Mairi’s eyes were brimming with tears. “I would like that very much, Gareth.” She swallowed. “Father.” As if that last word had finally broken her courage, weeping, she turned and fled back into the house.
“That,” Chiu commented with a satisfied smile. “was very well done.” She turned toward the door and the retreating girl. “I think that Mairi and I should have a small, mother-daughter talk. I’ll see you later.” Nodding, Gareth turned to the next person in line.
Three days later he found the young woman on the battlements, sitting between the damp crenellations, her knees pulled up to her chin, staring out over the harbor. Rather than a dress, today she wore men’s pants and a baggy men’s shirt. Unfolding from her snug seat, she stood and turned at his approach. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” She made a sweeping gesture at the city below. “I’m here every day without fail, and it never gets old.” Her face grew serious. “Thank you, Father.”
Gareth gave her a lopsided grin. “If it makes you uncomfortable, you can call me Gareth if you wish.”
She smiled. “The word is still too new and precious to me.” Her hazel eyes sparkled. “I think I’ll use it for a few more years, at least.”
“As you wish, Daughter.” He replied, just as seriously as she, and suddenly he had a young woman in his arms, hugging him until his ribs creaked.
“I think I loved you from the first time I saw you on the docks in Seka, and you asked me to go buy you a meat pie.” She looked up at him shyly. “You let me stow away on your ship before you even knew me and I’ve always wondered why.”
“I recognized that there was more than the eye could see under your grime and behind the sad eyes. Perhaps I knew, in my heart, that the one small act of letting you aboard the ship would eventually lead to this.” He gave her a tender squeeze.
Stepping away, she gave him an impish little grin. “Mother told me the other night that I can ship out with you the next time you leave. I’m quite good at navigation.”
“What??”
“Captain Evvos likes me, and I’m sure he will need a cabin boy or assistant navigator on that big new ship.” She seemed ready to dance, and her smile showed her small white teeth. “I love you Father.” Twirling, she skipped down the stairs and was gone. Gareth was staring at the retreating back with bemusement, wondering if all young women filled their fathers with the same sense of wonder, when a voice interrupted his musings.
“Pardon my intrusion sir.” Gareth looked up and grinned at I’alen. “Kiang and Shaw Sai-Bo are arriving. I thought you would like to meet them.”
“Thank you, I’alen. I would appreciate it if you would tell Chiu that her parents are here. I’ll go down to meet Kiang and Shaw.”
I’alen glanced at Gareth’s clothes. “You might consider changing, sir. Your clothes, although clean, are a little…”
“Is threadbare the word you’re looking for?” Gareth supplied helpfully.
“Yes sir; threadbare.”
Gareth chuckled. “We’ve been on the road for a very long time, I’alen. I’m afraid this is the best I have. Both Kiang and Shaw have seen me in bloody rags, so it’s of little importance.”
I’alen stood there, considering Gareth. “You are a very strange man, Mister Gareth. Most people would jump at the chance to live as royalty and dress the role. You seem to find it an inconvenience.”
Gareth slapped the steward on the shoulder. “My friend, you put your pants on one leg at a time, just like me, and we have the same color blood. Like a traveling salesman, my job takes me out of town a lot, while yours requires that you remain here. We both have jobs. I’m no better than you.”
I’alen sniffed. “But sir, I actually enjoy wearing nice clothes.” His blue eyes were sparkling in mirth. “Tailors will be here later today and we will replace your… wardrobe.” He finished after a long pause.
Laughing, Gareth turned for the stairs. “Thank you, I think.”
He helped Shaw and Kiang down from their carriage himself, noting that Chiu’s parents had aged little in the year they’d been away. Kiang shook Gareth’s hand warmly, while Shaw gave him a hug and a kiss that nearly took his breath away. It seemed to him slightly inappropriate for his new mother-in-law, but When in Rome, shoot Roman candles, he thought to himself, and kissed her back.
Grinning, Kiang waved his hand at the mansion of Adywick. “What do you think of it?” He asked with a smile.
Gareth hated to pop his bubble. “I’m not a king, or a duke or a member of your congress. I’m just a soldier. You have an unoccupied west wing in your own mansion with at least a dozen bedrooms and sitting rooms. As far as I know the roof doesn’t leak. That would be fine.” He glanced at the bastion that stood behind him. “This is not.” He gave Kiang a crooked grin. “Sorry. You asked.”
“I told you he wouldn’t like it.” Shaw said to her husband with a smug little smile he’d seen so many times on Chiu’s face.
Kiang frowned. “But this was the home of the former king!” There was a plaintive note in the older man’s voice.
“That’s part of the problem.” Gareth countered.
“But the west wing of our mansion is under reconstruction, and won’t be ready for months.”
“Then put us all up in a hotel down by the docks. That would be good.”
“Out of the question.” Kiang declared flatly. “Officials don’t reside with the… workers.”
Shaw had a speculative look on her face. “Don’t be so quick, dear. If I recall, the Lion of Oseothan has been closed for renovations, and is due to reopen next week. When it closed it was the best inn in the city. Now, it’s supposed to be even better, and the chef who is slated to begin working there is the best in the Realm. Have the council sell this mausoleum.” She glanced up at the house behind Gareth with some distaste. “They can use the money to buy the Lion, and still have funds left. Install Gareth and his company on the top floor and rent the rest as rooms. The government may actually make money on this venture, and I’alen could find that managing an inn is easier than managing an estate of this size. He can bring what staff he needs from here to the inn.”
Gareth gave Shaw a small nod, throwing in his two cents worth. “Make sure the chef who actually begins working there is the best you can get. It will cost you more up front, but you will make more in the end as word spreads.”
Shaw raised her eyebrows. “See?”
Kiang threw up his hands. “I give up!”
Shaw smiled, and took her husband’s arm. “Good. I love winning.”
As they walked to the front door Gareth glanced at his father-in-law. “Mairi tells me that you and she have been going to the University each day. Have you gotten all those crystals I gave you installed and working?”
Kiang frowned. “Half of them. The problem is that there is simply too much information to sort through. We don’t even know where to start or even how to start.”
“I can tell you where to start.” Gareth said seriously as the stepped into a sumptuous sitting room. A fire crackled merrily in a stone hearth, and wide windows looked out over the harbor. “I need access to maps, good maps that will show the location of the lost city of Jafelon.”
Shaw’s eyes widened. “Jafelon was the lost city?”
Gareth nodded and gave her a sour smile. “Yeah. We’ve been to all the others. We lost a good friend in one of the last cities we were at.” He looked up to see Chiu watching from the doorway. “Azheles, wasn’t it?”
“Brivrelsea.” Gareth’s wife corrected sadly. “Azheles was a hole in the ground. Poor Wokeg.” Chiu sat beside him and Gareth put an arm about her waist.
Gareth looked up to find Shaw studying them carefully, and he smiled. “We reactivated The Yeugate. By now Ell, the central computer should have things well under control, with most of the powerplants back in operation. Even Brivrelsea was coming back to life as we left.”
“You speak of them as if they were alive in the classical sense.”
Gareth s
hrugged. “Who’s to say? Would you mind if I rode in with Mairi when she goes to University tomorrow?” He asked.
Kiang laughed. “Of course not. I’ll meet you there, in fact. Some of the Senators are quite anxious to meet you.” Gareth groaned.
The University of Oseothan wasn’t so much a building, as it was a sprawling complex of two dozen structures located on the banks of the Puasheehchester River. Manicured lawns sloped down to the banks of the wide river, while students and professors strolled on the grass or sat on one of the number of stone benches that dotted the campus. The center of the University, and the building Kiang was leading him to, was a massive gold domed structure that reminded him of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, with its marble columned balconies. A sudden pang of homesickness swept him, and although he’d only been there twice for ball games, and twice more for drinks, he missed Fenway Park… and Cheers. “The Green Monster.” He said under his breath.
“Pardon?” Kiang said, walking at his side. Mairi had gone off for her own studies, in a different building with a promise to meet them at noon for lunch.
Gareth gave him a wistful grin. “The Green Monster was the unofficial name for a sports stadium in the city of Boston. I visited there occasionally, and had plans on retiring there when I got out of the military.” Kiang nodded, but made no reply.
A man looked up from his desk as they walked through the wide front doors, and smiled. “Good morning, Senator Sai-Bo. Back at it again?” He shot Gareth a curious look.
“Yes Hwang, I am. This, for your information, is Gareth Köhler, an Operative for the Senate. It was he that brought us the data crystals from the remains of the Great Library in Iryeeqeka.” Kiang grinned at the man’s pale face. “He’s also married to my daughter and the designer of the steamship you see in the harbor.” He added. The man at the desk looked as if he’d been pole-axed. “Are the library stations available today?”
“Yes Senator.” The man at the desk stammered.
Kiang smiled. “That’s where we’ll be, if anyone comes looking.”
“Yes Senator.” The man looked at Gareth, swallowed and nodded. “Operative.” He whispered in awe.
“Did you have to do that?” Gareth asked his father-in-law in a low tart tone as they walked down the long corridor to the research room. Their footsteps echoed on the cold marble floors.
Kiang gave him a boyish grin. “What’s the good of having social rank if you can’t take it out once in a while, and wave it around? Now Hwang will have something to tell his co-workers.” Gareth sighed, and decided an argument just wasn’t worth it.
The Research Area was a small circular room, twenty meters in diameter. The lighting was dim enough for Gareth to see the screens from the six library terminals glowing with a pale green light. For the very first time since he’d arrived on Eldenworld he actually believed that he had traveled into the future.
“So, what now?” He asked, staring at a comfortable looking lounger built into the workstation.
“Well,” Kiang began slowly. “we just put a crystal in and look around.” He gave Gareth a sheepish look. “As I admitted, we don’t even know what questions to ask, or how to ask.”
Gareth scratched his head. “Start by putting all six crystals into the workstations.”
“But…” Gareth glared at the older man. “Fine.” Kiang said finally, taking the crystals out of a lined wooden box and putting one each, very carefully, into all six workstations.
Gareth sat down at the first workstation, looked at the setup and frowned. “Where’s the keyboard?” He asked nobody in particular.
“Keyboard?” The mezzo-soprano voice that came out of the air above his head dripped with scorn. “How quaint. I haven’t used a keyboard input in ages. Voice control is terribly old fashioned; direct mental guidance is the only way to go.” The voice of the system paused. “Would you please sit in workstation four? The camera there is still functioning, and I’d like to see who I’m working with.” In a slight daze, Gareth got up and moved. Kiang, standing against a wall looked shell shocked. “I thought that it was probably you, with the comment about the keyboard.” The voice said as he seated himself. “Hello Gareth. Are you the only computer literate person on this whole planet?”
“Ell? How is it I’m talking to you? You’re in The Yeugate.”
“It took all six crystals operating to restore the quantum tunneling protocol that allows us to speak instantly. Now that I know you are involved; I’ll send a few repair units there to fix what needs fixing. Your power systems are atrocious, by the way. I’ll fix that too. I’ve spoken with the Eye of Zuebrihn, and know about our problem.”
“Did the Eye tell you that I have to blow up the moon to save the world?” Gareth asked bitterly.
“Yes, she did. How are you coming on the search for The City that Time Forgot?”
“I’ve found the rest, but I’ve yet to discover Jafelon.”
“Brivrelsea mentioned that you’d been there and set repair parameters. Thank you. That took some of the load off of me.” There was a long pause. “Now that I have access to the data crystals there, as well as my own processing power, I can tell you exactly where Jafelon is located, but you’re not going to like it.”
“This hasn’t been a very pleasant expedition all the way around. Why don’t you go ahead and spoil my day?”
“Jafelon is located roughly two thousand leagues due south of Koworus.”
“But…” Kiang exclaimed from the other side of the room. “There is nothing there but water.”
“Not so.” Ell rebutted. “Two thousand leagues south of Koworus is an island. Shaped roughly like a two hundred kilometer wide crescent moon, the island has a sheltered bay one hundred kilometers in diameter. Three hundred and five meters below the surface of the bay rests The City that Time Forgot; Jafelon.” Kiang stood staring at the screen on the workstation that displayed an ancient map of Jafelon. “The truly difficult part of all of this is the fact that Ojor Cay, the island that surrounds Jafelon is, according to my recently restored remote cameras and sensors, inhabited by cannibals.” Gareth felt his eyes bug out in disbelief. “The entire island is hostile. The people will try to eat you, as will the animals, plants, and the very land itself. At one time entry to Jafelon was so well known that nobody bothered to write it down. Now the knowledge of how to get down to the city has been lost, or at least hidden by the paranoid ancients before they abandoned the world.”
“If the city has been flooded, there really isn’t any reason to go down, is there?” Gareth felt a lump in the pit of his stomach.
“Readings from sensors in Jafelon indicate that the city is habitable, and has both air and power. I would recommend that you head out as soon as possible. Do you have transportation?”
Gareth nodded. “We have a brand new steamship equipped with a deck gun.”
“You really are a world-changer, young man. I just hope you have the fortitude to see this through. Earthquakes are becoming more frequent, and a major tectonic shift is likely to occur at any time.”
Gareth shut his eyes. “How can I ever do this?”
“The same way you came to be where you are, talking with me like this.”
“When do I have to leave?” He asked in a resigned voice.
“You should leave no later than two weeks from now. A few days won’t make any difference one way or another. Luckily your ship will have the ability to steer by compass, rather than just by the stars, otherwise you might sail right past Jafelon, and never see it.”
“Anything more you want to tell me about the residents of Ojor Cay?” Gareth asked wearily.
“Spectral imaging shows no indication of fire, and loud noises like thunderstorms, drive the local tribes into hiding.”
“Have they gotten down to Jafelon? Will I have to fight my way through the city?”
“The City of Jafelon is clear. I have not been able to establish communication with the city AI, but that may simply be a technica
l glitch.”
“Thank you.” Gareth glanced over his shoulder to see Kiang staring blankly at a wall. “Once I’m gone, how do others go about retrieving data from this system?”
“Leave all six crystals installed, and just have them do a Google.”
“You still have a Google search engine after thirty eight thousand years?” He asked incredulously.
“The word Google in the new Eldenworld dictionary has replaced the word search.” Ell replied evenly. “As I said,” the voice continued, “I’m sending repair units to fix the University system. The server there is useless.” The voice dripped with distain. “Workstation one is performing that function until I can get things better arranged. I’ll do a full system backup of all the data crystals so that the history of the race will never again come so close to being lost.”
Gareth chuckled. “Any number of IT professionals back when I come from sound just like you.”
“Is that a compliment?” The voice asked.
“Simply a comparison of professionals.” Gareth frowned at the map on the screen. “Can you get me a copy of that map?”
“The printers at the University are inoperative, so I will send you a copy with the repair units. They should be there in a week, by drone.”
“Drone?” Gareth exclaimed.
“Drones.” The voice said with no little satisfaction. “The dozen smaller ones I was able to activate can carry up to two hundred kilograms of cargo each.” Gareth’s brow furrowed in thought, but the computer’s sharp camera caught the motion. “The cargo compartment is not pressurized or heated. I won’t have the first passenger aircraft available for three months. With the earthquakes, ring service remains questionable.”
He shook his head at the unbelievable speed the computer was working at. “How is the extermination project coming?”
The voice actually sighed. “There were a few more Molphulh than I anticipated; closer to three million in point of fact. I evacuated the air from the entire city of The Yeugate. I’m afraid to say that the smell right now isn’t pleasant. It takes a while to move three million bodies outdoors to burn.”
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