Second Veil

by Wilson, David

  "What do you propose?" Illana cut in. "What can we do other than spread the word and prepare them?"

  "We can learn," Zins said simply. "We can expand our knowledge, and reach out for ways to help ourselves, or we can die. The patch is a miraculous thing – it saved the city. Urv will go on – but to what end? If we just continue to watch things crumble, we will die. We have to find out what that thing is that fell from the sky, figure out where it came from and what happened to its source, or we might as well roll over now and pull the veil over us like a shroud."

  They were all silent at this.

  "We need to go…out there," Euphrankes said. "It's what I came here to ask about before. I wanted to pass through the Second Veil. The Tangent – the ship I'm building – it's designed for it."

  "You're crazy," Myril cut in.

  They all turned to him, shocked at the outburst. The High Priest was backing away from them all toward the nearest wall. His hands were up, as if warding against something dangerous, and his eyes were wide.

  "All of you – you're crazy," he repeated. "Out there? Out THERE? Where? Where will you go? There is no life beyond the veils. There is nowhere on this planet, or beyond, that you can go. We were placed here by a higher power – we have been protected by the veils. If they are failing – if they are coming apart at their seams – it is just an extension of our own failing faith. We have always stayed within the boundaries – protected the air – followed the laws."

  "You are following the laws into oblivion," Euphrankes said. "You are deluded, Myril. If there was anyone out there to protect us, they have either departed, or they are sitting back to see if we waste what we were given, or make something of it. We aren't children, and we need to quit sitting around waiting for someone to take care of our problems for us."

  "Blasphemy!" Myril cried shrilly. "It's blasphemy, and I'm not going to listen to it."

  He spun then to High Councilor Cumby.

  "You have to see what is happening here!" he cried. "You have to stop this! We've been given a sign that we have become lax in our faith, that we have taken too much upon ourselves."

  "Listen to yourself, man," High Councilor Cumby said.

  Cumby stepped closer to Myril, holding out a hand to try and calm his old friend. Myril kept backing away, but eventually came to rest against the wall with nowhere else to go.

  "It's not an easy thing for me to admit that I'm wrong," Cumby said. "We have been holed up in that Council Chamber, and you in your Temple, for so long that nothing else seems to exist. It's easy to believe we know all there is to know, and to squash any opposing opinion.

  "But we've been insulated so long, we forgot there was a world out here. When these veils were put in place, they weren't built from the inside. Someone knew we would need the protection, and they gave us a chance. Then they left. Whoever, whatever protected us – that was it. They gave us a chance to survive, and I have to say – looking back over what we've done with that chance, we would be a great disappointment to them if they came back to check on us."

  "You are wrong," Myril said. "They will be disappointed now. We are bringing doom down on our own heads just by standing here and talking about this. We have to…we have to…"

  He broke then. Without a word, he turned and dashed from the room, knocking Slyphie aside as he burst out into the hall. Before they could stop him he'd unsealed the main door and was in the street, running for The Temple. His hair was wild, and he nearly fell several times, but moments later he entered The Temple, and the great doors clanged shut and sealed with a soft hiss.

  "He'll come around," Cumby said.

  No one disagreed with him, or questioned the statement, but they all had their doubts. The Temple was one of the thickest, most impregnable buildings in Urv. The doors locked from within, as did all the sealed portals in the city. It would be next to impossible to get in unless the priests allowed it, and if they all shared Myril's outrage, there was little the rest of Urv could do about it.

  "How do we proceed?" Zins asked, breaking the silence. "What do you need, Euphrankes? What will it take to get the Tangent ready – how much have you already done? What can the rest of us do?"

  "We have time to plan such things," Cumby said. "Tomorrow. For now, let's see about getting this object in here and seeing what we can learn from it. The city is in a shambles, and we need to calm the people. It's time that we," he waved his arm to encompass himself and the other councilors, "got out there and assessed the situation. We're going to have to organize teams to open the roads. We're going to have to send a team to The Outpost to help continue production on the patches. We will, of course, supply any materials we have access to, including Freethion. To be honest, we've hoarded it so long trying to control the airships that we have quite a supply built up. Storing too much can be problematic, as you know. If our magnets ever failed, we'd be causing our own rifts in the veils."

  "I'd be happy to help organize that," Euphrankes said. "If Zins will take Myklos, Lyones, and Slyphie back in the Axis, they can begin production. The rest of us can follow in the tracker. We can haul back a load of Freethion, and all the Imperium you can spare. It will be a start."

  "Done," Cumby said. "For now, we will rest, and we will eat. We can retrieve your tracker tomorrow. I'll arrange to have everything you need made ready."

  "I'll be getting back to the Axis," Zins said, "and airborne."

  Euphrankes stepped forward and held out a hand. Zins shook it.

  "Good speed, old friend," Euphrankes said. "When you get there, have them show you the Tangent. I could use your help on that as well. We can have her ready in a couple of weeks, but…I don't have enough to make the crew. She's big."

  Zins grinned. "You've got a bargain," he said. "Don't waste too much time on the road."

  They separated then. High Councilor Cumby had Euphrankes and those of his people not flying with the Axis taken to quarters where they could rest and freshen up, and he called in his guards.

  "I will make a short trip through the streets," he said. "I want the people to know that we are back in control, for the moment. Illana, take someone and try to get in to Myril. Try to talk sense to him. We will share our evening meal here – with our guests – and continue to lay plans."

  He was silent for just a moment, and then he added, "I believe we are headed into a new age. This is the first day in decades I've felt truly alive."

  Chapter Eleven

  When Euphrankes woke the next morning, Myril was still sealed in The Temple. There was more activity than he'd seen any day other than the one just passed, as hand carts were rolled from all over the city toward the street just outside The Council chambers.

  The tracker had been brought around, he didn't know whether by his own people, or those of The Council. It was parked directly out front, and cargo was being staged. It wasn't until that moment that he remembered what they had on board – and that he'd not mentioned it to Cumby, or any of the others on The Council. He sat up groggily and saw that Aria was up ahead of him. She was seated across the room, brushing her hair. Euphrankes watched for a moment, smiling.

  Too often they worked long shifts and crashed, only to get up and do it all over again. It was nice to see her taking time with her hair. She was a very attractive woman, and he felt a sudden burst of pride that she'd linked her life to his own. Then he shook it off and sat up.

  "We have to talk to Councilor Cumby," he said.

  Aria turned.

  "Good morning to you, too," she said.

  "Sorry," Euphrankes said. "I saw them down by the tracker, and I remembered what we picked up along the way. We need to take care of the remains. If they have records of those who went missing that day, they may be able to identify them. At the least, they need to receive proper incineration."

  Aria stopped combing.

  "Gods," she said. "With all that was happening, I forgot about that completely."

  "I know," Euphrankes said. "We just got on the good sid
e of The Council – I'd hate to ruin that by having them think we're hoarding dead bodies."

  He rose and showered, then dressed as quickly as he could, and the two of them headed out in search of the High Councilor. They found him supervising the work out front, and Euphrankes couldn't help breaking into a grin, despite the grim news he was about to impart. This was the second day in a row he'd seen the High Councilor out of the main chambers, and that was two more times than it had happened previously in his lifetime.

  "Good morning," Cumby said as they approached. "I hope you don't mind. Your people were up early, and I took the liberty of having them bring the tracker around so we could get started. I feel as if we need to capitalize on what momentum is available."

  "No problem at all," Euphrankes said. "I need to talk with you before we begin the loading, though. We encountered something on the way through the road that you should know about, and it's going to take some special attention. Is Myril still locked down?"

  "I'm afraid so. No one has been in or out of The Temple since he sealed it yesterday. Why?"

  Euphrankes told him as quickly as he could about the bodies, particularly the man who had climbed into the pressure case to try and save himself. Cumby listened intently, and nodded.

  "I'm glad you came to me with this. There are those who are sympathetic to Myril's position, and things are balanced rather delicately at the moment. If they knew of these bodies, they'd find a way to twist it into some sort of sign that we were being punished by the ancients for tampering with the veils."

  "But," Aria said, "these people died because the veils failed – not because of anything we did."

  "I know that, and you know that, but I'm not sure everyone will believe it, just the same," Cumby said. "As you may be aware," he actually winked at Euphrankes, "we have become a bit set in our ways here. It is much easier to sit back and claim that any action is in violation of the laws of The Protectors than it is to sanction it. They will say that some innovation we made, some change to the old ways, brought about the failure in the road, and that the men caught inside paid the price."

  "And yet," Euphrankes added drily, "they have no problem using those innovations to seal off the road and prevent their own punishment. One of the biggest changes and advances was the airlock system."

  "I know, I know," Cumby held up his hands. "This isn't the time to get into it, in any case. We need to have those bodies removed quickly and quietly. I'll arrange for some of my private guard to do the work. We can quietly attempt to identify them, notify their families, and perform the proper incineration after you are safely on your way back to The Outpost."

  "We appreciate it," Euphrankes said. "I didn't know what to do with them, but I knew I couldn't leave them out there. I would have told you immediately, but, well, we were a little caught up in the moment."

  "Indeed," Cumby said. "Tell me, Euphrankes, this ship of yours – the Tangent – you really believe it can break through the Second Veil without causing damage?"

  "It won't be on fire," Euphrankes said. "From the few tests I've been able to run, and the calculations we've worked out, the Second Veil appears to be less cohesive than the first. While the lower veil is an actual protective, pressurized shell, the Second Veil is apparently solid only to certain types of gas and particulates. I'm not sure how the ancients managed it, but it serves as a sort of sieve, preventing larger bits of space debris – to a point – from striking the lower veil, but radiation and most larger solids pass through relatively unscathed."

  "We certainly got a close-up view of how that works," Cumby said. "I wanted to have Myril scan the veil where the object penetrated, but I haven't been able to communicate with him. The stubborn old fool has the only powerful telescope available in the city."

  "I can give it a look when I get to The Outpost," Euphrankes said. "We have nothing like the Chamber of Stars is reputed to offer, but our instruments are precise. I have been working on a larger telescope, but it's difficult to grind the lenses without access to the workshops in Bethes. They have no air tower as of yet, and the road has been closed for some time."

  "I hope to rectify that soon," Cumby said. "They will be the first city we reach out to, once we have sufficient patches to repair the great road. They have been cut off for too long. I'm comforted by the fact that they have their own agricultural pods, but they have limited supplies of water. You never really see how this world operates like a single great organism until you cut off an organ, or sever an artery. We have food and water, so, of course, Myril told us it was a punishment, and we acted on his word. Eventually we would have made contact through the airships, but it might have been too late. What fools we've been."

  "Nothing to be done for that now," Euphrankes said. "If you'll see to the removal of the bodies, we'll get out there and ready the tracker for the cargo. We should be able to load up and be on the road by this evening. Zins should already be docking at The Outpost, so by the time we get there, they could conceivably have enough of the patches completed for the first of the roads. If there aren't too many breaks and rifts, then it doesn't take too long. The road to Bethes will be more difficult, though. The tear is nearly halfway between the cities."

  "I've been thinking about that," Cumby said. "The work is going to take time. We'll need to send out teams, and they'll have to be in protective gear until the rift is completely repaired. It will be dangerous."

  "I'm sure you'll get plenty of volunteers when word gets out that people's loved ones in Bethes can be reached," Aria said. "Some will have family there."

  "I had thought of that," Cumby said, "and I also have an idea I want to run past you before you go, Euphrankes. It came to me yesterday soon after you repaired the veil. I believe I have a notion for a modified shield that might be more mobile…using a patch cut to the shape and size of the road, it's perimeter a pocket of Freethion and the inside of that ring magnetized. If the work crews could seal the road up to the point they've reached, it could pressurize behind them. It might speed progress and add a layer of safety."

  Euphrankes grinned.

  "If you ever get tired of your work with The Council," he said, "you should join us at The Outpost. That's a brilliant idea. I'll try to start on a prototype on the trip out…we should be able to send you something to test on the return trip."

  "Perfect," Cumby nodded. "Come and see me before you leave. Hopefully I'll have more to tell you about Myril by then, and we'll have some final details to work out, in any case."

  Euphrankes nodded. "We'll see you in a few hours then," he said.

  Down by the tracker, he spotted Bonymede directing the stacking of a pallet of Imperium strips. Turning to Aria, he nodded toward their companion.

  "We'd better fill him in and help him get this organized before he decides we've abandoned him, or been taken hostage."

  Aria laughed as they hurried off together to assist in the loading and stowage of the supplies they were going to need for their return. As they pitched in, Euphrankes was already working out a design for the mobile patch in his head. As busy as it was, and as crazed as the previous couple of days had proven, he thought this might just be the finest day of his long life.

  Chapter Twelve

  In his private chamber near the top of The Temple, Myril paced like a caged animal. He had not eaten since locking himself away, and though he'd allowed a servant to bring in water, he'd barely touched it. He couldn't stop running the events of the past days through his mind, worrying at them from every conceivable angle. It was his responsibility to oversee the spiritual safety of those who looked up to him, but that weight had never felt so important, or so impossible to reconcile as it did in those moments.

  He'd seen the fiery death bearing down on them. First he'd seen it through the telescope, and then much closer as it plunged through the veils and slammed into the city street. He'd felt the release of pressure, the sudden, imminent touch of The Protectors, ready to chastise them for their lack of faith. That touch,
and the attending punishment, had been denied.

  He wanted to believe that Cumby was right, that they had to stand up for themselves, and it was the only way to survive, but the spiritual welfare of the city was in his hands – possibly that of the entire world. He couldn't just shake that off.

  He ran down the transgressions of the past two decades in his mind, the times when the rules had been bent, or changed, so that some reckless new technology could be employed “for the greater good.” That period also marked the greatest growth in damage to the roads, the worst erosion of the atmosphere, and the growing disregard of all that he'd been taught to hold sacred. It couldn't be just coincidence. The more they deviated from the path that had been set for them, the worse things got, and he feared if things got much worse than they already were, none of them would survive it.

  In fact, they should not have survived this. If the breaking of the veil was a punishment, then their blatant disregard of what should have been inevitable was a blasphemy. If it was a blasphemy it was his responsibility to rectify it.

  He strode to the door and slipped out into the hall. A quick glance in either direction showed that he was alone. He turned toward the airlock, and the long stair leading to The Chamber of Stars. He met no one along the way, and when he reached the chamber, despite recent events, he found no one on watch.

  It didn't surprise him. He'd refused all visitors since closing The Temple, and he'd provided no direction. He wasn't ready yet to make a statement – didn't even know what he would say when he did. He hoped that the chamber, a place he'd spent countless hours in the past, would provide him the silence and peace he required to find those answers.