by Oxford, Rain
“You haven’t touched anything. Most people touch things they think are beautiful.”
“Oh, it is nice. I think the technology is fascinating, but I grew up in a lavish castle, so I don’t need lavish to be happy.”
“I think it’s cool, too, but I learned not to touch breakable things and I haven’t really gotten out of that habit,” Dylan said. We returned to the bedroom and Dylan laid Sammy down in the cradle.
Shiloh touched a place on the wall to the left of the bed and the panels moved to reveal a closet, stocked full with clothes. “In case you want to change clothes.”
I looked down at the sterile hospital clothes. “Where are our clothes?”
He pulled out a hanger with the green shirt Dylan had worn. “They have been washed.”
Then I thought of my bags that I left in the Aradlin forest. I really had nothing sentimental other than pictures, and my clothes could be replaced, but I hoped some draxuni puppy did not try to eat something of mine and choke. Everything should have been safe in the dragon’s cave.
“How do we get something to eat?” Dylan asked.
Shiloh showed us to the shelf by the sink in the kitchen. “Ask for food. Sudo has been assimilated, but you have to ask for something we have.”
“Can I have steak medium rare?”
There was a small beep and a steak appeared on a black glass plate. Dylan’s jaw dropped open. “That’s so futuristic it’s not even funny. How many years ahead of Earth are you in technology?” Dylan asked.
“There is no comparison. Vaigda is the most technologically advanced world by far. There are many wizards here who have signed books and learned to travel, but they are all closely monitored to protect our information from other worlds. Nothing is exported without my explicit permission.”
“What about technological singularity?”
“Artificial intelligence is regulated. Vaigdans want to be the best in the universe; we would never make something smarter than ourselves.”
“That’s what they want you to think.”
“What is technological singularity?” I asked.
“When artificial intelligence becomes more intelligent than people and can start creating even more intelligent technology.”
“Like a calculator?”
“Like an android, capable of creating a virus that can wipe out the human race, and ambitious enough to want to. If an A.I. is independent of people and develops self-awareness, it might think it’s superior to us and try to get rid of us. Or even make us servants. Earth already has the technology to destroy the world, and computer systems that can reason and predict actions, but our technology has no self-awareness.”
“Why do you have computers that can predict actions?”
“Mostly to play chess. The point is, if you simulate of life, you lose control of it. There is a boundary crossed when technology stops being a tool and starts making decisions on its own. There are advantages, such as sending a robot out to explore another planet, but when you put them in charge of the weapons systems…” he trailed off, probably imagining horrible scenes.
“And that is why it is regulated,” Shiloh said.
Dylan shook his head. “Nobody ever understands until it’s too late.” Dylan took the plate and set it on the table. A hidden cabinet above the sink held cutlery and dishes. He cut a piece of steak with a knife and what looked similar to a fork.
Dylan had once made me try a knife and fork and I used them every chance I could since. “How is it?” I asked when he tried it.
“Tastes like steak.”
Shiloh left after that and I got myself a steak. It was good, but I thought it needed some kind of sauce. Dylan laughed and said that humans didn’t use as much sauce on their food as sago. Then we had to take turns holding Sammy while the other ate, because Dylan’s laugh woke the fussy child up. Dylan tried to give him some steak, but he spit it out, so we gave him some fruit. He glared at the foreign fruit, then threw it at Dylan when Dylan laughed at his disgusted expression. I wanted to laugh, too, that a baby could make such a face.
Apparently hunger won out and he tried some. He made happy sounds and gobbled the rest down. “Maybe we should try to get him to talk,” I said in English. I didn’t want to teach him Sudo.
“Mama!” he screamed, as if to prove me wrong, and reached for me. Dylan laughed, and then ducked to avoid the flying bowl.
“Sammy,” I warned gently. He frowned as he realized his mistake and covered his eyes with his sticky hands.
I gave Sammy a bath in the sink since Dylan looked like he was thinking hard about things. Thoughts of the present slipped away as I started wondering about what I would do when everything was done and the universe was saved. I never earned my last name and I couldn’t very well use it after running away; my father would drag me back in order to sell me off. I would have to move somewhere like Shomodii until I grew older in order to not be found. It wasn’t like I really had to hide from everyone, it would just be easier if my father did not know where I was. I would have to figure out how to change my legal records. Maybe Kiro could forge me a new identity, but I really didn’t want to live on a plot of land alone in Shomodii; I preferred the city.
A sudden pain in my hand made me look down. Sammy frowned up at me in confusion, and there were baby teeth prints on my hand. “Sammy, that wasn’t nice.”
“It’s because you were staring off into space for ten minutes. He was just worried,” Dylan said, coming up beside us.
“Well, he should have said something instead of biting me.”
The baby made a dramatic gasp. “Dada!” he screamed, reaching for Dylan.
Dylan got a green look on his face. “We need to get him to his parents ASAP before he adopts us. I’ve been thinking that if we are going to go all over the universe, we need to put Sammy somewhere safe first.”
“What about the demon? Won’t it come after him?”
“I wasn’t really thinking of dropping him off with Vi; I was considering leaving him with another Guardian, maybe even Edward. If we can find Edward without revealing his location, maybe we can hide Sammy with him.”
“Why not go higher? Tiamat?”
“I think Tiamat has enough to battle with right now. Maybe we can find Nano.”
“I think everyone is busy now. We should ask Shiloh who can help us.”
“Shiloh himself might be able to. We can leave Sammy with Vivian if Shiloh can draw the demon away.”
We decided to table it for now and go to bed.
Chapter 8
Dylan
I woke to Sammy having a fit, which is even worse than waking up to the screeching of an angry crow. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I opened them to see Mordon trying to quiet the baby.
“He doesn’t stop crying,” Mordon whispered. “I think his lack of magic is bothering him.”
I sat up and Mordon set him in my arms. He cried for a few more seconds, then started quieting down. Once he stopped completely, he looked up at me with a confused expression and then he laid his head against my shoulder. I glanced up to see that Mordon’s eyes had turned black.
“Um… you okay?” I asked cautiously. Mordon closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them to their normal color.
“Yeah. I could see his magic even better than I could smell it. It interacts gently with your magic. I bet that when he’s more powerful, as in when we’re off his planet, the interaction will turn violent.”
“Hence, why I shouldn’t hold him under normal circumstances.”
“I would say so. But, look what I found in the closet.” He went to said closet and pulled out a papoose.
“No,” I said. “I’m not wearing that.”
He rolled his eyes. “You never know when you will need your hands free, and if he fusses every time you’re not holding him, we will have a hard time getting anything done.”
I sighed. It was too early in the morning to argue, so I took the papoose and put it on. Sammy had fall
en asleep, but as soon as I laid him on the bed, he started waking up. The papoose had three straps around my waist and over my shoulders that all connected at my back. Sammy settled into the harness effortlessly and laid his head against my chest. I sighed again.
Sammy woke up just as we were finished with breakfast in order to demand his own food. After putting him in the high chair, I gave him eggs and fruit while Mordon went to shower. I heard a nice slew of my favorite Sudo cuss words. At one point even Sammy stopped eating to stare at the door we could hear Mordon through.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Not sure yet!”
Sammy and I looked at each other before he went back to eating. Eventually Mordon came back in, dry and dressed in fresh clothes. “Gave up on the shower?”
He just shook his head. Then it was my turn. With Mordon watching Sammy, I ventured into the glass shower. There were many nobs and buttons, so I guessed and pushed a button. A slight misting of freezing water came out of the sprayer at the top. When that quickly stopped, I turned a knob. Instead of more water spraying, I could feel really cold pressure all over. It wasn’t even air, just pressure. I gasped and pushed a different button, causing more pressure, but it pulsed in a pattern less unbearable. I almost didn’t notice the loud buzzing sound.
With the hope that I was now clean as I was dry, I turned off the horrible thing and got out. I found a nice green, button up shirt and what closely resembled jeans. After dumping half the contents of Sammy’s baby bag, I went back into the kitchen. Mordon and Sammy were watching me, waiting for my response.
“On all sci-fi shows, they say sonic showers are awesome. That was horrible. Hydrosonic showers are horrible. If that is all this world has, I pity these people.” I put the papoose back on, fixed my book bag and the baby bag so they weren’t cutting off circulation, and put Sammy back in the harness. He smiled, happy as could be. “If you head-butt me, you’ll be eating peas for dinner,” I warned him. He just grinned, laid his head against my chest, and clutched my shirt in his tiny fingers. God, he was cute.
We left to wander the halls, looking for Shiloh. Finally, we came across someone in a uniform, stopped him to ask for directions, and were directed to a dining room. There was a large glass table where many people ate, so it took a few minutes to spot Shiloh talking with an older woman. When he saw us, he greeted us and asked how we enjoyed our night.
“The sleeping part was great,” Mordon said.
“The showering part was horrible. Do you use Hydrosonic showers because we are in the sky, or does everyone use them?” I asked.
“No, the land cities use both Hydrosonic and full water showers. The water cities use only water showers.”
“There are cities in the water like there are in the sky?” Mordon asked.
“Of course. Now, if you are ready to go, I would like for you to solve the damage on this world first.”
“Why?” Mordon asked with suspicion.
“Because they have so much technology and magic that simple wounds in time and space here could be catastrophic,” I answered.
Shiloh smiled. “Exactly.”
He led us to another elevator and just as it had before, the door slid open a second after it shut. We stepped out into an enclosed garden, where a clear ceiling let in light for the mass of colorful flowers and plants. Some flowers were tiny, but several were larger than Sammy.
The dirt covered floor was stone and there was a small pond with a waterfall in the middle of the large garden. Within the pond were more flowers. Mordon pointed out one group of flowers hanging from the ceiling that looked like small, purple skulls with hoods.
Shiloh led us out into another room, which was far too classy to have an attached garden. This was similar to places on Earth like museums or businesses; all metal, glass, and white plaster walls. Mordon looked like this was the weirdest place he had ever seen in his life. We came to a third room, similar to the last except it had shelves on the walls and ropes to keep people back. The shelves were empty.
“What is this?” I asked.
“A museum. An empty museum. Artifacts started to disappear slowly, but things outside the museum that were related started to disappear as well. The more I try to help, the faster the damage grows.”
“Dylan.”
Mordon’s eyes were black again as he glanced around.
“I can see the tearing just like that hologram showed. This place is full of tears and bright white holes and cracks.”
“Stay away from the white,” Shiloh warned, “that is the void.”
“How do I heal it?” I asked.
“I have no god energy, so I have no idea,” Shiloh answered helpfully.
I sighed and unstrapped the papoose, then handed Sammy to Mordon. “Okay.” I sat down on the ground and cleared my mind. I first focused on my book and my connection with Earth. Slowly I could feel the warm presence of my world; she was hurting, but recognized me as her protector. Once I had that stable link, I focused on Duran.
The larger planet was harder to link to, even though I had been using its power for three years, but my name was in Duran’s book so I knew I could do it. I also knew when I opened the link that Erono would have access to me, but I had to trust that he wouldn’t strike at this moment. Duran was in better shape than Earth. The magic of the world was highly in tune with the people because so many of the people used magic, and that gave it a stability Earth did not have.
With both worlds linked to my mind and power, I reached for this new world. Vaigda was not the soothing innocence of Earth or the hot aggression of Duran. It was ambitious. The people of Vaigda would accomplish anything they thought up simply because they could. Dangerous. Vaigda was dangerous, and the power was unstable. The world pressed against me with curiosity, but not malevolence. I answered with a simple pulse of power, not aggressive, but just as dangerous. It backed off and waited for my call.
I learned something in that moment; magic was meant to be controlled, not used. So many people use magic without knowing how to control it.
I pulled out the healing energy within myself and drew magic from Duran and Earth. Vaigda’s magic tried to fight the invasion, but I forced the world to try harder to rebuild itself. The universe is constantly trying to fix itself, it just doesn’t work when the souls of different worlds are in combat. Duran and Earth magic joined with Vaigda’s to repair the damage and block the void. I couldn’t see the holes like Mordon could, but I could feel them through my link with Vaigda. When the damage stopped growing and started to close into jagged scars, I released my own energy to join with the others’. The scars healed over until time and space was how it was meant to be.
I opened my eyes to see Mordon and Shiloh in shock and the room full of ancient artifacts. Then, all at once, my connection snapped and I thought my head would explode. Vaigda reached out again to try to sooth the wild energy inside me, but he wasn’t fast enough.
* * *
The annoying beeping told me exactly where I was; I had woken up to the sound of a heart monitor so many times in my life that it should have been my theme song. I opened my eyes and the lights automatically dimmed. That was nice.
After a few minutes, I was able to sit up. My head still hurt, but it wasn’t agonizing. Mordon was sitting in a chair beside the bed with Sammy curled up against his chest. The walls were glass and I understood that we were back at the clinic on Vaigda. I felt Vaigda’s magic gently brush against mine like a worried pet and I attempted to send calm thoughts back, but I wasn’t sure it worked.
Mordon woke at the sound of the rustling bed sheet and blinked blearily at me. When he realized I was awake, he stood. “Are you okay? Are you still in pain?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” Or I was until I felt a sharp pain in my jaw. “What did you do that for?!”
“You died! You stupid fool! You died and you’re okay?!”
I didn’t realize I had died, and for some reason that caused me to chuckle. “It wasn�
�t the first time.” I wondered if it would be the last. “Owe! Would you stop hitting me?!” I demanded when he punched me again.
“No! I will hit you until you’re not okay because I sat here for three days knowing you could die again any moment and that was not okay!”
I don’t think I had ever seen him scream so much, but he was furious. This time he nearly broke my nose. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug, a little bit because he was my best friend and upset, but a lot because I didn’t want to get punched again. “I was asleep for three days?”
“You were in a coma for three days. When you passed out, we brought you here, but you died right before they could get to you. You were gone for about a minute before they could get your heart to start again.” He would have been referring to Duran minutes; one Duran minute was about three of Earth’s.
Sammy started wiggling around until Mordon had to step away, but the little child got a grip on my arm and refused to let go. “Dada!” the baby cried. Mordon handed him over.
“Yeah, kid, I’m not your dad. Nano’s going to be upset. What did Shiloh say? Is Vaigda okay?” I asked.
He crossed his arms. “I don’t care how Vaigda is. I told Shiloh to get out and not come back.”
I had to laugh at that. “I forget you’re younger than me sometimes, but you always remind me. Guardian’s don’t do what they’re told.”
“Of course not,” Shiloh said, the door sliding shut behind him. “That would make us servants instead of powerful warriors. Are you feeling better?”
“If I say yes, are you going to hit me?”
“He better not,” Mordon growled.
Sammy looked up to see what Mordon was upset about. Shiloh laughed and came closer. Before Mordon could do anything, I felt a jerk in Sammy’s power and Shiloh went flying back into the glass. It looked like he had been shoved by a really strong person.
“Mine!” the baby screamed at him.
Shiloh stood up quickly but kept his distance. “What is that child?” he asked, staring at Sammy like he was a monster.