*****
Arah was good. A little too good for Analel’s comfort. “Who would’ve thought?” she commented, forcing a smile onto her face and hoping against all hope that it looked genuine.
Jeserel stepped forward to address the two young Prophets in a more personal fashion. “Well Children, it looks like you girls are in for a treat. Two Students are scheduled for a Final Year duel today and you’re both going to be their Prophets. There’s only one thing I would like to know - are you up for the challenge?”
“Yes, Mother,” answered Arah, eagerly. Analel only nodded while sneaking a sideways glance over at her opponent and trying to determine her own true answer to that question.
Suddenly, a voice called out from over in Panthea’s group, shouting, “CRUSH HER, ANNIE!” A collective gasp made its way throughout the entire room with all eyes settling on Quinn. “Umm... in a peaceful and purposeful way... of course,” added Quinn, more timidly. Analel couldn’t help but smile. Arah looked confused. Jeserel was not amused at all.
“Mothers, if you will please begin escorting your Children to their respective training centers while maintaining a semblance of control over their decorum - so that I do not have to do it for you, thank you.” The ranking Mother’s tone was icy and Analel thought she saw Quinn actually gulp. The other Children were quickly escorted to the back of the room where a number of spacious elevators stood waiting in a semicircle along the concave of the tower’s base. Each Mother headed to a separate elevator. The individual cars were large enough to fit entire groups inside them comfortably. Analel caught a glimpse of Quinn’s blonde hair mixed in among a bunch of other shades from within the crowd before the doors to her car closed.
Jeserel turned back to the two young Prophets in her charge. “If you girls would please follow me?” She led Analel and Arah to one of the unused elevator shafts off to the side. The light on the Reader above the doors flashed blue and a humming sound signaled the elevator’s kicking into gear. Analel hadn’t seen Jeserel pause or even break stride in order to concentrate and project the Wave Thought that brought the elevator to life, such being the skill and ability of a ranking Mother Prophet. She’d seen this many times before, but the more she progressed in her own abilities, the more she was able to appreciate the advanced skills of those above her.
After a few moments the elevator doors opened to reveal a large and spacious, pear-shaped car. Its walls were made of glass so that as the car rose up the cylindrical shaft its occupants would be treated to a breathtaking view of the lunar surface, expanding in awe inspiring breadth and width with each and every passing floor.
“Are we going to meet up with the others?” asked Analel of Mother Jeserel.
“We’re all going to level 126. I just wanted a moment alone with the two of you to discuss the upcoming training session before these doors open and things become a little too intense for this kind of conversation.” The young Prophets looked at their mentor Mother expectantly. “This is a Final Year duel for two Students at the Academy. It’s a big moment for them-”
“And we won’t let them down,” gushed Arah, dutifully.
Jeserel levied one of her patronizing smiles on Arah that doubled as a warning. “Please hold your comments until after I’m finished, Child.”
Arah’s smile quickly disappeared and the go-getter spirit lighting up her face seemed to visibly dim by several degrees. “Sorry, Mother.”
Jeserel sighed in a way that made no attempt at hiding her feelings of how working with Child Prophets was more of a chore for her than anything else. “It’s an important moment for them,” she repeated, “but also for you. No, we do not bask in the glory of certificates, diplomas and metallic trophies like our superficial counterparts down on Osmos. But if anything, our curiosity as to the capabilities of the human spirit is far greater than that of the Academy’s, and our expectations for our Prophets mirrors that curiosity in both scope and intensity.” She made sure to look both Children in her charge directly in the eye. “Motherhood reflects that scope, it reflects that intensity - I hope I’m making myself clear?”
“Oh yes, Mother.”
“Very much so, Mother.”
The two girls were both nodding emphatically.
“Excellent.”
The elevator sped past floor 120 in awkward silence and abruptly began to slow its ascent before coming to a full stop on floor 126.
“Welcome back to CentCon, Children.”
*****
When the elevator doors parted it was impossible for Analel and Arah to keep from looking up. Level 126 was the first of CentCon’s ten floors, each with a circular layout conforming to the natural shape of the Tower. In the middle of the room was the Central Mist Tube. Made from the same glass as the Bridge and the Greenhouse, the Mist Tube ran up through all ten floors and one small upper chamber of the Tower where a rotating team of Mothers replaced each other daily for the perpetual task of Stormwatching.
All throughout the glass of the Mist Tube, in a 360 degree display of surrealism, swirled a funnel of billowing Mist and cloud alive with lightning streaks and iridescent flashes of color, rising up through the upper chamber and out into the lunar sky to a height ten times that of the Tower from where it was born. This vertical pillar of Mist was known as the Antenna Storm and was the object of Stormwatch’s attention. A manifestation of the Prophecy’s collective consciousness, the Antenna Storm was as close to a physical representation of the Prophecy’s power as one would ever get.
Slowly, the vibrant immediacy of level 126’s activity drew the attention of Analel and Arah back down into the room itself. Like the nine levels above it, level 126 was a single massive room taking up the entirety of the floor. Spread out evenly throughout the floor was a honeycomb grid of 30 control centers known as Prophecy Stations, or PropS for short.
PropS were small, self contained control centers made up of an outer ring of consoles surrounding a cylindrical glass enclosure housing, among other things, the Box; a stasis chamber designed to fabricate ideal conditions for a Prophet to achieve Prophecy. Boxes were metallic, rectangular cubes lying flat on their sides and resembling very much what theire namesake suggested. The top side rested on hinges and acted as the hatch. Toward the head of the hatch was a circular face hole serving as the docking port for a fat connecting offshoot of the central Mist Tube that flooded the Box with Mist once connected.
The Mist Tube was a containment/delivery system for Mist itself; a vapor like cocktail employing visual and other extrasensory verticals that enveloped the Prophet in the empty space between themselves and the Box’s walls. Mist supplied everything a Prophet needed to conduct an isolated Prophecy session including breathable air and even nutrients for longer, unbroken sessions that, under extenuating circumstances, could go on for days on end.
But the primary function of Mist was its ability to serve as a tuning fork for the consciousness, assimilating Wave patterns into its charged particle makeup and amplifying these patterns so that direct mind to mind communication between Prophet and Academic need not be limited by proximity. A trained Prophet exposed to Mist would be able to give their projected Wave Thoughts a semi-tangible form, riding their consciousness along the charged particles of the Mist in carrier-like Waves through the connecting offshoot of their Box, into the central Mist Tube, up through the various floors of CentCon, and finally, out the upper chamber and into the Antenna Storm.
With the amplified power of the Antenna Storm a Prophet’s projected Wave Thoughts were able to remain suspended in time and space without dissipating. There the Prophet was able to sift through the endless number of Wave patterns flowing together to make up the overall current of reality and seek out the one matching the pattern recorded on their Academic’s Wave Card. Once an individual Academic’s Wave pattern was isolated, the Prophet could merge her pattern with his, allowing her to tap into his thoughts, communicate with them, expand them, Prophesying across the expanse of space.
Th
e Antenna Storm had one other accidental purpose, wholly unintended by its engineers but eagerly seized upon by the Grand Mother as soon as it became clear what was made possible by it. A result of trace residues of Mist migrating away from the Storm and continuously introduced into Caras 1’s orbit, overtime this Mist residue had come to encircle the entirety of Osmos’ first moon, forming an invisible layer that acted as an extension of the Antenna Storm itself. The Prophecy called this layer the Storm Field. It had been discovered that the Storm Field could be penetrated by Prophetic Wave Thoughts, allowing a skilled Prophet to monitor the entire orbital perimeter of Caras 1 via a dedicated PropS set up specifically for that purpose. One such PropS was subsequently established and named Stormwatch.
Aside from offering the ability to monitor the Orbit around Caras 1, Stormwatch, through the Storm Field, was capable of mustering a direct and powerful Prophetic defense against potential invaders. Crews of all inbound ships passing through the Storm Field would find themselves exposed to Stormwatch’s poking around inside their consciousness and monitoring their intent for approaching Caras 1. Should their intent be deemed malicious in any way, their minds would become the subject of an offensive Wave Thought, an attack that was often mentally, psychologically and in all other ways cerebral, utterly catastrophic.
But for all its impressive functions, Mist, Antenna Storms and Storm Fields were nothing more than powerful enablers. On their own they were useless. Ultimately, the power of the Prophecy stemmed not from these clever advances in science and technology but rather from the cultivated talents of the Prophets themselves. CentCon was where that talent was manifest.
With 30 PropS to a floor, CentCon had the capacity to service a total of 300 Academics at any given time. 200 PropS were permanently assigned to Academic liaisons on active service throughout the 200 Islands of Osmos and 100 were allotted to the Academy for additional teaching, training and research purposes.
Over the course of the last two years the Academy had been limited in its access to Prophecy, having its usual allotted 100 PropS cut in half so that 50 could be used to aid Island ships participating in the Mandate Race. Slowly, these PropS were returned as ships were lost and connections broken. Three months ago, when the Prophet Mother Erin lost contact with the Academic Jonas, the last of the Prophecy Stations returned to the Academy, training sessions reached full capacity once again and CentCon had returned to its normal routine.
Jeserel now stood on the threshold of the elevator doors to CentCon and inhaled deeply. To her, the oxygen of this busy work environment somehow tasted better than other places in the Prophecy. Without warning, she proceeded to walk off the elevator, plowing head on into the buzzing activity that characterized the normal state of affairs for level 126, the two young Child Prophets being forced to scramble after her, struggling to keep up.
As Jeserel weaved around the Prophecy Stations with the grace of a dancer, Mother Prophets busied themselves with their work and scarcely noticed the trio moving throughout their ranks.
“Um, where are we going exactly?” asked Analel.
“PropS 25 and 26, Child,” answered Jeserel, curtly.
There were no indicating numbers on any of the PropS. The first time Analel had come to CentCon she was utterly baffled by the apparent lack of any labeled organizational structure. Soon she had learned that CentCon, like the rest of the Prophecy, operated on Prophetic based Wave technology. The PropS themselves we’re actually emitting active Wave patterns, calling out to the perceptive Prophet relevant informational properties.
Analel attempted to sift through the white noise cluttering the Wave Currents of the room in order to find PropS 25 and 26, but trying to keep up with Jeserel in the process was making it difficult to maintain even a modicum of concentration. Her soon-to-be-opponent’s next question didn’t help matters either.
“Will offensive Wave Thoughts be permitted in this session?” asked Arah.
Offensive Wave Thoughts had multiple functions, as in its defensive use through the Storm Field. What Arah was referring to was the technique of infiltrating a rival Prophet’s consciousness during a dueling session and cutting off that Prophet’s connection to their Academic. It was an advanced technique that, if successful, almost guaranteed a win for one’s own Academic. The danger involved in attempting such a technique lay in the necessity to split one’s concentration between Prophesying for an Academic on the one hand, and attacking a rival Prophet’s consciousness on the other. Splits, by definition, entailed a division of concentration and therefore a weakening of one’s own defenses, leaving one exposed and vulnerable to possible counterattack.
Mother Jeserel smiled at Arah’s question. “Now Children, as much as I may have dangled Motherhood in front of your young and eager eyes, it should go without saying that your number one concern in this Prophecy session is your Academic. His success is your success and his safety is paramount.”
“Yes, Mother,” Acknowledged Arah, clearly not thrilled with that answer.
Jeserel’s smile widened at Arah’s disappointed tone. “That being said,” she continued, turning her warning into a caveat, not a rule, “offensive Wave Thoughts are permitted. Should one of you prove talented enough to pull one off during this session, I assure you it will not go unnoticed by the Motherhood.”
This caught Analel’s attention. Up until now, most of her concentration had been dedicated to keeping up with Mother Jeserel while refraining from falling over her cloak or crashing into a PropS team in session. But after Jeserel’s not so subtle endorsement of offensive Wave Thoughts, Analel chanced a look over in Arah’s direction to gauge where her rival’s head was at in terms of actually attempting one during the duel. Much to her dismay, relish was oozing out of every nonexistent pore on Arah’s perfect face.
Wonderful.
*****
“Ah, here we are,” announced Jeserel, “PropS 25 and 26.”
The two PropS were unremarkable relative to the rest of the room. Just two Prophecy Stations mixed in among a bunch of others. PropS were operated by teams of three: Two attending Prophets and one in the Box undergoing the Prophecy session. The attendings helped the Prophesying Prophet enter the Box, connect the Mist Tube and most importantly, they monitored her wellbeing throughout the session. Safety was the attendings’ number one concern. If anything were to go wrong, it was their responsibility to pull the Prophet out of the Box before she got hurt, or worse.
Already waiting next to PropS 25 and 26 were Analel’s and Arah’s attendings. Jeserel introduced them. “Children, you know Mothers Kefla, Bre’a, Shen and Dwi.” Analel and Quinn nodded, smiling politely at the Mothers who would soon play key roles in their success or failure. “Try to make a good first impression,” Jeserel continued, “as these Mothers are going to be your eyes and ears, as well as your tether to reality throughout the duration of your session. Many Academic victories can be traced directly back to a good attending team. Analel, you’ll be working with Shen and Dwi, Arah, you’ll be with Kefla and Bre’a.”
Jeserel produced two Wave Cards from a pouch concealed somewhere within the folds of her cloak. She gave one to Shen and the other to Kefla. Analel craned her neck over in an attempt to get a better look at the Wave Card as it passed into Shen’s hand, hoping to catch a glimpse of some telltale sign that this was the same one she’d seen in the library several hours earlier. She managed a quick peek but it revealed nothing remarkable.
Turning back to Analel and Arah, Jeserel produced two Readers and handed them over. “I myself will be evaluating your overall performances independently,” she said. “I wish you both the best of luck. Peace and purpose, Children.”
Picking up on their cues, the attendings came over to the Children and took over where Jeserel had left off.
“Hello, Analel,” greeted Shen.
“Mother.” Analel gave what she hoped was a bright enough smile.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Nervous?”<
br />
A short laugh seemed to satisfy Shen as her answer.
“Let’s get you set up then, shall we?”
They walked over to the rightmost PropS of the two reserved for the session. Dwi Was already at the consoles sliding her hand over the monitors, pausing every few moments to concentrate and send off a projected Wave Thought before working her hands over the screen some more. She gave a friendly wave to Analel and Shen as they approached. “Welcome to PropS 26,” she offered by way of greeting.
“Thanks,” replied Analel, “excited to be here,” and remembering Jeserel’s final piece of advice about first impressions, turned up the brightness of her smile several more notches. Just take good care of me inside that Box, please, was her unspoken thought.
Dwi addressed Shen, who seemed to be the senior of the two. “We’re all ready over here.”
Shen nodded and turned back to Analel. “Got your Reader?”
Analel held up the small device in front of her.
“Excellent. Let’s get you settled in.” Turning to Dwi she said, “Open her up.”
A quick flick of the wrist over the screen by Dwi and a section of the cylindrical glass partition separating the Box from the encircling consoles slid open to the side. Shen walked Analel through the entrance and over to the Box. Together they lifted up the heavy lid and Shen wheeled over a small step ladder. Analel climbed up the three steps and peered over the Box’s edge. She took a deep breath and stepped over the lip, lying down and shimmying her weight around, conforming her shape to the mold of the cushion.
A moment later, Shen’s face peered over the side. “Alright, I’m going to hook up the Mist Tube now and you’ll be in the dark for a few minutes. Once the Mist fills up the majority of the Box we’ll be able to communicate with you. Until then you’ll be alone with your thoughts, so make them happy ones.”
“Happy thoughts. Got it.”
Shen laughed. It was clear Analel was still very new to all this. “Are we all set?”
Wave Mandate Page 10