by Ben Johnston
Anniya snapped to attention and sat up.
Spirit’s eyes remained closed.
The officious Vectan broadcast informed the viewer that all former Federation presence (referred to as subverters of the Empire) had been removed from the planet. Not only had Namoon been cleansed of Federation presence, the Vectan Empire (acting heroically, so they claimed) had in fact destroyed the Phoenix Federation and annexed its constituent worlds entirely.
Anniya sat staring. “Spirit, did you hear that?”
“Yes, I heard it.”
“But you already knew it, right?”
“Yes, I know the Vectan Empire has wiped out the Phoenix Federation. Would you like to hear some statistics?”
“No, thank you, Spirit.”
The Vectan broadcast then switched glibly to an announcement that planet Namoon had been chosen to host the legendary Vectan Golden Faire! Bringing entertainment, merchandise, and wonders from around the universe, the faire was being held in the capital city of Naamu in celebration of the transfer of Namoon’s fiefdom to a new Vectan lord or administrative affiliate. Wonders such as…”
Anniya turned away from the chattering broadcast to Spirit laying on the couch next to her. “And just like that, the Vectan’s won. A fifteen-year war finished overnight. Vectus just reaches out and swats away the Federation like a fly. Now there’s going to be Vectans literally everywhere. That’s going to make even harder to steal batteries for the house.”
The Vectan broadcast continued to list great things about the faire. Anniya sighed and gazed off into the distance.
“How many inhabited planets are there out there, Spirit?”
“One hundred million trillion, Anniya.”
Anniya shook her head. “I can’t understand that. How many people in the universe?”
“At an average of one million people per planet. One hundred million million trillion: one hundred septillion.”
“Meaningless numbers. How many people on Namoon?”
“There are seven million people on the planet.”
“That’s a little better. How many at that faire going on in Naamu?”
“Six and a half million.”
“Pretty big faire, huh?”
“There are three hundred thousand Imperial security officers and fifty thousand Vectan military personnel present.”
“Not a very good place to steal from, got it.”
Anniya was about to turn off the receiver device when she heard it announce, “...and see on display, recently found deep within the Ruin, on its way to the Academy of Vectus, an amazingly rare sunstone collection!”
“Sunstone! Spirit! Did you hear that?”
“Yes, I knew.” Spirits eyes were closed, like he was napping.
“If you already knew there was a sunstone at the fair, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t tell you, Anniya, because I didn’t know that I knew.”
Anniya sighed. “Yes, yes. I remember. You don’t know what you know until I ask you. Well, now we know so why not go?.”
The Fox tilted his head at Anniya. “There will be millions of people at the fair. And that sunstone is going to be worth millions of light units. It’s going to be quite guarded.”
“It’s not that risky. I’m the Shadow! Plus, have I ever been captured?”
“You were caught twice last night, Anniya.”
“I wasn’t caught. The first time I caught the two troops, and the second time I dropped-in on purpose. They didn’t catch me. How much power does this sunstone have anyway? I won’t go if the stone won’t even power a nightlight.”
“Anniya, I don’t know, and can’t know how much power that sunstone makes. I don’t know what type of light or what quantity it possesses. It must be tested empirically.”
Anniya drew in her lips. “So it’s a gamble. The sunstone might not have that much power. But even if all the fracted thing could do is power the food cooler, well even that would be something.” Anniya stood and pulled out a large, old backpack and began to organize its contents for a trip. “Any small comfort for the coward. But if we’re really lucky, which has happened from time to time, it will power the whole house! And we’d never have to steal batteries ever again!”
The fox was silent. Anniya continued. “Spirit, don’t worry. If there are a million guards around the stone, then we’ll forget about it. We’ll just grab some food, or some of the plenty of other stuff to grab, pull some batteries out of some people’s houses on our way out, then head back home to life as usual. Would that make you happy? And when is this auction?”
“It would not make me happy. And tomorrow afternoon.”
“Well then, let’s get moving!”
Chapter 15
The clear skies of Administra swarmed with gleaming ships and shimmering shuttlecraft as Christopher came clopping down the shuttle ramp wearing his boots still crusted with dirt. Amid the chatter of the fellow arriving passengers, he immediately spotted Tom waiting for him in the crowd over on the arrival deck.
Tom, a youthful School scholar, stood almost a head shorter than nearly everyone else around him, had moppy brown hair and cheery high eyebrows that seemed to pull up his whole expression, although at the moment the young man’s buoyant features seemed somehow to sag. And Tom’s bright brown eyes, although they sparkled in the warm sunlight, loomed heavy over a thin mouth, giving the impression of a cloud covering the sun on a clear day.
Mustering-up a pained smile, the dusty archaeologist approached the fresh-faced scholar.
“The compass worked perfectly, Sparky.” Christopher tossed a small, coppery cylinder spinning through the air. “Led us right to the sunstone.”
Tom held out his hand and caught the compass.
Christopher raised an eyebrow, pointing at Tom’s open palm. “Now, if you could just invent something like that to detect scavengers next time…” He gave a thumb’s up and a wink. “That would be great.”
Christopher held a wry smile as his eyes drifted off. “But, there isn’t going to be a next time, is there.” He let his smile go.
Tom looked down at his hand, closing his thin fingers to clutch the small compass. “Well, maybe.” His eyebrows seemed to make an effort as they furrowed. “Or maybe not.”
He looked up at Christopher. “Doctor Cernon. My uncle wants to see us immediately.”
Christopher turned back to Tom, eyebrow raised. “If he wants to lecture me about the units I wasted on the expedition, I brought a School auditor back with me this time, safe, alive and intact, so he can talk to them if he wants.”
Tom shook his head. “No. That’s already settled, Doctor. My uncle told me he needs to see you. To see us, actually. I think he found something.”
The curly-haired scholar and the weather-beaten archaeologist followed the crowd of passengers down a walkway to a bush-lined waiting area. Here at ground level, people clustered in lines, all waiting their turn to step onto arriving and departing silvery square platforms.
One-by-one these shiny platforms whisked-in carrying standing and sitting passengers, slipping silently over bright white pathways at incredible speed before coming to a sudden, instantaneous stop. Once stopped, the arriving and waiting passengers swapped places and after a moment, the platform accelerated away instantly at high speed.
A few people approached Tom and Christopher as they stood waiting. “Excuse me, sir. But are you the School archaeologist, Doctor Cernon?”
Christopher smiled. “Uh. Yes. Can I help you?”
The group smiled and nodded to each other. “Ah, it is him!”
The one person spoke. “You’ve already helped, sir. We’re from the old Republic. After the Republic fell and power shipments stopped, our planet was on the verge of starvation. But, thanks to your finding and bringing all those lightcores back from the Ruin, the Union was able to route lightlines directly to us. Can we get a photograph with you?” The one person held up a small camera.
Christopher agreed
with a tired, unshaven smile. Tom held the camera, and the group posed with Christopher.
Flash.
The group thanked Christopher again and walked off.
Christopher shook his head as he watched the group walk away. “Shame they didn’t recognize you, Sparky.”
Tom watched the group as they vanished back into the crowd. “All I did, doctor Cernon, was adapted the light routing devices in the stations to the ancient lightcores your company brought back.”
Chrisopher raised an eyebrow. “We couldn’t have run those lines to those planets without you, Spark.”
Tom shrugged. “But I was behind the scenes. And that’s fine.” He looked up at Christopher with a weak smile but bright eyes behind his curly bangs. “I like to be in the background.” He let his smile rest.
Christopher nodded wisely, placing his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “Nobody ever knows the true heroes.”
The next available platform swept-in silently, its passengers stepped off of it, and Tom and Christopher stepped onto it, alone. The noisy crowd, and the busy shuttle station shot away from them as if yanked-off into the distance, shrinking away with almost violent rapidity, all without any feeling of motion, without any wind or disturbance to the air, and with not a sound.
Tom looked down at his clenched fist holding the compass. “I can’t believe you almost had the goldenlight sunstone.”
Christopher shook his head. “Yeah, those scavs don’t know what they stole. They think it’s just an ordinary sunstone. They have no idea its powered by goldenlight.” He turned a sad smile to Tom. “But hey, brighten up, Sunny. That compass in your hand there, that thing’s incredible; led us straight to the sunstone, so if you ask me, that thing you made is more impressive than some useless artifact. Like, maybe we could just use the compass to find another goldenlight sunstone.”
Greenery and bright buildings rushed-by. Tom didn’t look up. “You know there’s only one goldenlight sunstone, and it is not a useless artifact, Doctor.”
Christopher scratched at his unshaven jaw. “Maybe the stone isn’t useless. But it’s definitely not worthless, which is why I think your uncle’s probably going to turn this whole thing over to Union Special Projects.” The noise of the city shifted around as the scenery blurred-by. “You know, let Projects track down the fracted thing.”
The scholar and the archaeologist felt no acceleration forces as the platform took instant ninety-degree turns. The sounds around them rose and fell with sheer sharpness as the scenery around them whipped by in a blur before occasionally halting then flinging-by again.
Christopher inhaled deeply. “Personally, I think it’s time to go public with the sunstone. If anything else, letting the living galaxies know that the goldenlight sunstone exists would make it surface from the scavenger black market. You know, bring back into the light of day.”
Tom continued to stare down at his closed hand. “No, doctor Cernon. We don’t want the sunstone to go public. Not yet, and not ever, if we can help it. That’s why I don’t think uncle Jon is going to tell USP about the sunstone either. Nobody needs to know about it unless they need to know about it.”
Christopher narrowed his eyes then suddenly broke into a smile, giving the young scholar a friendly slap on his back, causing Tom to jolt forward slightly. “You’re being so serious, Sparky! Lower your lights.” He beamed down at Tom. “You gotta learn to let things go. Sure this all seems big, that sunstone seems big, but in a bigger universe, it’s just another artifact.”
“But it’s not just another artifact, Doctor Cernon. You know what the School records state. It is The artifact. The Goldenlight Sunstone. That’s why we spent all that time trying to locate it, why we sent you into the Ruin at such great cost to get it. That’s why we kept the details of the expedition secret. But none of that matters, because even if there were a trillion goldenlight sunstones, it wouldn’t change the fact that we still need one, and we don’t have one.”
“Need? What do we need it for, Sparky? Do we need it so that the School and the Union can bury it away in some deep, dark archive like millions of other artifacts? Do we need it so that the wise directors can all feel safe that they’ve kept something too powerful away from the hands of the less wise?”
His eyelids drooped as he let out a weak huff of a laugh. “I’m not blinding myself over losing it. Just let those scavengers have their treasure. In a few centuries the Union will get it back, then they’ll spend a few hundred more years to unlock it before they give up and the fracted sunstone winds up in the archives like all the other great mysterious relics of the eleven ages.”
Tom and Chrisopher’s platform raced towards a massive domed building that slowly rose above the rushing trees and buildings.
Christopher and Tom’s platform halted in front of the massive Conference hall of Administra where Tom’s uncle was giving a presentation. After a great deal of walking and showing of credentials, they found their way to the backstage entry where they stood by a ramp that led to the stage.
They saw the back of a tall man with a halo of thin but brilliantly white hair. He stood at a podium addressing a crowd of thousands in a lightly enthused yet still monotonous tone. Christopher leaned down, speaking to Tom in a whisper. “Sparky, how long is this going to last?”
Tom was looking at the man on the stage. “It sounds like uncle Jon is finishing his presentation, so he’ll have to take a couple questions.”
Christopher blinked, listening to the director list the artifacts that were coming in from the fallen Republic, and warning of other nations also receiving the same. Christopher yawned, leaning against the doorframe leading to the stage ramp. He looked down at his feet then used the heel of his right boot to scrape some dirt from the inside ankle of his left boot.
Christopher looked at Tom who nodded towards the stage. The rushing sound of massive but polite applause assaulted them before it died down a moment later to allow the sound of a single amplified voice from somewhere in the audience of thousands. “Director Weaver, thank you for taking my question. I am director Pauli of the Metallidescent refractory floor of the photics tower. My question is this; with the increase in metallidescent artifacts coming into my department, we are starting to require more units in our budget to pay for more photists and lumical engineers, and to account for the direct disassembly of those artifacts. As you know, in addition to the labor costs, we have to use high power and high ratio linelights to remove those components; the use of those consumes many light units for even short amounts of time.”
The audience murmured, many nodding some shaking their heads. The tall man under the spotlights on the central stage spoke. “What is your question, director Pauli?”
The voice from the audience paused for a moment then resumed. “Oh. Well, my question is, I guess, is the School or the Union going to sell any of the fallen Republic’s artifacts to cover the additional costs of acquiring them?”
The audience noise level rose a bit at this. The director again replied. “Director. That is an economic question, not a School question. Direct that to the Union Central Bureaucracy. Next question.”
The next question was much like the first. Christopher looked at Tom. “Sounds like people are more interested in light units and budgets then they are about artifacts and technologies.”
Tom shook his head. “Well, the School just absorbed a million worlds from the fallen Republic. I guess our light’s getting a bit spread out.”
Many members of the audience were already getting up and leaving, and after two more futile questions, the tall, older man on the stage thanked the already-departing audience, turned and walked down the ramp to the open doorway to the underground backstage where Tom and Christopher were waiting for him.
Jonathan looked at Christopher and gave him a sad smile. “Ah, Christopher.” The tall director gave the dusty archaeologist a warm embrace then turned to Tom. “My nephew. Thank you.” He placed his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “Let’s not waste a
ny time.” He looked Christopher in the eye, letting his smile fade a bit. “Time is limited, after all.”
Christopher gave the director a low gaze. “Is there something you’d like to tell me??”
Jonathan smiled at Christopher and at Tom. “There’s something I’d like to tell you both. But back at my office.”
Chapter 16
The twelve Towers were an impossible sight. Skyscrapers and mountains mingled at their feet, the tops of the Towers were lost above the clouds in the heights of the upper-atmosphere. As you approached them, the skybreaking, gray monoliths seemed to come over at you, almost as if the gigantic structures were going to fall forward.
Craning his neck, Christopher looked straight up. “Ah, good old Tower One. Suns, they look so much bigger when you’ve been gone for a while.”
Entering Tower One, they passed under a broad, arched entryway so tall that it allowed some lower clouds to flow under it. On this lowest floor of the Tower, the trees across its plain had leaves the color of autumn. The three of them had only a few moments to appreciate the landscape of this bottom floor before their platform whisked them up the central braid of platform paths.
Floor after floor dropped by them, each floor a great plain, each floor a biome with a unique assortment of plants and animals. Every floor was like its own land, it’s own world, as was the floor they reached and stepped off the platform onto.
Leafy trees, fresh grass, chirping birds and winding, cobblestone pathways, on this Tower floor, thousands of students and scholars walked into and out of large buildings, or mingled about the wide walkways. Enticing aromas from cafes and small diners drifted through the crisp, spring air and down the trails. People everywhere, all chatting with each other, walking together or lounging on the grass beneath the shady trees, adding a background hum to the bird calls.
High above the trees and buildings, lining the distant, sky-blue ceiling shined hundreds of little, blinding suns. And etched into the ceiling between these sun-lights were silvery patterns woven across the artificial sky.