“Why do you say this?” Boone asked.
“Because it’s true. I’ve been through my share of suffering, but I have never carried a burden like yours. I don't know if I could. You survived, Boone. You are alive right now. You found a way to live. You found a way to do all of those things Varkos made you do.”
“I only did because Varkos is strong,” Boone replied.
“No.” Her voice filled the stall. “Varkos is a liar.” Heat rose into her voice and the muscles of her neck strained. The thought of this Varkos and his cruelty filled her with anger. “If he is so strong, why does he need you to do all that work for him? If he could fight, why does he need those things to control the remnant?”
Boone stood slowly. His arms swayed back and forth and clacked against his shell. Astrid rose with him.
“Varkos isn’t strong. He is weak. Lies are weak. The truth is strong. You are alive right now Boone because you are strong. That is the truth. You are alive because he couldn’t kill you. Do you know why?”
“Why?” Boone asked without hesitation. His arms jerked and became animated again.
“Because he saw that you are stronger than him, so he used his lies, and he used his tricks to terrify you and to hurt you until you gave him your strength. He hurt you worst of all by making you believe he was the strong one. Killing innocents isn’t strong, Boone. It is evil.”
“I am strong?” Boone asked. His arms twitched and rose slightly away from his body.
“Yes. You are strong because you survived.”
“I am strong,” Boone agreed, tentatively. He lifted his arms and spread out his sharp fingers. His eye stalks traced the lines of his body. “I am strong,” he repeated louder.
“Boone, I have a code. I have a way of life. And in that way of life, I was taught that hatred is never good. But today, I don’t believe that. If ever there was a thing to hate, it would be Varkos. He is truly the enemy of the Well.”
“I hate him,” Boone admitted. “I have always hated him. I hate myself for the things I did in his name.”
“This is a good start for you, then. My friends and I, we are going to hunt this monster down. I promise you, Boone. We will find him. When we do, we will destroy him. We will destroy him in the name of every creature he has ever harmed. We will destroy him for you, Boone. If you want to join us, I welcome you.”
“Will you be my master?”
“No,” Astrid stated sharply. “From this day on, you are your own master. I will lead you, but the choice to follow must be yours. If you follow me, you must always serve what is right and good and just. That is how my friends and I serve one another.”
“I choose you,” Boone stated without hesitation.
Astrid chuckled. “Why don’t you take a day to think about it.”
“No. I choose you. I see now. You defy Varkos and live. I failed Varkos and survived. I am strong. You are strong. We are not dead.”
“Yes, Boone,” Astrid affirmed. She placed both hands on the cool sockets of his upper shoulders. She was surprised to find a delicate, wavy texture to the hard surface of his shell. “We are not dead. As long as that remains true, we will fight Varkos and anyone else like him. That's who we are.”
“I like this,” Boone replied.
A powerful tremor shook her fingers, and Boone stood a little taller. The top of his head came to Astrid’s chin. With his eye stalks fully extended toward the ceiling, they were the same height.
Astrid released his shoulders and walked out of the stall. Boone stood there, halfway in the shadows. “Well, come on out.” Astrid beckoned him forward.
“So, what’s next?” Gormer asked. His eyes glued to Boone.
“Now, we fight together,” Astrid announced.
“Just like that?” Gormer asked.
“What other way could it be?” Astrid answered.
“Boone, this is Vinnie, and you’ve already met Gormer.” She pointed to each in turn.
“I know this man,” Boone stated, pointing to Vinnie. “He comes to look at me.”
“I tried to talk to you, too,” Vinnie defended himself. “I’m curious to know about you.”
“Why?” Boone asked.
“Because you are from another world. I am a scientist,” Vinnie explained. Boone pointed both eye stalks at him and said nothing. “Scientist. It means I like to know things. I especially enjoy learning about living things. You are something new.”
“Varkos likes to know about things. He takes living things apart to look at them. They don’t live anymore. He hurts them.”
“I don’t do that, Boone,” Vinnie answered firmly. “We respect life here. We don’t take life without a very good reason and only then if we have no better choice.”
“I will talk to you, then,” Boone decided, “I will help you.”
Gormer thrust out his hand for Boone to shake. The Skrim recoiled and shrank back with his arms folded into his chest.
“Oh shit,” Gormer winced. “I’m sorry. It’s… I wanted to shake your hand. I’m not gonna hurt you…”
Boone relaxed. “I see humans do this,” Boone admitted. “Sometimes they fight after. I never understood, so never did. Is it a contest?”
Gormer shook his head, answered, “Shaking hands is a custom. It’s how we get to know each other.”
Astrid was glad to see Gormer finally offer a genuine smile. He kept his hand out. She could tell he was a bit nervous when Boone reached out very sharp-looking fingers to wrap around Gormer’s hand.
“I’m glad I didn’t blow you up with that rifle,” Gormer stated.
“I wanted you to,” Boone replied. “I don’t anymore.”
“I suppose that’s a start,” Vinnie allowed. “But you must be hungry. What do you eat?”
“I ate some of the…” Boone’s voice trailed off. He was at a loss for the correct word. He pointed at the straw on the stable floor. “But it’s not good. Bad taste.”
Gormer snapped his fingers. “Paper. You remember when the bartender in Kostree complained about all his expensive paper menus disappearing when Boone was around?”
“Yes,” Boone replied. “Paper. Hungry.” All his arms rose to his wolflike face, and he ran them along its length to make a scraping sound.
“Well,” Vinnie offered. “I have some old drawings you can eat.”
“There’s a sentence you will probably never hear again,” Gormer quipped.
Vinnie led Boone out into the well-lit workshop where all activity immediately ceased. All conversation stopped. People held tools above workbenches. A man nearby forgot he was holding a hammer and dropped it on his foot. He barely flinched.
“Hmm,” Astrid considered. “Maybe we didn’t think this through.”
A second later, Cole barreled down the aisle between workbenches. His misshapen armor clattered as he lumbered along.
Astrid intercepted him and held her hand out to make him pause. “He’s beautiful!” the boy shouted in excitement.
“Easy there, Cole,” Astrid commanded with a gentle smile.
“That’s who you were hiding!” Cole exclaimed. He fired off questions in rapid succession. “Hi! Where did he come from? Do you talk? What’s your name? What’s your shell made of? How high can you jump? Look at those eyes!”
Astrid shrugged and stepped away. “Go slow, Cole. He’s a bit skittish.”
The boy did a rare thing and did as he was asked immediately. Boone had learned well. He thrust out his lower right hand for Cole.
“I’ve never seen him take to anyone like that,” Vinnie marveled. “With Hanif, it took weeks. Months for me…”
Cole studied Boone’s fingers as they shook hands slowly.
“Look at the way the finger shells overlap at the knuckles,” the boy mused. “And the way the plates overlap on your body. You are a living suit of armor. If I could design armor like your body...think of it, Teacher...”
Boone reached out carefully and tapped his fingers on the pauldron of Cole�
�s armor. “He has dead, hard outside skin like yours,” Boone remarked to Astrid, turning one eye stalk to her armor.
“Some humans have soft, dead out-skins like you.” He pointed to Gormer. “How do you grow so many skins and why so different? Your skin changes between days. Do you take them from other humans or animals?”
Vinnie cocked his head. It took him a moment to sort through the confused question. “No, Boone. This is armor.” He rapped his knuckles on Cole’s chest plate. “This is clothing.” He pulled out his baggy tunic. “We make these things. They are not skins. Sometimes we do use the skin of other animals to make clothing.” He thought for a moment. “You were wearing clothes when you were inside that.” Vinnie cringed. “Fake human skin suit. Didn’t you know they weren’t skins?”
“I take the skins...clothing...from your...standing caves. No. Houses. Yes. I took from a house. I thought they were your skins and you grow them, then take them off and grow another. I wondered why some shops sold other skins. Thought you were strange things for wearing skins of other humans.”
Gormer snorted laughter. Astrid couldn’t help but laugh herself.
Vinnie’s jaw went slack, and he blinked rapidly. “Feel free to ask me about anything,” he offered. “You have a lot to learn about Irth and humans.”
By now, Jakub and Elise had joined them. Cole introduced them to Boone, who was getting even better at shaking hands. More scribes and technicians joined them, including Oscar.
“You let him out,” Oscar remarked, swallowing hard. “Is he...safe?
“Please don’t be scared. I don’t hurt humans now,” Boone assured him.
Oscar’s look of surprise was almost comical. “All right…” he stammered. “That’s a good thing, I suppose.”
“How do you know he’s scared?” Vinnie asked.
“I see it. His hands look colder, and he has more heat in his chest and arms.”
“Ah,” Vinnie exclaimed. “You can see heat. It’s true. When humans get scared, blood leaves the extremities and flows into the muscles.”
“Everyone,” Astrid beckoned, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the shop. “I’d like you to welcome our new friend. His name is Boone, and he’s with us now.”
Oscar reached out a hand and so did everyone else in turn.
“I’ll bet you’re glad you have four arms now, Boone,” Gormer observed.
Boone shook everyone’s hand four at a time.
“Astrid?” Gormer asked.
“Yes?”
“You realize you just made my lie so much better.”
“I know,” Astrid replied. “When word gets out that we have a Skrim and we’re moving him somewhere, everyone will be talking about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Eve of Battle
They decided to let the rumor circulate for two days. The fact they planned to move Charlie was an open secret among the fortress guard, most of the Movers, and many of the regular soldiers. If they let it go any further, Astrid was afraid the plausibility of their plan would drop.
The bigger rumor circulating had to do completely with Boone, and it gave the other story serious legs. The night Boone was freed, Vinnie commanded the entire workshop to keep knowledge of the Skrim to themselves. He pointedly used the word ‘please’ which softened the injunction to a mere request in the minds of those prone to gossip.
Gormer disguised himself and walked around the fortress, casually reading minds for signs of forbidden knowledge. He did the same thing in the fortress wards and even the quarter. At the request of Elise, he took careful notes on the numbers of people who had some version of the information.
When Gormer returned to the workshop on the evening before the big move, he handed the last notebook to Elise, who scurried away. The mystic followed her this time to the stall that she had turned into her office.
She had decorated the walls with colorful textiles of her own design. The cloth was very fine and the patterns very complex.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Gormer complimented. Elise was already hunched over a copper box with rows of small dials on its face. She spun the dials, then pressed a button. “Is that how you enter numbers?” Gormer asked.
She squinted up at him, making her nose crinkle. “I didn’t know you were following me.”
“Yeah,” Gormer replied. “I wanted to get the final tally.”
She beamed at him, then went back to entering numbers. “We can do that fast now. I enter them into this box, then plug it into the big machine. I can enter figures or formulas right from this thing. But once a formula is set, I can just dump in the numbers.”
Elise finished entering the numbers then snapped the device into the top of yet another component of what Gormer began to think of as a thinking machine. “If my calculations are correct,” Elise continued, “possibly two percent of the entire population should have heard some form of the rumor.”
She went on to explain the art of statistics that Vinnie had taught her and how that art could be used to reliably predict outcomes.
“I didn’t understand half of what you said,” Gormer confessed. “But I think it’s great. You are far smarter than me, and I admire your work.” He took note of the wall coverings. “Especially the textiles.”
Elise stopped working for a moment. “I’ve never seen my textile work more than a couple of inches from my face.”
“Nearsighted?” Gormer asked.
Elise clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “You don’t miss a trick, do you?”
Vinnie appeared to Gormer’s great relief. Nothing stung like the sarcasm of a teenager.
“Today, my finest student,” Vinnie announced theatrically, “that will change for you!”
“He calls all of us his ‘finest students,’” Elise noted with another roll of her eyes.
“He must really mean it, then,” Gormer countered.
Vinnie set the object in his hands on the table in front of Elise. She put down the notebook and brought her face close to the new device.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Reason it out,” Vinnie replied with a devious grin.
She ran her fingers over the tubes of thin brass with lenses on the end.
“These look like gear-adjustable sight glasses,” she noted, growing more curious. “There’s a one inch, a two inch...three inches? And they can be stacked? What…” She picked it up. And held it near her nose. “Lenses that move on arms…” she counted them. “Six lenses, all with mechanical focusing irises and…” she discovered the harness.
Her hands trembled when she realized what it was. “Help me put it on!” she squealed.
Vinnie was all too happy. “It might take you a while to get used to the controls,” Vinnie remarked. “Cole and Jakub helped me with the design. We might have to adjust it for comfort.”
Vinnie slipped the leather harness over her head and tightened the metal band around her forehead. “It should be firm but not binding. Is that good?”
“Yes,” Elise allowed, “But I can’t see anything.”
Vinnie took her hand and placed it on a small lever on the band by her left temple. “This is how you turn it on.” He flicked the switch.
The device ticked and made a high-pitched whirring sound. A bouquet of lenses and sight glasses extended away from her face and rode along the metal band around her forehead. Her eyes were magnified to twice their size behind the lenses.
“Ah! Blurry!” she exclaimed. “Dizzy…”
Vinnie gently guided her fingers to the knurled rings surrounding the main lenses. Her eyes grew bigger, then smaller as the internal lenses and focusing irises moved.
Elise gasped. “I can see Gormer clearly!”
“Sorry about that.” He chuckled.
“Don’t be an ass,” she said. “You’re cute.”
She pushed him aside to get a better look at her textiles. “I see some of my thread patterns are out of place.” She found another lev
er and one of the sight glasses zipped along the metal band and swung down on a brass arm in front of the lenses. “That’s no good. Gives me a headache.”
Vinnie showed her how to retract the near-vision lenses. “You just activated the 2X magnification.”
“Hey, where are Jakub and Cole?” Elise asked. “I want to show them...what is this?”
“It’s your device,” Vinnie replied. “It’s up to you to name it.”
Elise found the switch that retracted all the lenses to the band and threw her arms around the big man. Vinnie wrapped her in a huge bear hug, and her feet dangled off the ground.
Elise jumped back down, clapped her hands and stomped her feet. “I love you, Vinnie,” she exclaimed.
Vinnie wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “You are my joy. All of you. As for your team: they’re that way.”
Elise hit the lever again and brought down the 2X lenses. She looked down to the far end of the shop where Cole and Jakub waved at her. “I can see the pores on their faces!” She acclimated herself to the various levers quickly. “That’s better. I’ve never seen them like this!”
He let her play with the vision device for a while until she calmed down.
“Now, there are a few things you need to know, so I would like you to pay attention now.”
She flicked on the near-vision lenses and gave him her full attention.
“Because of the way your eyes work, I had to design the lenses not only to magnify but to gather light in a very specific way. These lenses are light collectors. If you get headaches or you get dizzy, you need to come to me, and we will work together to adjust them.”
Elise nodded her head and made her solemn promise. “I will. I guess the designs are in your office?”
Vinnie nodded. “And that is where they will stay. You are welcome to study them there.”
Elise ran down to hug Jakub and Cole, and together they dashed outside.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” Vinnie asked.
Gormer just shook his head. “I’ve never met a better man than you, nor one with a bigger heart.”
Vinnie just stood there blinking.
“Speechless for once. Finally got you, but I mean it.”
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