CHAPTER 55
I rode the escalator clear to the top, and set off for the conference room, where I encountered another closed portal. I touched the visitor button. When the portal opened, I found Danel sitting at the conference table. Danel looked up, and gave me a puzzling smile.
“Have a seat, Chance-bot,” he said.
I sat down opposite him.
“It remains a mystery to me,” Danel said, “how Alex came to be your strongest advocate. It was the last thing I expected when I returned from my Coalition meetings.”
I waited.
Leaning back in his chair and loosely crossing his arms at his ribs, Danel surveyed me. “Do you know why you’re here?” he finally asked.
“Alex indicated, you require my assistance on some matter regarding the new city,” I responded.
“Alex seems to believe,” Danel clarified, “you should serve as more than a mere liaison with the Levihopi. He seems to believe you should become a member of the design team.” Shaking his head, Danel laughed. “I told him, he was out of his mind.” Uncrossing his arms, Danel sat forward. Leaning on the table, he said, “But I’m a little bit desperate, and I could no doubt use the public relations with a certain indigenous population.”
I waited.
Danel stared at the table in thought. Rubbing his temples with his fingers, he lifted his eyes and asked, “Do you think these Levihopi can be trusted?”
“They have clearly conveyed an intention toward benevolence,” I answered.
Danel snorted. “I wouldn’t call destroying my project benevolent,” he scoffed.
Nodding sympathetically, I repeated, “The Levihopi will help you.”
Danel laughed uproariously. “You know…” he said, “I’ve encountered some pretty stringent building codes in my time, but this is beyond surreal; and I don’t mean like a dream,” he complained, “I mean like a nightmare!” He stopped to shake his head. “Giant fishes determining what is and is not appropriate for human habitation,” he stated, woodenly. Then he threw up his hands and mirthfully decried, “What in the hell!”
CHAPTER 56
Rising up from the depths, the giant betrayed no effort.
Gliding.
She was gliding in concordance with the rhythm of the sea. Viewed from above, she was a trapezoid. She had translucent skin, leaking radiance. She shimmered in watery hues of blue and blue green. Beneath the lovely flesh, movement dappled a random pattern. The shifting of shapes hinted at some inner complexity. Closing in on the surface of the sea, the creature appeared to gain speed. Only now adequately comprehending the monumental scale of her, I veered farther afield, to give her a wider berth. Nearby some dolphins swarmed; though not for a social visit. The sizable pod swept past me, intent on their mission to investigate the bestial newborn.
Cresting to the surface, the magnificent monster bowed, so the center of her back broke through first. Drifting and lifting, she came to resemble a fantastic island with a long central ridge that tapered to become a long pointed tail. To either side of her ridge, there were twin wings, shaped into triangles with delicately upturned tips.
Now that the creature had surfaced, I began to swim towards her. Between the wings, I found the massive gate of lips. My dorsal plumage knifed the water, as I dove headlong into her mouth which gave into a vast tunnel. I swam until the single tunnel branched into three. Swinging to the left, I surrendered to a spinning of accelerated flow. Progressively tightening, the spiraling tube emptied to a generous pond. When I popped up to the surface, I was met by an expanse of astonishing proportions. Fluttering the plumage on one of my legs, I performed a slow motion rotation. Counter to my expectations, the city appeared even larger from inside. The pond I’d arrived to was at the approximate center of one of the city’s wings.
“So glad you could make it, Chance,” Danel shouted from the shore, “Welcome to Mantaray!”
Dropping back into the pond water, I swam in his direction, until the pond became too shallow. The final distance to the shore, I slogged. Smiling at the architect who was now a friend, I said, “Hello, Danel. Your city is quite majestic.”
Danel broke into a ready smile. “Thank you,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased,” he admitted. “Come. Let us go to the Core.”
We departed the edge of the pond, to traverse the lower plains. The far flung plains were an intricate mix of plantings; a vegetable kingdom mosaic. Walking amidst the verdant fields, I was charmed by the buzzing of bees.
“Bees?” I asked.
“Bees,” he confirmed. “They’re pollinators. There is no machine that can adequately compete with their efficiency, so I imported them from Earth. Plus...” he winked at me, and said, “Honey.”
High up above us was the city proper. Seeming to hover in the air, the streets were laid out as a massively scaled roundabout, of sorts.
Pointing, Danel explained, “I used the flower of life as the pattern for the road system. Look, there are swimming tubes underneath. And the houses are spheres. Frances teases me about those. Says they are proof of my obsession.” His laugh was good natured. “The wings of the city mirror each other; road layout, lower plains, ponds. Same-same.”
“Birds,” I said.
He laughed. “Yes, birds. Tanagers,” he clarified, “They eat the bees. But they’re also songbirds, and…well…they are beautiful. Don’t you think?”
I nodded, and said, “Yes, they are.”
“And there is one more important detail, I’d like to point out before we get to the Core.”
I nodded.
“You know what a topographic contour line is, don’t you, Chance?”
I nodded, and for clarity, I added, “A line that joins all points of equal elevation on a surface.”
“Precisely,” Danel said. He stopped walking, so I stopped too. He dropped to his knees. “Inside and out on every surface of this city,” he explained, “there are embedded contour lines. But these particular contours are rather unique. I call them perception contours.” He ran his fingers along one of the lines. “This is a perception contour, Chance,” he said “Each of these contours can see, hear and taste,” he explained. “And as I said, they cover every surface, inside and out, at eight centimeters apart.”
Looking around at the vast and as yet unoccupied city, I considered the implications. “As the city fills up with citizens, the data load will be immense,” I said.
“Exactly right,” Danel agreed, “there will be 20,000 citizens. Mantaray is already receiving a rather massive volume of data just from contact with the ocean.” Gently stroking the contour one more time, he stood. “You and I are the first to arouse her internal contours.”
We continued our journey across the plain.
“All of the data provided by the perception contours will help Mantaray be an effective habitat,” Danel elaborated.
“What is the city’s Cardinal Command?” I asked.
“To maintain an optimum balance in support of life,” he supplied.
As we walked, I ruminated on the hard won lessons I had accumulated in striving to fulfill my own Cardinal Command. “Mantaray is very young, and lacking experience,” I eventually said, “This is a very large responsibility.”
“I have faith in you, Chance. I’m sure you’ll do a fine job.”
Desiring to clarify, I said, “Danel--”
Cutting me off, he said, “Ah, here it is!” Pointing, he exclaimed, “The Core!”
Like a giant blimp, the Core was poised at the juncture where the two wings of the city were joined. Danel brought me to a golden circle inscribed in the soft floor. When we’d positioned ourselves inside the ring, Danel grinned rapturously. “I’m declaring it official,” Danel said, “from this moment forward, you are officially the city Mentor. I’m sending you the key.” Tapping commands into his forearm device Danel sent the virtual key. “Okay, take us up, Mentor.”
Engaging control of the lift, I called up the protective cage. The golden
circle rose up to chest level, in the form of a protective cage. Next the floor pressed our feet and took us to the Core.
CHAPTER 57
When the Mentor entered the Core, Mantaray emerged from the meditation of daily existence by condensing a touchstone of consciousness into the small pocket of place. To ease the city’s transition from all into small, the Mentor cycled through a litany of familiar questions.
“How does the water flow?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the water, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “Salty water touches every shore. Turbulent through my pipes, it swirls. Spills from founts, it forms a froth to ripple round my ponds,” the city said.
“How does the air blow?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the air, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “I touched the sky three days ago; my pores still two-thirds full. The bees buzz bubbles of carbon. The birds pump trails of carbon. The humans expectorate carbon. Through plants the oxygen trends continuously to prevail. In five more days, I touch the sky again.”
“How bright the light?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the light, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “For half the time I’m bright inside; while half the time I’m very dim; but always I am light.”
“How does your energy flow?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the energy, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “Ocean current ever constant feeds me power never ending.”
“What is your Cardinal Command?” the Mentor asked.
Without the Cardinal Command, there was nothing. Mantaray knew this. It was the essence for every action. “I must maintain an optimum balance in support of Life.”
“What is optimum?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the concept, called optimum, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “Optimum is the condition, degree, amount or compromise that produces the best possible result.”
“What is balance?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the concept, called balance, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “Balance is action and reverse action proceeding at equal rates.”
“What is support?” the Mentor asked.
Surveying the concept, called support, Mantaray shaped the patterns into words. “Support is the provision and maintenance of those things necessary to existence.”
“What is Life?” the Mentor asked.
Table of Contents
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
PART TWO
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
PART THREE
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
Shaman Machine the Mentor Page 21