from the beginning!"

  "We have always loved this colony!"

  "We just want to be left alone. We are innocent!"

  They accused the Strangegods who'd joined up with Steel of being heretics and sell-outs.

  "You've read the book. We cannot influence laws. That's for God!"

  "Why are you taking his money? Don't take his money!"

  "God grants health and prosperity. Not Steel! We must reject riches!"

  Despite their anger, they didn't notice the private jet flying right by them. They directed their rage only on the soldiers.

  Alex didn't understand what was happening. What were the Strangegods being accused of?

  Her shuttle slowly descended as she approached her home. The streets by her house were packed with Strangegods. There'd always been a lot of them in her neighborhood. They even had a church nearby.

  Alex shook her head in admiration. It seemed so difficult to lift those massive Eternium relics. As light as Eternium was, they were massive. Sweat soaked their shirts. Their muscles strained and strained.

  She was just two streets away from her home when she saw him. He held a crescent in one hand and palmed a star in his other. Unlike the others around him, his white shirt and dark skin were completely dry. He lifted the relics with effortless ease.

  He'd somehow grown even taller. He must have been over six and a half feet tall now. He'd gone bald, but his stern face was unmistakable. He was urging the protestors to either side of him to maintain their determination.

  Hector had been one of her closer friends on Diligence. There were a few others too. Georgia and Leigh, two of her good friends from school. Katie, who she always played basketball with. Don, her next-door neighbor who'd been a few years younger than her. Back then, there wasn't anyone like Emile, who'd practically barged her way into becoming friends with her.

  She wondered how Hector was doing now. The last time she saw him was about half a year before she left Plenty. He'd been working as an asteroid miner.

  Alex sighed.

  She hoped he'd stay safe.

  The soldiers seemed so angry, and she had no idea why. She'd have to reach out to Hector after she finished talking with her mom. He'd be able to explain what was happening.

  Her shuttle landed, and she stepped outside. Alex stretched, and in spite of her many worries, a smile appeared on her face when she knocked at the door.

  It was time to do what she'd always done when something bothered her.

  Hang out with her mom!

  ____

  The door opened.

  Her mom's eyes went wide with surprise. She'd already dressed in working clothes, a bright orange uniform, and big yellow gloves. Her face looked worn and lined, and it seemed like her hair was graying faster than it'd been before.

  Alex frowned. It'd only been a few days since their last call.

  "I thought you were at the looms."

  She shook her head absentmindedly.

  "No, no. I'm at the greenhouses now."

  "I thought Hank said our family couldn't work there."

  "He got overridden."

  Her mom continued gaping.

  "How..."

  "What do you mean?"

  It took Alex another beat before she realized it.

  "Oh!"

  She'd just stepped out of a private jet. She was wearing the sleeveless dress woven from blue waves, which cost more than anything else she'd ever worn growing up added together.

  Alex stammered for a moment, but in the end, it didn't matter. Her mom got over her surprise before Alex could explain herself. Her face blossomed into an enormous smile.

  They hugged.

  Her mom chuckled.

  "They pay you that much to be a librarian?"

  Her mom looked past her shoulder to smile at Emile as she climbed out of the jet.

  "Emile! How nice it is to see you! I've heard so much about you! Come in! Come in!"

  The three of them stepped back over the threshold.

  "It sounds like you two have a lot to tell me."

  "Yeah."

  Alex chuckled awkwardly.

  "A lot doesn't even begin to cover it."

  She'd spent a lot of time thinking about how she'd explain everything to her parents, but she'd never found the perfect words.

  She fumbled for a while.

  She looked to Emile to help her, but her friend shook her head. This was Alex's task. The librarian somehow got the words out.

  The story sounded more and more implausible the longer she told it, but her mom listened with wide and captivated eyes.

  Alex started from the beginning, explaining how she'd clashed with the boy in the book-corridors who discovered the goddess hidden deep inside the Spire.

  She explained how the bedtime stories they always read together, the ones about the Mad Nobles and their strange companions known as Familiars, had turned out to be sort of true.

  She revealed how Stock brainwashed Plenty's citizens with Contracts written in the goddess's blood.

  She spoke of how Stock used the workers to mine and refine Eternium, destroying the colony's core and causing the quakes.

  She told her mom about the great duel outside the Library Spire, and about how the tower had reacted to Alex's wishes to create a legendary Paragon. She smiled when she detailed how she used her mom and dad's story to defend herself. The light from her digital copy of The Familiars had served as her beam rifle – just like the ones in the legends. She talked about how they managed to beat Stock through the power of their stories and unity.

  Lastly, she told her mom about the mismatched apartments, the training gyms, the pot-shaped restaurant, and the wired Paragons. She pulled out her tablet and showed her pictures.

  The only thing she left out was why she'd come to Diligence.

  Instead, she said she and Emile were here to reach out to other colonies so they'd know what was going on. She asked her mom to maintain her secrecy until the official announcement.

  Emile nodded discreetly.

  Alex felt guilty lying to her parents, but she was worried they wouldn't approve. Stealing the schematics was dangerous. And besides, like everyone else on the colony, they were Steel supporters now.

  When she finished, Alex laughed nervously.

  "I know it sounds like a lot. But it's all true. Here. Let me show you."

  She reached into the pocket sewn into the right thigh of her dress and removed an Eternium shard. Normally, she turned the shards into daggers to defend herself, but this time, she wanted to do something peaceful and beautiful."

  She was still thinking about what she wanted to summon when her mom held out a hand.

  "There's no need. I believe you."

  Her mom shook her head. She sounded a little bemused.

  "Why would you lie about this? And I always knew you were meant to do something special."

  She took a deep breath.

  "It's just a lot to process."

  They hugged each other again.

  "Wait, mom. Can I still show you what I can do with the Eternium? It's so cool."

  "Yes! Show me!"

  Alex giggled.

  "It sounds like I'm bragging about a good grade I got at school."

  She and her mom laughed together, and Emile laughed with them.

  Alex forged her thought-spear, then plunged it into the Eternium. There was a flash of heat, and soon the metal was hers to command.

  S
he closed her hand into a fist.

  When she opened it, the shard blossomed into a blue rose filled with swirling blue. The shades gushed through the metal, shifting in tone with every passing second. They cascaded faster and faster, evoking a raging waterfall.

  "Wow."

  Alex grinned.

  "Yeah."

  Her mom suddenly stopped and frowned.

  "I just have one question."

  "What?"

  "You said you battled against the goddess, which fought alongside Stock and ate people. Doesn't that mean The Familiars – or rather, the creatures mentioned in The Familiars – are evil?"

  "Hm."

  Alex had wondered the same thing.

  The Familiars described friendly creatures that helped their pilots drive Paragons. At the end of the story, the Familiars gathered together to help a young pilot overthrow an evil tyrant. It was sort of like what happened on Plenty. The innocent creatures had little in common with Stock's monstrosity.

  "I'm not sure. The story burned the goddess. That means it must be true somehow."

  "Oh. That's right. Yeah."

  Alex shook her head. It was still hard to believe everything that had happened.

  "Honestly, I'm not sure. The Spire probably has the answers, but we haven't had the time to look. We've been setting everything back up!"

  Alex pulled out her tablet and smiled.

  "I still have the story with me. And I found the one I lost too. After we beat Stock. The hard copy. I dropped it in the book-corridors. The boy wrenched it away from me."

  They continued talking for hours and hours.

  Emile sat with them. Her friend fit comfortably into the conversation – Emile had always been good at meeting people – but she rarely interrupted. She could tell how happy Alex and her mom were to see each other.

  Her mom couldn't stop smiling.

  "Amazing. Amazing. It's so nice you can experience these things."

  After a while, Alex asked about the Strangegods' protests, but her mom didn't understand what was happening either.

  "So I think the controversy is because the Governor recruited some Strangegods to work and vote for him. The traditionalists don't like that. They think they shouldn't get involved with politics. So they've been doing these protests, and that's made Steel unhappy because he wants them to work. We've all been taking on extra shifts to accelerate the colony's growth, but the Strangegods are protesting instead of working."