The Touchstone Trilogy

by Andrea K Höst

  Then Tsur Selkie had them pipe just a puff of aether over his own hand and my hand, watching with those flinty black eyes. He continues to remind me of Clint Eastwood, even though he doesn't look at all like him.

  "Is same reaction, but reversed," I said helpfully, while Tsur Selkie was watching our hands. "Both lose fine motor control, reaction time slow, plus judgment, plus pass out. Is just way feel different. And healing or dying, guess. Are there any famous actor this world that people say you look like?"

  That made him look up. I suppose it'll go in the mission log file. I can only be glad, since they'd decided to try out Sight Sight, that they hadn't used Ruuel for it. Who knows what I might have said to him?

  "The difference is not in your reaction," Selkie said, after a moment. "But in the behaviour of the aether. It is attacking me."

  That made me stare. "Is alive? Or more nanotech?"

  "Possibly. The Nurans claim that we made Muina itself our enemy. The next question is why it recognises you as a friend."

  "Everyone like Australians," I said, with a short laugh, but then sobered a little. "People from Earth, not good for own planet. Don't see why another would like."

  He just turned away, signalling for them to open the doors.

  "Wait." I reached out and grabbed his wrist, trying not to look too embarrassed about it. "Try test again."

  Clint Eastwood's not the sort of guy you go about grabbing. And Tsur Selkie definitely isn't. But after a moment's thought he told them to try again, and stood there without changing expression as the jet of aether gusted out to cover his hand. Then he said: "Increase the amount."

  I wasn't in the channel where most of the discussion was happening, so lay there working on the retention of minor shreds of dignity while watching Tsur Selkie get squiffy. He handled it well, but you could see the change, the gradual unfocusing of his eyes, the line of concentration appearing between the brows. Prime target for a random breath test.

  By then I was finding most everything amusing, so I piped up with: "Drunk on duty. Ten demerit points." And laughed at the way he frowned at me, but sneakily went on: "Going pass out soon. Can stop?"

  First he had to test what happens when he was no longer in contact with me: an instant return of all the negative effects. I didn't even trust myself to stand up, and let myself go to sleep again. Waste of half the day and now I'm too wired to sleep.

  Monday, March 10

  Sacrifice

  The parents of Setari candidates give up their children to the government. There's lots of movies here about that. About families who are like soccer moms, who want the prestige of their kid being taken into the Setari program, no matter what. About others who try and hide that their kids have strong psychic abilities, who do everything they can to discourage them from excelling. I watched a sad story a few days ago, about the sister of a girl who was taken into the Setari program, who had to fight to have anyone acknowledge her as anything more than that girl's sister. She killed herself in the end.

  I spent today thinking about Sixth Squad, about the guy called Ammas who died, and how his parents must have felt when they were told. Were they angry? Had they pushed him into the Setari program, or resisted his conscription? Had he been given leave to go see them recently? Did he have any sisters, or someone he was in love with? Were there things he wanted to do other than kill monsters?

  The Setari aren't by any means without rights, and there's several oversight committees, but to develop their talents they're pushed in a way which hovers between strict and cruel. While they're not allowed to be sent into battle until they pass their adult competency exam, and they really are given chances to leave the Setari, there's no way they can gain truly strong talents without giving up most of their childhood. It's useful remembering that whenever I get into a grump and feel like complaining.

  With the severe increase of incursions into real-space, and the repeated sightings of Setari on the main islands, there's a lot – seriously a lot – of speculation about what's been going on these last couple of weeks. That they've found a Pillar and shut it off is one of the many things rumoured, but nothing about so many teams coming so close to dying, and nothing about me. The Setari might have oversight committees, but KOTIS is by no means open to public curiosity. I wonder if there's an Unexpectedly Useful Strays oversight committee?

  No getting drunk today, just a regular medical exam, so I swam in the morning and didn't manage too badly. I think the aether sessions might have helped my recovery along. I tried to be super-virtuous and go jogging after lunch, but there was a sports carnival on. Well, a competition with at least three hundred kids aged all the way from little six year-olds to people my own age. If I'd bothered to check the scheduling I would have seen that the 'park' was booked.

  They had uniforms, too, though not black nanoliquid ones. Brown and cream, obviously designed for sports. I hastily sat down after walking in, glad that I was back from the action, but too embarrassed to walk straight back out again when all the people nearby had seen me. I always feel like such an impostor in my black uniform, because I've seen enough of the TV series about the girl trying to qualify as a Setari to know how much of a mark of achievement it is. Though I suppose it's possible most of them knew what I was anyway, and maybe that's half the reason they were looking at me. I'm not sure if the matter of useful strays has been allowed even outside the main body of the Setari.

  They were so deadly serious about the competition. They did cheer, and barrack for their friends, but even the little ones scrambled over the obstacle course as if their lives depended on it. I guess it does. I wasn't in whatever channel they were using, and didn't try to find it, using the time for more flipping through Muina reports instead. I didn't turn the name display on, because some of these kids are probably going to end up like Ammas.

  Tuesday, March 11

  Little to contribute

  I'm not getting anywhere with Isten Notra's assignment. After reading endlessly I can't think of a single thing to tell her which doesn't sound lame, so there goes my hidden ambition to point out that the dog didn't bark in the night, or the parsley hadn't sunk in the butter, or any other Sherlockian observation. I was sticking to it, though, paging through increasingly tedious reports, but more than a little relieved when Mara came and kidnapped me for dinner in the city with First Squad, who have finally been posted back to KOTIS headquarters.

  It was a great outing. We went to a place which sold food pastes similar to hummus and refried beans, with different edible 'spoons' ranging from hard brown bread to the now-familiar vegetable sticks. I immediately thought of it as the "Hot and Cold Dip Shop". Lohn was being very funny, and kept saying: "Ten demerit points" whenever anyone accidentally knocked a glass. He says he's my eternal slave forever, just for the expression on Tsur Selkie's face.

  "Is Setari allowed drink alcohol?" I asked, since I'd only ever seen First Squad drink water and juices.

  "Not in any quantity," Alay said, tilting her glass. "Even if we weren't actively serving, the risk is too great. I've tried alcohol, but the rule against control-diminishing substances is only good sense."

  "Tsur Selkie main guy in charge Setari training?"

  "A dominant force in our development, say." Maze seemed even more tired and worn-down than usual, but he produced a wry smile at this. "I have to admit to re-watching that testing session more than a few times. So Selkie looks like a famous actor from your planet?"

  I tried very unsuccessfully to explain Clint Eastwood, and then moved on to Johnny Depp, and now all of First Squad except Maze have sworn to find a path to Earth so they can watch Pirates of the Caribbean.

  Afterwards, Zee took me to have my hair cut. There are apparently hairdressers available in KOTIS for the brownsuits, who are properly called Kalrani ('juniors'), but they're what you'd expect for school barbers, and so Zee took me to the place she uses. I had my hair neatened, without doing anything fancy to it, but I feel much less of a scruff now that the split e
nds have been cut out and the ends aren't so jagged. Not that it makes much of a difference, since I've taken to braiding it.

  As we walked back I talked to Zee about my eye changing colour. I've moved past my first reaction to it, and was able to tell her that it makes me feel uncomfortable, without transforming into a rampaging drama llama. And I told her about my nightmares, which I felt safe to talk about now that I'd stopped having them every damn night.

  Then I asked Zee about Nils in Second Squad chasing her, and she said: "In his dreams." And changed the subject.

  Wednesday, March 12

  Fun

  More getting drunk on aether. Though I wonder if I should be writing 'high' instead of drunk, since I'm breathing not drinking. I guess I don't like the idea of 'high', which is very contradictory of me since alcohol is just another drug. 'Party oil', as Perry called it: no big deal, just something to make things go. Alyssa had made me promise never to drink without her, which I haven't technically, but even though I'm legally old enough now, I don't think Alyssa – let alone Mum – would be impressed with my current career. There's something less than special about having breakfast, then lying on a couch being all tingly until I pass out.

  On the flip side, I have lots of medical supervision, and I'm even trying to be conscientious about exercise. This afternoon I went both swimming and jogging, though I'd have skipped the jogging except Zan came and joined me for the swimming (yay!) and I asked her if there was somewhere I could jog which wasn't quite so visible and well-populated as the obstacle-course park. She showed me a different training area, an endless maze of corridors and stairwells and the occasional ladder. This is probably a better thing for overall fitness than just jogging lightly in a circle, but gods I barely managed one circuit going at a pace which really wasn't more than a walk. Way too many stairs. My legs were jelly afterwards.

  Zan kept pace with me, not looking like it was costing her the mildest effort, and told me afterwards that I shouldn't try and run the circuit at all, just walk it once a day, taking as much time as I needed. I can't say I'm eager, but at least I would be without an audience, barring other people doing the course overtaking me.

  We ate together after, and talked over one of the books she'd recommended: a historical novel set in Tare's past, before they had the interface. Pre-Setari too, with an epic quest to uncover lost Muinan records in caves deep below Unara. She made me miss Alyssa so bad. I just can't bring myself to ask Zan to rate the smex level.

  Instead I asked about the sports event I'd walked in on, and Zan explained that winning those things, while it gets you some nice privileges, doesn't count toward whether you qualify to become a full-fledged Setari. And that's what the Kalrani are very focused on at the moment: they're choosing Thirteenth and Fourteenth Squads from those who have reached the right age and passed the aptitude tests. There's about twenty-five of them who are of age, one of whom will have to be slotted into Sixth Squad. Fifteenth and Sixteenth Squad won't be formed for at least two Taren years.

  "Does anyone not qualify ever? What happen them if that happen?"

  Zan answered in the extra-neutral tone she uses whenever the internal politics of the Setari are involved. "While there are some still Kalrani who are more senior than the members of Eleventh and Twelfth Squad, if it was felt that it was not possible for them to qualify, they wouldn't have reached this stage of the program. But forming a balanced and effective Squad is more complex than matters of age and qualifications. They'll be brought into active service when there is the right team for them."

  I wondered if this touched on the reasons some Setari were so nasty to Zan, but kept my mouth shut about that and instead thanked her for showing me all the torturous stairs. She said she'd come swim with me if our schedules matched up again. Definite progress on the Zan front.

  And now, while I was writing this, I've been scheduled to test with Fourth Squad tomorrow. I think I'm looking forward to it, but I have to wonder if Ruuel's too-many Sights mean that he'll look at me and see right through to all the shivery anticipation the thought of him creates. Alyssa used to say that time spent with impossible-to-achieve guys is time well spent because it gives you a chance to find reasons not to like them. But I don't feel equal to dealing with Ruuel right now.

  Ah well – the worst that can happen is that I can make a total idiot of myself, and have that immortalised in mission reports forever. Such a lot to look forward to.

  Thursday, March 13

  Fourth Squad

  There was an email from Ruuel when I woke: "We'll be combining this test with productive work, so be prepared for an extended session."

  Given how sore my legs were after all those stairs yesterday, my first reaction was to use what Dad would call "ripe and illustrative words". But I decided it was a good thing. Setari exploring the Ena aren't going to be the slightest bit interested in my internal monologue.

  The contrast between my last squad testing session and this one was massive, but it started out almost identically, with Fourth Squad standing in a circle in the middle of the same test room. The difference being that as soon as I walked into the room, Ruuel brought me into a squad channel and began the briefing, moving so that his back was no longer turned toward me. Tiny things, but underpinning a vastly different attitude.

  "We'll test in the same order that we will rotate enhancement, starting from myself to Sonn, then Auron, Ferus, Halla, Eyse. Ferus, you'll be primarily responsible for ensuring Devlin's safety, with Auron as your flank. You've observed the techniques Spel used to bypass the resistance to enhanced Telekinesis and Levitation. We'll save testing Combat Sight and Speed for the combat simulation rather than individually, and concentrate on the attack elements. Devlin, report any new or unusual reactions immediately."

  Ruuel would have been a disconcerting team captain to start out with: he basically sets the bar high and expects you to get over it. I suppose he would have taken it slower if I hadn't worked with First Squad already, but he sure likes to get through things quickly, testing unenhanced Levitation, Telekinesis and Light talents and then enhancing and going through them again in less than a minute. Unenhanced he can lift maybe a hundred kilos, and enhanced about four times that. With his Light talent he created a curving spike from his arm, much the same as the nanoliquid swords. Enhanced it distorted the same way as Mara's whip, shifting colour and becoming more intense, but not too spectacularly different.

  It's more interesting for me doing these tests now that I can look up squad information before each person tests. Fourth Squad is evenly broken into guys and girls. The girls are Fiar Sonn (primaries of Ena Manipulation, Combat Sight and Electricity), Charan Halla (Place Sight, Gate Sight) and Mori Eyse (Path Sight, Combat Sight, Teleportation). My two minders are both guys. Par Auron is very tall, about six foot four, with primaries of Path Sight, Gate Sight and Levitation. Glade Ferus is my height, with primaries of Telekinesis, Combat Sight, Symbol Sight and Speed. They both have minors of Ice and Fire and I get a bit of a buddy sense from them.

  Personality-wise, there was no-one outstandingly off-putting. Ferus has an evil gleam in his eyes occasionally: not nasty, but I bet he gets up to mischief when he's not on mission log. Auron seems quiet and calm. Sonn is serious with an impatient overtone. I found Eyse interesting: she smiled at me once, a nice wry smile. I guarantee she has a sense of humour. Halla I haven't figured out. She had a bit of an edge, but not directed at me I think. Overall, although they were nowhere near as open and warm as First Squad, Fourth's one of the easiest squads I've worked with. I think because they all treated me like a visiting consultant or something. Like I understood what was going on.

  Nils from Second Squad showed up while we were still testing the 'elemental talents'. I still haven't decided how serious the thing is between Nils and Zee. Or what I think about Nils, who does a good impression of a walking sex-god. While the last of the elemental testing was going on he kept leaning down and telling me completely innocuous things in this incred
ibly husky voice, totally doing it to see if he could make me blush. I don't think I'll ever be gladder that Ruuel seems to think that one minute is the maximum time needed to master any new skill, and that he soon sent Nils over to one side to summon illusions for Fourth Squad to chase.

  Having Ferus cart me about with Telekinesis is not at all the same as Ketzaren doing it, and I probably would have been more embarrassed about that if I wasn't so relieved not to be at Nils' mercy any more. Ruuel took more time and was far more exacting about getting everyone used to working with me and the rotations of enhancement in combat, but he still decided we were ready to go into the Ena in under an hour. By then I wasn't nervous about it. It was obvious they were as totally professional as First Squad, and that Ruuel hadn't allotted himself enough time to study me for signs of awkward lust.

  We kitted up at Red Lock. Getting ready to go into the Ena involves grabbing a little food and drink, a tiny med-kit, and one of the breathers in case of water-logged spaces. And going to the loo. I have no idea whether it's considered a bad idea to go in the spaces, but given the mission log I'm sure everyone wants to avoid the need, so it's part of the ritual of 'gearing up'.

  "We will be mapping the gates off the new High Forest space," Ruuel said, once everyone was ready. "Additionally, we will see whether Devlin's enhancements will bring us any closer to relocating Columns, or a reliable path to Hasata. This is still a test situation. Do not push limits."

  High Forest space is beautiful. Really. Tall, slender trunks, branches soaring far overhead, silvery leaves drifting down to form a shushing carpet. And, although I suppose someone might have killed them earlier, it doesn't seem like it's inhabited by any Ionoth. There's a ton of gates leading off it, and I think the idea was supposed to be that we document where each of them led, but Auron, who is the strongest Path Sight talent in Fourth Squad, said he had a suspicion of a short line to Unara, and so we went off through a very low gate onto a rocky path winding up a hill (my aching legs!). Just like with First Squad, Ruuel and Sonn go through the gate first as a pair, and the rest of us can't go through until they've signalled us. With the hill space, Ruuel signalled us through straight away. There were things there a lot like wargs, six of them in all, and they looked strong, but they weren't nearly fast enough. Fourth Squad seems to prefer using close-combat methods.