by B. Roman
“That is, indeed, the question. I'm not sure either of us is ready for the answer.” Bianca steps up her pace once again. “Follow me.”
Avoiding the busy downtown streets, Bianca and David walk a mile through the outskirts of the city to the main harbor. Certain that no one is around, Bianca removes the Wind Rose compass from the sack and sets it on a stone bench.
Dating as far back as the 13th Century, the ornate design of the Wind Rose was used by map readers and mariners to specify wind directions. But instead of the usual East, West, North, South markings, the Wind Rose indicators were a fleur de lis symbol to signify North, while East was marked with a Maltese cross.
“Open your pouch of crystals, please, David.”
“How did you know about – ?”
“Please,” Bianca insists. David obliges.
Bianca places the amethyst next to the compass. Nothing. Then she tries the lapis lazuli. Still nothing.
David is completely bewildered. “What are you doing?”
“You'll see.” One by one, Bianca places eleven of David's twelve crystals next to the Wind Rose, but nothing unusual occurs. Finally, she removes the Singer from the pouch and holds it expectantly in her hand, then places it next to the compass. Instantly, the compass needle spins erratically, round and round, clockwise, counterclockwise.
“I knew it. I knew it!” Bianca is exuberant.
“Knew what? That my crystal would move the needle?” David shrugs indifferently. “It's just a magnetic field.”
“This is a Wind Rose, David. Its needle is not magnetized. It registers only the direction of the wind.”
“So?”
“David, where did the Singer come from?”
“How did you know it was called a Singer?”
Bianca presses her lips tightly together and raises her eyebrows impatiently.
“My aunt gave it to me,” David replies, his own impatience showing. “She brought it back from one of her trips, an archeological dig. I can't remember where.”
“Did she say it was special in any way?”
“Oh, yeah. She said its vibrations sing all the mysteries of the universe and that if its owner used it right, he could develop powers like clairvoyance, prophecy, and stuff like that. My dad, on the other hand, thinks it's just a rock.”
“And what do you believe?”
“I'm not sure. I know unbelievable things happen when I use it, but I don't know how or why.”
“David, how did you get here without a boat? There is no other way to Coronadus.”
“I - don't laugh at this, but the last thing I remember was arranging my crystals in a grid pattern on my mother's grave.”
“Trying to communicate with her?”
David is incredulous. “Yeah. How did you guess?”
“Why?” Bianca asks firmly. “Why were you trying to communicate with her?”
“Because I think she could have lived if she tried harder.”
“You don't know that.”
“No, but I wanted to be sure. I wanted to know why she left us. Anyway, I guess I was a little crazy that day. I thought my crystals could get me to my mother. But once again, I screwed up and went to the wrong place.”
“Once again?”
“The first time I used the Star of David grid, lightning struck the crystals and I was knocked out cold for a few minutes. When I woke up - I thought I woke up, but maybe I was still unconscious - my sister Sally had disappeared and this fabulous clipper ship, the Moon Singer, appeared, and some gypsy hologram coaxed me to come aboard saying I would find Sally if I did. After that, the really unbelievable stuff started happening.” He laughs nervously, thinking that Bianca must think he is really nuts.
But Bianca absorbs it all matter-of-factly.
“You say this time you used the same grid pattern, but no ship appeared? It didn't transport you here?”
“No. It was awful. I felt like I was under the water, drowning, not sailing on top of it.”
“That explains how you washed up on shore where Maati and Sokar found you.”
“I wish someone would explain it to me,” David says, feeling like an outsider in his own life.
“Some things you have to figure out for yourself.”
“That's what my mother always used to say.”
“David, I don't mean to be insensitive, but you have a curious habit of watching people's faces intently when they speak, as though you're afraid of missing a word.”
“I am afraid. The only time I can hear is when I fool around with my crystals and wind up in some strange place, like this. At home, I'm as deaf as a stone.”
“Then it's no wonder you keep trying to escape from home.”
Nine
Certain that everyone is asleep, David slips quietly from his room and out of the house. He makes his way stealthily along the streets, hugging the buildings, unaware that someone is following him who also moves in the shadows. Once he is beyond the Coronadus village square, David sprints across the open field to the main harbor, then slows his pace along the strip of dockside warehouses. Looking for an entryway to one of the sheds, he tries one door, then another. No luck. He finds a window that is slightly ajar, forces it open, and crawls inside.
Right behind David, the mysterious figure hesitates at the open window but walks on past.
The water ripples and splashes gently at the pilings as David walks along the marina. Trying to accustom his eyes to the dim light, he steps cautiously closer to what looks like a boat hull anchored to a slip. Mysteriously, as though aiding David's vision, the moonlight moves directly overhead and shines through the skylight windows of the shed.
Now seeing the boat clearly, David approaches it, and notices there are about a dozen others lined up in a long, neat row. Their sails are wrapped tightly around tall masts. David seeks out a gangway, but none is down. He finds a scaffold and climbs it to access the deck of one of the boats.
On the other side of the shed, David's pursuer climbs up another catwalk high above and watches David as he inspects the boat.
Intuitively, David senses a presence. “Is someone there?” he calls out, turning to look left and right, but not upward. Hearing no response, David descends the ladder to the lower deck. It is pitch black, impossible to see. David climbs back up the ladder and, just as his foot touches the main deck again, David is tackled and wrestled to the floor. He struggles fiercely, fights the intruder off, pins him down, and straddles over him. Catching a clear glimpse of his attacker's face in the moonlight, David is shocked.
“Sokar! What's the idea you jumping me like that!”
“What's the idea you sneaking around here in the middle of the night!”
“What's the idea you sneaking around following me!”
Sokar struggles under David's superior, muscular weight. “I have to protect Bianca and my sister from danger,” Sokar says grittily.
“Danger? I'm no danger to anyone.”
“Bianca said you were. Because of the crystals, we're all in danger now. Why did you come here? And get off me!”
“You wouldn't understand,” David says, releasing Sokar and helping him stand. “It's personal.”
Sokar rubs his underdeveloped arms and rolls his sore neck. “What has your personal business got to do with Bianca?”
“I'm not here for Bianca,” David says. “I was using the crystals to find my mother.”
“Is she lost?” Sokar says, now his usual flip self.
“She's dead.”
Sokar is both surprised and contrite. “You're mother, too? I'm sorry.”
“You! You there!” a voice bellows out across the marina. “What are you doing here?”
Stunned, Sokar whispers to David, “It's Sechmet. He mustn't see you.”
“Why? Who is he?” David whispers back.
“Bianca told me to avoid him if at all possible. Where Sechmet goes, trouble follows. Quick, come this way.”
They climb down the scaffolding and s
curry to the far side of the shed, through a steel door and out to the harbor. In record time, they race side by side through the field to the village square and home, then collapse heaving with exhaustion on the front veranda. The two boys, so different and yet so alike, look at each other lying limp and spent on the ground, and burst out laughing with relief and camaraderie.
The next morning, David and Sokar share a picnic basket of goodies created by Maati, and lounge lazily in Sokar's rowboat not far from shore. From this vantage point, David can see the efficient design of the Coronadus main harbor, lined on its longest side with numerous warehouses and sheds for boats and ships. It reminds him of the harbor in Port Avalon.
“What kind of boats are in those sheds, Sokar, commercial or private?”
“Neither,” Sokar replies between munches of a chicken leg. “They sit idle.”
“How come? What's wrong with them?”
“Bianca said they are very unusual boats. They have sails and engines both. The engines propel the boats out of calm areas and into the path of predicted winds where the sails are hoisted and the engines are then cut.”
“Sounds fuel efficient.”
“That's one reason for the design. The other is for the silence in approaching the enemy, when we had enemies. The sails could be operated from the shore by a special transmitter without running the engines.” Sokar bites into a juicy piece of fruit that dribbles down his chin.
“Computerized sailboats? But nothing here is driven by technology. At least nothing I've seen so far.”
“What's computerized?” Sokar asks, wiping his chin with his sleeve.
“It's - well – it's hard to explain, but you can operate anything from a computer, even ships, all because of a tiny silicon chip. Do your transmitters use silicon?”
“I never heard of it. I think they used crystal, very special crystal that no longer exists, not since the destruction.”
“What destruction?” David asks, feeling a nervous sense of deja vu.
“I don't remember much,” Sokar says, trying to recall painful, but faded memories. “I was very young. My mother died then. And Maati and I came to live with Bianca. After that, all of Coronadus changed. The people stopped striving for money and riches, gave up fighting over things. Everyone gets what they need. Nobody pays for anything, at least not with money. You have to give something in return.”
“You mean like bartering? Give someone food in exchange for clothes or mowing the lawn?”
“Yes. And if you have nothing to give, you give of yourself in some way.”
“That's why Rami gave me the Wind Rose,” David muses aloud. “I wonder what he thought I could give him in return.”
David takes out his compass and holds it up. “Do you know what our nautical position is, Sokar?”
Sokar cackles a laugh. “What are you doing with that thing?”
“Bianca says this compass is wind driven. I want to see if it really works.”
“It won't work in Coronadus. There's no wind. Ever.”
“What do you mean there's no wind?”
Now Sokar bursts out with a heartier laugh. “Bianca was right.”
“What do you – Oh, yeah,” David says sheepishly, restraining himself from asking that question. “Well, you guys are always giving me mysterious answers that I can never understand. Anyway, there has to be wind out here if the boats in your harbor set sail.”
“But that's why they don't set sail. At least, that's one reason they don't anymore.”
“You mean all those boats in the shed are never used?”
Sokar shakes his head with impatience. “Well, they can't go if there is no power for the engines and no wind for the sails.”
“I'll bet I can make the Wind Rose work. Watch this.” David opens his pouch of crystals and removes the little Singer. Instantly, the Wind Rose spins to SSE and holds its position.
Sokar is shocked and moves to look closer at the compass. “How did you do that?”
“It's my Singer crystal. It did it before, too. It shook your Mom up and she said to never let anyone know.” David looks out over the water toward the compass direction. Suddenly he stands straight up in the boat almost tipping it over.
“Sokar, look! Out there!”
Puzzled, Sokar peers toward the open sea. It takes a moment for his brain to absorb what his eyes witness. “I don't believe it. A ship. A ship is coming!”
In seconds, the wind builds up from dead still to a gale force. The picnic basket goes flying and Sokar almost falls out of the boat when he instinctively grabs for it. But as the ship comes closer, Sokar forgets the basket and gawks at the splendid sight before him. The dazzling clipper ship's sails are full blown, her crystal masts sparkle and glisten in the sunlight, and she moves with elegance and grace atop the water.
Unsteady on his feet, Sokar rises to stand next to David. “I must be dreaming,” he whispers. “Am I dreaming?”
The magnificent clipper is, indeed, the stuff of dreams, but for David she is very real. “No, Sokar. You're not. It's her!” David says, almost delirious with relief and joy. “She's here! She's here. Now I can go home.”
The Moon Singer stops and holds her position a few hundred yards away. The wind dies down just as quickly as it had whipped up. The air is as still as before. Not a whisper of a movement is felt.
Sokar flops down on the rowboat bench, stunned speechless. Then with a sudden revelation, he grabs up the oars and rows with fierce determination and strength.
“We have to tell Bianca,” Sokar exclaims. “She'll never believe this. No one will.”
Ten
“Is this the ship you told me about, David?” Bianca asks, her voice edged with a mix of excitement and dread.
David nods. “Yes. The Moon Singer.”
Sokar is amazed that Bianca is not surprised. “You know about this ship?”
“Yes, Sokar. It's time you knew the truth. David, too. Come with me.”
The bewildered boys follow Bianca to her bedroom. She takes the lacquered jewelry box from her dressing table drawer and removes the wood sculpture.
“Let me see your Singer, David.”
David opens his pouch and gives Bianca the crystal, which she lays side by side with the little wood ship.
“They look exactly alike,” David says, “like the same person carved them both.”
“Many centuries ago,” Bianca begins her story, “a cataclysmic event was prophesied and it was feared that all the great knowledge that had been acquired would be destroyed if it were recorded in books. So, the very wise scholars programmed a large vein of crystals with all their knowledge and all the knowledge of the Universe, then rematerialized the crystals into the earth. They trusted, when the time was right, that the crystal would surface and be attracted to the people who would use this wisdom well.
“Many years later, this vein was discovered by my father and my husband. Like the wise, uncorrupted men and women before them, they recognized both the potential for greatness and the potential for evil in such power. My father and my husband broke up the vein of crystals and fashioned it into the three masts of the Moon Singer, which represent Love, Wisdom and Truth.
“They set the ship adrift on a pre-programmed course to another dimension where she would be safe from unscrupulous men. Before they did, however, they chiseled a bit of crystal from each mast and fashioned the chips into the Singer crystal, which they named The Record Keeper. Some people also call it the Crystal of Wisdom. The Singer is the only crystal that can activate the ship's many powers.
“When my father knew he would soon die he wanted to give it to my husband. But my husband knew that the secrets of the Moon Singer were in danger of being revealed, for his work had been ransacked more than once by thieves in the night looking for the Singer. To protect it, we buried it with my father so that even in death he could direct that it be found by the right person. As a remembrance, my husband carved a replica of the Singer out of wood and gave it
to me.”
“But if the Singer was buried, how did my Aunt Dorothy find it?”
“You said she brought it back from one of her archeological digs. She must have found it unwittingly. Some burial grounds that were destroyed after the Great War have been unearthed recently.”
“What war?”
“The war that my people fought with an invading army who came to Coronadus.”
“Are you saying my aunt was digging here? In Coronadus?”
“No, no. The earthly counterpart to Coronadus.”
“Earthly counterpart? What does that mean?” David was now feeling like the little ball in a ping-pong game, being whacked not with a paddle but with startling information he couldn't comprehend.
“It's too complicated to explain now. This is why Ishtar and I were separated. I wanted him to save our daughter, Saliana –”
“Wait – wait!” David interrupts her. “Saliana is your daughter?” Another astounding whack of information sends him reeling. “You mean Ishtar is your - ?”
“Yes, my husband. Ishtar took Saliana away to the Island. I stayed behind and joined the underground to help save our people. But most of them died, brutally, savagely. Only a few of us survived. The invaders left when they couldn't find the coveted crystals.”
“Why didn't Ishtar and Saliana come back then?”
“They were working on that when their plans were intercepted.”
David's body sags as though all the energy has been sucked out of it. “It's because of me that everything has gone wrong. Aunt Dorothy should never have given the Singer to somebody as stupid as me.”
“Oh, but David, she was meant to find the Singer and bring it to you. It was pre-destined. She was but a runner, as we say, someone who brings a sign, symbol or message to the person who is to receive it at the right time.”
“You mean I'd never have found it on my own?”
“No, you would never have traveled to that precise point of the Earth where the Moon Singer was placed, not at your young age. Obviously, there is some great event occurring in your world at this time that required the Singer be found.”