by Dani Hoots
As we entered the more occupied parts of Old Capital City, I began to notice posters pinned to the buildings and posts. Wanted posters of me. Most of them were shredded with knife punctures; others burnt or riddled with holes. I gave David a worried look but he simply responded with a nervous ‘I don’t know what to say’ smile. I turned my attention back down to the sidewalk.
I felt people brush past me. Every footstep I heard caused my heart to skip beats. I had never feared for my life before but this was different. This was an entire planet that wanted me dead. If anyone saw me, I was dead. If anyone heard my voice, I was dead. I wondered what would happen if I sneezed. I kept close to David, knowing out of anyone he would try to protect me if something happened. Not that I needed protecting or anything. I could take care of myself.
“Rik!” I heard a voice call. “Hey Rik, wait up!”
Everyone stopped. I tried to keep going, not wanting to stop in the middle of the city. David grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
The man hurried to Rik. “Where have you been?”
I kept my eyes down, trying not to make any sort of contact with the stranger. I had no idea what he looked like; I only heard the sound of his voice.
“Garvner,” Rik answered. “Had a couple of personal things to check out. Nothing special.”
“Garvner? What could you possibly have to do there?” the stranger questioned.
“As I said, personal things.” Rik emphasized. There was silence for a moment.
“Who is this?” he referred to me. I felt my body tense up. So did David’s.
“She’s a loner. We found her in Vass roaming the streets. Her family had been pretty abusive so she tried running away but where can you run away to on Garvner? So we decided to take her with us to show her what the galaxy offers and of course the P.A.E.,” Rik lied.
“Oh, it’s okay, we’re all friends here,” the man bent down, trying to get a glimpse of my face. I quickly turned and planted my face into David’s chest. David wrapped his arms around me.
“It’s okay. He means you no harm,” David stroked my back. “She is still afraid of strangers. She wasn’t in the friendliest neighborhood when we found her.”
“There are bad parts on Garvner?” the man inquired. There really weren’t or at least there didn’t used to be.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” David fibbed.
“Hm, never heard about them. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare her,” he apologized.
“Don’t worry; she will learn to trust again. We should probably get her somewhere where there are less people. Rik?” David tried to end the conversation.
“I agree. It was nice talking to you, Cameron,” Rik started to head off.
“Always a pleasure. Also, before I forget, Dan wanted to speak to you when you got back. He’s downtown, you know the place.”
“I will go talk to him as soon as I can. Thank you for the message,” Rik said.
I heard the man head back down the street. David held me close as we started towards the library.
“You can stop holding me, David,” I whispered.
“Not until we are off the street,” he insisted.
I nodded. That was too close, even for me. He almost got a glimpse of my face. That could have been the end of everything right there. I shuddered at the thought of what I would have to do to all of them if that were the case.
David led me toward the remnants of the library along with the rest of the crew. It was one of the last main buildings that were still standing, even though there were large chunks taken out of the sides and top of the building. No one seemed to hang around it. It was eerily empty. This surprised me since I had heard of how great it was from David. He probably was the only one who came inside anymore, which wouldn’t surprise me.
The cases were full of information disks. Rows and rows of cases sprawled along each level. There had to be over a million disks in the few levels that were visible. These were all that was left over from the war. I thought of what this place could have held all those centuries ago. The only library I had ever gone into were ones to research old war plans and the like. It was nothing compared to what this used to be.
“Amazing isn’t it?” David noted my awe.
“Yes, it is. I have never seen anything like it. Why isn’t there anyone in here?”
“Because most of this information is outdated and not needed for our daily lives. If people need anything it is accessible from their homes. No one has need of a library anymore, so the Empire never made a new one as grand as this. So this place and all its information will disappear with time,” he explained as we headed down the stairs towards the lower levels.
“Interesting,” I commented.
“Very.”
“Enough chit-chat, David. She’s an Imperial, not a tourist,” Will shot out at him.
“Watch what you say. You could get overheard,” David warned.
Will shoved pass. “Good.”
“Is he always this bitter or is it just me?” I inquired.
“He isn’t usually this angry,” David began. “In fact, he’s actually quite friendly to most people.”
“So I made him this angry. That’s nothing new then.”
“You have many enemies, Arcadia. Question is, do you have any friends?”
“You already know the answer to that,” I hinted, seeing if he thought I considered him a friend. I didn’t, I had no friends.
“That’s what I figured,” he remarked as we crept down the stairs.
There seemed to be no end to the stairwell as we went down and down with each step. Throughout the entire time, I believe I only saw two or three people, but it was hard to tell when I kept my hood over my head and my eyes glued to the step in front of me.
As we finally reached the bottom floor, we made our way through the maze of cases that held each and every information disk.
“We’re almost to the room, Arcadia,” Rik spoke. “There is also something I need you to do for me.”
I knew it.
“What is that?” I asked.
“I need you to translate something.”
“Translate?”
Rik didn’t respond. We came to a room that was a dead end. I pulled back my hood. It was full of books, real books. Ones made of paper. I placed my fingers on them, feeling the old paper and parchment they were made out of. I hadn’t seen one for so long; in fact the last one I saw was when I was little on Garvner. I brushed my hand against the leather binding.
“Here,” Rik pointed at an inscription that was carved into one of the shelves in the bookcase. A wooden bookcase as a matter of fact, which was rarer than the books themselves, unless you were a rich man on Anosira or living on Garvner. “Translate this.”
“What are you talking about Rik, no one uses other languages anymore. Everything is in standard. Unless you count Recar as having a different language since their accents make it sound like a different language.”
“You know this one. Just look.”
I approached Rik and looked at the inscription. It was a bunch of scrambled symbols.
“That can’t be...” I began.
“It is. It’s the language Father made up for us to leave notes with. I was never any good at it but you picked it up like it was your native tongue. Do you remember it?”
I just stood there, mesmerized by the symbols. They were the same ones in the dreams that were carved into the walls of the buildings. It had been so long ago that I didn’t even realize it.
“Arcadia?” Rik interrupted my train of thought.
I looked over at him. I didn’t want to tell him it was the same language as the one in my dreams. Father had taught us how to read Sanshlian, but that didn’t mean I could understand it.
“How did you know I would come with you here?” I asked.
“We didn’t, we were going to drug you and make you come on Garvner,” David explained.
“That wouldn’t have ended well for you.”
<
br /> “Just read the damn writings,” Will shot out.
I turned back and studied the inscription. “It has been a long time, Rik.”
“I know.”
“You know what the odds were for me remembering these?”
“Slim.”
I thought of an idea. “Close to zero. I used to be able to read them Rik, but I can’t now. Not alone.”
“What do you mean?”
I pulled out Father’s pocket watch. “Father made a reader out of this watch. It took me a while but I figured out how it worked. All the symbols are able to be decoded using this.”
“They are?” he questioned.
“Yes, I figured it out after I took it apart one day. I wanted to know why it never stopped. I’ve never had to wind it. I found that it runs on crystal, which is rare. The only watches that run on crystal were ones from before the Second Republic.”
“Interesting.”
“Very.” I read the inscriptions, using the watch to translate. “It says... ‘to enter... um... two keys... clockwise... or is that counter-clockwise? Same time’.”
“That’s it?” Will remarked.
“Is it clockwise or counter-clockwise?” Rik queried.
“I... I don’t know. Pretty sure it’s clockwise. I think the mark that looks like an anti-symbol is just a scratch, not actually intended.”
Rik nodded and pulled out the keys. He put them in the two key holes that were side by side inside the bookcase that had been cleared out.
“Here goes nothing,” he started to turn the keys.
“Wait,” Will held out his hand. “How do we know she isn’t lying?”
“We don’t, but there’s nothing we can really do. She is the only one who can translate it.”
Will was silent. Rik turned back to the keys and slowly turned them clockwise. We waited in silence. Nothing happened.
“Damn it!” Rik pounded his fist against the bookcase.
The bookcase started to shake and it moved back like a door. Rik shoved it all the way open to reveal a small dark room. I followed Rik inside. The only thing that was in the room was a table with three books. Rik placed his hand on the table and a holographic figure appeared in front of us. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Father?”
Chapter 11
Rik and I stared at the hologram in front of us. Although we knew Father left us the keys, we didn’t think we would ever receive a personal message from him. His face held a soft grin as he always did when we were younger. I wondered when he made the message and how long it had been waiting for us to stumble upon.
“Arcadia, Rik, if you are watching this then it means I am gone. I don’t know how old you are now or what is going on in the galaxy, but I know that if you found this then the galaxy is still in chaos.”
He didn’t know we would find it. He had only hoped.
“I left you with stories of Sanshli and the tools to find it. These books,” the image gestured to the three books on the table, “are books to help you find Sanshli and to stop the chaos and to bring order to the galaxy. It is said whoever pulls the sword out of Nygard’s heart will be able to make what was once wrong...”
“Right again,” I whispered with the recording. I turned to Rik who was studying the books that were on the table.
“You may be wondering if I had these books, then why didn’t I go and try to find it. I would have but there is a missing book and your mother,” he hesitated, “was sick and I couldn’t leave her and, well, you know the rest. I did however find the location of the other book. I made a map to help you find it. It is tucked away in one of the books. Arcadia should be able to figure out the markings I left. You can never be too careful. I don’t want anyone else to know about it. Especially after what I learned about the e...” the image became static and finally disappeared.
I rushed over to the table and flipped through the books, searching for the map. I finally found it in the middle of the second book. I unfolded it and laid it down across the table. I mumbled to myself. I went back into the first room and grabbed a piece of charcoal I saw laying on one of the bookcases and started tracing the map. David watched me as I kept whispering to myself.
I shook my head. “No. No, no, no. No.”
“What?” David questioned.
“What does this look like to you?” I held the piece of paper up to him.
He examined it quickly and ran his fingers through his hair and then covered his mouth with the realization where the map led. “That’s... not good.”
“What is it?” Rik flipped through the third book on the table.
“The fourth book is on Ttkas,” David revealed.
The room became silent. Ttkas was an Imperial stronghold, manufacturing most of the weapons for the Pandronan Empire. It was guarded more heavily than Anosira, not to mention even more because of the presumption of an attack.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Going after this legend was one thing, but having to go to Ttkas to find a clue was another. We had a better chance wandering aimlessly in space trying to find Sanshli than sneaking on Ttkas to get the book.
“What are we going to do now, Rik?” Will asked.
“We get the fourth book,” he closed the books and started packing them away in his satchel.
“Are you insane?!” I exclaimed. “You will never be able to get past their defense systems. It’s a suicide mission, Rik. Just give up.”
“Give up? Our father left this for us. Our father, Arcadia. He knew we could do it. He made us ready for this. It was his dream. It was what he lived for. You can’t tell me you would give up on him; I don’t care how heartless you are now. I saw your face when you saw the holographic image. You still care,” he put the hologram disk in his bag. “You just won’t admit it to yourself.”
I looked down at where the hologram once stood. It had been a long time since I had seen Father’s smiling face.
“How about Will, Arcadia, and I stay here and look through the books?” David suggested. “Before we do anything drastic. You and Amanda can go talk to Dan. We will figure something out when you get back.”
“Fine. Let’s go Amanda,” Rik sat his satchel on the table and left with Amanda.
Sighing, David grabbed a book and opened it. I sat down across from him. Will leaned against the doorway.
“Have you ever seen these symbols before?” I inquired.
“Other than outside the door? No, I have not.”
I flipped open the watch. “Good thing I still have Father’s old watch. It would take me a long while to decode otherwise.”
“How does the watch work?”
“It helps decode the script. It takes a while to get used to but I have had it for a while.” I didn’t want to explain more.
“How?” he pressed further.
“I’m not showing you how it works, David. It’s apparent that this is the only reason Rik let me stay with you. If I showed you then you could get rid of me.”
“Good point,” Will interjected. “Let’s get rid of her. For good.”
David pulled off his glasses and rubbed them with his shirt. “We aren’t going to get rid of her, Will, we still need her.”
“But all we need is that watch, you heard her,” he retorted.
“If we took the watch, it would still take us even longer to figure out how to decode these books. It wouldn’t be wise to get rid of her now,” David tried explaining clear enough to make Will stop threatening me.
Will pounded his fist on the table. “Wouldn’t be wise?! She’s the freaking Emperor’s shadow! How do you know she won’t just kill us all the moment she gets a chance? She killed our father, David! How can you be so kind to her?”
“She didn’t kill him,” David stated coolly. “The war killed him.”
Will shook his head. “No, David, she killed him. Shot a bullet right into his heart. Isn’t that right, Arcadia?”
David turned to face me. I kept my gaze towards Will.
He left us in the hidden room. I looked back to David. He was still staring at me.
“Did you kill him?” he asked.
I stayed silent.
He leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “Did you kill him?!”
“I never said I didn’t,” I answered.
He leapt out of his chair and started pacing the room.
“This whole time I have been defending you! That you are just a single person in this war. Not someone who we could blame for everything. Not someone who we could blame for his death,” he stopped and placed his hands on the table, looking down at them. “I am such a fool.”
“No,” I started. “You are just more open minded than others.”
“Why? Why haven’t you said anything?”
“I did,” I closed the watch and placed it in my pocket. “To Rik.”
“Why not to me? You knew I was defending you.”
“As I said, I never said I didn’t. You just assumed.”
“I made a complete ass of myself to the rest of the crew. They all knew. I trusted you.”
“You can still trust me because I never lied.”
“You are as manipulative as they say you are.”
“I won’t disagree to that.”
He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Why haven’t you killed us already?”