He crested the small hill that overlooked the southern section of camp. They had constructed a large tent from the pieces of several other tents with a hole in the center of the roof. Inside, the men had built a fire pit, and a constant stream of smoke poured out. Hafi could hear the shouts from where he stood. He charged down the hill, reaching the slit that served as a door. He slid in. The other soldiers in the bar fell silent, but the two fighting men didn’t realize that Hafi was there. One man was pinned onto a thick table with jaggedly cut legs. The legs were practically small trees themselves.
Fucking hell, they’re lucky the furniture here is sturdy.
If the table gave out, the pinned man would have his head dashed into the rocks around the fire, and the other would likely lose his balance and fall right into it.
Hafi waded through people and tables until he approached the center. He grabbed the man on top and yanked him off. The man turned to the side and attempted to throw a punch. His face drained of color when he saw who held him. Hafi caught the punch by the wrist. “Do you really want to hit a General?”
The man pulled back and gave a hasty salute. The one on the table squirmed and found his footing, rising up to offer an equally sloppy salute. His eye was swollen near shut and his nose bled as though it had been broken.
Hafi turned halfway to the side, casting his voice back at his aide, “Gather the officers. We need ideas for strict punishments for fighting in camp.” He looked back to the men then glanced around the room, “For now, each of you is responsible for this behavior. If you can’t stop fights here without me rushing down here twice a day, I’ll burn this fucking place down and ban alcohol.” The men and women sitting at tables and standing nearby looked down like scolded children.
He glared at the two men who had been fighting, “You two, come with me. There is always work that can be done.”
The path to the southern wood pile was not long, but it wound through the outskirts of the camp where the trees had not been cleared until it opened up on a natural clearing. There were enough small trees bound under tarps to last this part of the camp a week. Half of it still needed to be chopped. He grabbed the axe and handed it to the man with the swollen eye. “What’s your name?”
“Clarence.”
Hafi looked at the other man, “And yours?”
“Clarence.”
Hafi looked between them with an arched eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you were fighting over something stupid like your name.”
Swollen Clarence nodded, “We’ve been keeping a tally of kills since we left Prin. He said I was cheating because I had nearly twice as many kills as him.”
The other Clarence shuffled his feet, “I just didn’t want them callin’ me Cold Sweat Clarence no more.”
Hafi laughed, “Well, they do need to be able to call you something different. You’re going to keep Cold Sweat, cause I’m about to give you a reason to be nervous.” He turned to the other one, “But you need a name, don’t you? What do you think, Cold Sweat? What should we call him?”
“Cocksucker Clarence?”
Hafi shrugged, “Not very original, but it works for me. Alright, so since Cocksucker got his face messed up—“
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Cocksucker asked.
“Nope. You just get the axe first.” Hafi replied, holding out the axe. Cocksucker took it. “Cold Sweat gets to place the wood for you then leave his hands on the chopping block next to the wood. You’ll swap positions every ten pieces. You’re going to work until that pile is done. Gonna likely take you into the night. Its hard to see well enough to chop wood at night, even without an eye swollen shut. I hope you both leave here with your hands intact.” Hafi turned to a nearby stump. He sat down and pulled out his LightTab, “Oh, and if you do happen to hurt the other, you will immediately switch who has the axe and they won’t face any consequence for doing the same to you. No medics until the wood is all chopped. A little blood won’t stop it from burning. Now, do you wanna keep fighting or get this done and get back to camp?”
Cocksucker glanced at Cold Sweat, “I’ll be careful. I wish I could see out of both eyes, though.”
“Me too.” Cold Sweat replied.
They got to work. Hafi looked down at his LightTab and started corresponding with the other officers. They decided that the official punishment going forward would be a day of being chained outside without a fire. With winter creeping in, it hinted at possible death without explicitly ordering it.
“What the fuck is that?” He heard Cocksucker ask.
Hafi looked up and saw Cold Sweat put down the axe, sauntering over to look at the ground where they had cleared a section of unchopped wood and lifted the tarp. “Ew—uh, General?”
Hafi approached. On the ground lay a small red crystal, surrounded by muddy red dirt and grass that looked as if a bucket of blood had been dumped over it. The grass seemed to be growing small translucent red thorns.
Shit.
47
Tani
The problem of suppressing symptoms rather than providing cures hit Tani in the face. Delilah messaged her, saying she needed to come to the surgery room. Tani swung off her cot and found her way down the ramp. She found herself facing Odi with Delilah. His face was blotchy and streaked with tears. He turned away from Tani, a flash of some emotion that Tani would never be able to decipher in his eyes.
Delilah stepped past him, placing a hand on Tani’s shoulder. “Odi came to tell us. It’s Allyn. He went to wake her this morning, and—well, she was dead.”
Tani exhaled sharply. The news felt like one of the enormous steel doors in her lab, beating her into the ground. “How? What happened?”
Delilah pivoted back towards Odi, keeping her hand on Tani. He took a shivering breath. “I don’t know. She had to sleep—she was exhausted. Last night. So, I made sure she got into bed early. She seemed okay, just so tired.”
Questions bubbled up into Tani’s mind, and she opened her mouth to rapid fire them at Odi. Delilah squeezed her shoulder so hard, Tani could feel Delilah’s nails digging into her skin. She glared over at Delilah, who shook her head.
How am I supposed to do anything about this if I can’t ask questions because of emotions?
She knew Delilah was right, but she didn’t like it. They had done a similar surgery to five other patients. Being respectful of Odi’s feelings could kill someone else. Instead, she put on her kindest face, which was really just a poor imitation of Delilah, and turned to Odi, “Odi, I am so sorry. I want to figure out what happened, but we can do that later. Do you need anything?”
Odi sniffled and shook his head.
I wonder if her body has been taken away, or if we could get it here to do an autopsy.
Tani shrugged at Delilah. What do I do now?
Delilah glared back at her. She turned to the boy and took both his hands into hers. “If you need anything at all, let us know. We would like to attend any services you have for her.”
Odi nodded and walked to the door. He paused before leaving, “I know you guys did everything you could. I don’t blame you. If anything, you made the end of her life the best it had been in years. I just—I had so much hope. And now she is gone.”
Delilah rubbed his arm and gave him such a sympathetic expression that Tani knew any imitation from her would look ridiculous. Fuck it. She stepped up to him and embraced him, turning her face away so that he couldn’t see her blank stare.
Odi leaned into the hug, and Tani felt his body quiver. I thought hugs were supposed to help! Now he was crying again. She hugged harder, pulling her arms in more tightly around him. Eventually, his body stopped shaking, and Tani dared to release him. He left without another word. When Tani turned to Delilah, she found Delilah glaring down at her while she stood with her hands on her hips.
Great. I’ve angered her by trying. I don’t know how I got caught up in all this emotional crap.
Tani shrugged at her again, “Let me know when you think it’s okay
to investigate what went wrong. The longer we wait, the more dangerous it is to our other patients.”
Delilah looked like she might want to punch Tani, so Tani dashed out the door and headed back to the solace of her room.
The thrum of the music pulsed through Tani as she walked ahead of Delilah. The stone tunnels felt as if they were vibrating with the intensity of the gathering before they entered the cavern. Outside, Odi stood with an older man that Tani had never seen before. She figured it had to be a relative, with the way he kept his hand on Odi’s shoulder as he greeted each person that entered.
Tani slowed and stepped to the side, letting Delilah take the front as they moved up to where Odi stood. Delilah offered their condolences, and Tani gave Odi a quick hug, hoping that would be enough. It seemed to work, as Odi gave them both a small, sorrowful smile, handing them both small candles, and Tani slipped into the cavern behind Delilah.
At the entrance, large braziers burned. Each person ahead of them lit their candles in the flame, then touched their foreheads. Tani copied them and followed Delilah to the side. The cavern was as large as all three floors of her lab combined, and it was half full of people. Tani looked around, trying to picture what each person meant to Odi and Allyn. How did one person keep so many relationships? It seemed extravagant. If I died, I am pretty sure Delilah and Vin would be there and no one else.
Tani blinked back her surprise when a large man in deep red robes emerged from the opposite side of the cavern, stepping up to the head of the proceedings. The Hierophant! He looked out across the crowd. The crowd was silent. Subdued whispers of stifled movement reached Tani’s ears. The Hierophant just stood there, watching the crowd.
He opened his mouth and his voice projected across the cavern, “We are here to remember Allyn. A gentle woman, full of love for those around her. Each one of us, including me, have seen the improvement in their lives because of Allyn’s influence.”
He continued, but Tani found her mind drifting from his words to wondering what his relationship had been to Allyn. Had he tried to heal her before Tani came along?
To the side, where the Hierophant had come from, a small group of other Bloodsmith priests stood. Their robes stood out from the rest of the crowd, not to mention the prominent rune symbols tattooed across their necks and faces. They watched the Hierophant with fervent expressions.
Tani glanced around the room, observing the faces of the Undergrounders. They seemed to listen closely. Tani heard her name and tuned back in.
“The work of Tani provided Allyn with a great life during her last days. Allyn was active again. We all saw her walking through the markets. Her laughter and smiles cast at everyone around her.”
Tani felt a shock pulse through her at this information about Allyn’s last days. I wish I had seen that.
The Hierophant continued, “As you know, we have supported Tani’s efforts from the start. And here, with the tragic loss of Allyn, we can help Tani even more. If Allyn had come to me sooner, we could have started her Lifecasting training soon enough to heal her disease. But, it is easy to see what we should have done when looking back on our actions. Therefore I stand here and offer anyone else, the same opportunity that Allyn missed.”
Tani felt a rise of anger. Theory and brief Source flashes is not enough to train! But she knew the damage was done. His statement would spread through the Underground and her patients would turn to him. Shit.
She turned to her side, glancing up on Delilah’s face. Delilah stared down at her, her brow furrowed.
The Hierophant ended his speech with a call to the gatherers to share in Allyn’s openness of mind and spirit. As he stepped down, the candlelight shifted and moved. Tani grabbed Delilah’s hand as the surrounding people mingled and talked to each other. She had a plan, but she needed to get to Odi.
They weaved through the crowd for what felt like an eternity before she glimpsed his lean frame and golden hair that seemed to glow in the candlelight.
“Odi!” Tani waved as she darted between two figures to keep a line of sight on Odi.
Odi saw her and gave her a timid smile before offering a single wave gesture. He turned to the man he was talking to and said something before moving towards Tani.
“Hey, Tani. Thanks again for coming.”
Tani nodded, “We were happy to come. I wanted to ask you, since the Hierophant mentioned it, how active—I mean—” Tani paused, angry at herself but motivated to push forward. I hate manipulating people, “It is very hard to lose a patient. I think it would be a comfort, perhaps to both of us, if we talked about how happy she was during her last few days. I would really love to hear all the details. Like the things you guys did together, the things she did, even small errands.”
Odi nodded, “I’d be happy to relive that. She was so happy.” He started going on about her excitement to do things. She cleaned and reorganized their cube. She was running to the market and cooking elaborate meals. She even helped an old friend move to a larger cube.
Tani was sure of it: Allyn could not resist the new freedom she had, and her overexertion led to her death. Tani still wanted to do an autopsy to confirm, but she was certain it would show that Allyn had died from the strain she put on her body that was only used to laying in a bed.
Odi got to the last night of Allyn’s life, describing how she was tired. Tani didn’t press for details. Odi’s red and puffy face was almost enough to make Tani regret the path her project had wandered down.
Maybe Delilah is right—we shouldn’t be doing this without more data—without being cautious.
Tani glanced around the cavern. So many people around her were obviously ill—walking with canes or with help from others, pale skin, coughs, tremors in their extremities. Each sick person who she noticed was just as aware of her as she became of them.
My project is their only hope.
It didn’t make her feel better, but it made it obvious that ending the project was not an option.
48
Ayna
Ayna pushed the screen of her LightTab, flicking the display to the wall in front of her. The council room had a large panel that extended a few feet past the table on each side and went nearly from floor to ceiling. She sat on the opposite side of the room, eager to watch the video that had unexpectedly shown up in the Artificer’s private partition. Dom was doing something of small value, at least.
The video flickered, wavy lines running through the recording. A man Ayna had never seen before stood in front of the camera, saying words that had no audio to them. The room had artificial light sources that had been pointed at the speaker from behind the camera, giving him a washed out appearance and creating a looming shadow behind him. What she could see of the room was angular and metallic. Each metallic plane was covered in buttons and switches.
The man continued talking at the camera for a few minutes, then waved to someone offscreen. A man appeared from the right side of the camera view, carrying a metal container that seemed very light from the way he moved while supporting it in both arms. The first man took the case and set it down on a chair that fell just outside the camera view. Ayna could make out the metallic lid as he swung it open, reaching in with gloved hands and pulling out a crystalline shape. It pulsed with purple light, illuminating the gentle lavender carapace with a vibrant purple with each pulse.
So this must be Karim and that—we have seen that before.
Ayna wondered what had happened to the vest that the Xenai had created from the purple source crystals. When Hafi had told her of the skirmish and discovery, Ayna had requested he confiscate the crystals from Shara. He confirmed the request but sent no update. She had assumed if he had trouble with it, he would have let her know. I should follow up.
She refocused on the screen. Karim waved vigorously, then the camera angled down. On the floor they had placed a small metal disc with a bunch of mechanical arms that looked splayed open. Wires ran down from the arms and then across the metal grating. He placed the
crystal into the disc and then tapped a button at the base of the machine. The mechanical appendages curled up until each one contacted the crystal. The camera followed the lines from the crystal to a small cluster of server racks, the doors open to the backside. The wires ran into a large box sitting outside the racks, spliced into a thick power cable. The power cables extending from both sides of each server was attached a panel at the front of the box.
Karim flipped a switch, lights started blinking next to each of the servers’ cables. The camera then looping around the rack to the front, where Karim pressed the power button on each server. Each one blinked with power and. Ayna could imagine the roar as they came to life. When Karim hit the final server at the bottom, there was a brief flash, then no further twinkling. The power had failed. the other servers seemed fine.
This was their way of testing how much power they could pull from the crystal.
She would have to ask Matt what that meant later. She figured the video would stop, but it didn’t. The video looped back around to the crystal in its holder. It now consistently projected the bright purple without fading in and out. The unknown man with Karim lowered himself down to the ground next to it. He sat facing the crystal, leaning in slightly to hover not over the crystal, but just to the side of it.
Ayna watched as he started fighting to keep his eyes open. Eventually, he fell asleep sitting up, like a tired child, and just toppled over face first into the metal grating of the floor.
Ayna sighed. Of course, it couldn’t be easy. She was certain if she talked to Matt, the power requirements for a single evacuation vessel from Mars would mean stuffing half the thing full of these crystals. That wouldn’t do anyone any good if they fell asleep when the crystal was pushing out power.
At least we’ve got our own purple crystals here and we only have two new source powers to deal with, not three. I’ll have to get Hafi to actually send the vest back to Prin.
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