by Ben Johnston
Clearing his throat, Album blinked with wide eyes at Anniya, tilting his head towards the multicolored ocean of faces all staring at them.
Anniya followed Album’s head tilt, her eyes coming to rest on the sea of waiting faces. “Oh! Sorry.” She stepped back up to the horn, eyed it, then focused back on the audience. “When I was young, I saw a spaceship and immediately grokked the engines.” She reached out her arms into space like she was grabbing something from the air in front of her.
Album tapped her on the shoulder. “Pardon my interruption, but could you explain what you mean by ‘grokked’?”
Anniya blinked at Album. “To grok something. I Just.” Her arms fell to her sides. “I look at it.”
She squinted. “It’s more like I look inside of the light. Not at it.” She held her hands up straight at the sides of her face. “Inside it.” Her eyes turned to Album. “Do you know what I mean?”
Album blinked a few times under a low brow. A low murmur breezed through the massive audience. Anniya’s mouth made a line. She continued. “Anyway, so that’s how I grok devices and lights. I never see a sigil. Never. Nothing weird like that at all. Nothing like what Album was just saying all you all do.”
Glancing back at Album standing on the stage behind her, Anniya saw that the skinny man was somehow managing to smile encouragingly through a clearly pained expression. With her eyes still fixed on the conflicted Album, Anniya spoke into the horn out of the corner of her mouth. “I guess that makes me the weird one.”
She snort-laughed. The obnoxious sound boomed across the vast, silent seating area. From somewhere out in the audience, there was a cough.
“Anyway. Moving on.” Anniya cleared her throat and continued. “I feel the effect, then I hold the effect in my mind, but it feels like its in my chest. Once I feel it, I can multiply its power. Enhance it. This takes time, and I have limits - about ten heartbeats. Forty if I’ve been running. It’s not based on my number of heartbeats, though. It’s some exact amount of time. I should measure how long that takes or something right? You guys do that, right?”
Album shrugged. Anniya blinked, then continued. “Sometimes, when a device is complicated or complex, then I have no choice but to break it to make it.”
Album scratched his head. “Break it to make it?”
Anniya nodded. “I focus really, really hard on the object and basically make the device blow up. Then, when it explodes, I can see the light. The light gets out, then I can grok it.” She smiled. The audience remained silent. “And that’s basically it.”
Album cleared his throat. “That’s very fascinating. So, is that how you made the goldenlight? You just looked at the Vectan champion’s goldenlight sword and were able to, how did you say. Grok it?”
Anniya pulled in her lips. “Ah. Yeah, no. Not that time.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t grok goldenlight. That’s stuff’s opaque. I can’t even see into the material of your crazy towers.” She looked up at the high ceiling and the bright sunlights overhead. “Goldenlight is different. Maybe I was able to make it because I was holding the golden...” She bit her lip, looking down at her open and empty hand.
Album narrowed his eyes and tilted his blonde head. “Holding a, what?”
She clenched her fist. “Holding the… The Feeling.” She let out a strong sigh. “I guess I actually have no idea how I made goldenlight. It was just. I guess I was just lucky.”
Anniya faced the vast, silent audience with a half smile and a shrug. Another cough sounded out. Anniya tapped the horn. “Is this thing on?”
Album put his hand on Anniya’s shoulder, gently pulling her back from the horn. “Okay, then. Well.” He smiled at her. “I guess we all sort of expected a little more than that. Thank you for your time. I’m sure we’ve all found what you said to be most interesting, if not exactly informative.” He turned away from Anniya to the audience. Anniya glanced at the exit on the side of the stage.
A scattering of moderate applause rose and fell from the audience, leaving behind a low murmuring. Album cleared his throat again, and then cleared it one more time, more loudly, before addressing the audience. “Everyone, thank you for coming. This evidently concludes the talk.”
He held out his hands as he turned a tight smile. “And we thank you, Miss Anniya, for.” He rolled his hand. “For. Uhh.” He bit his lip. “For, your talk. I guess.”
Album smiled, blinking at the empty air next to him.
Anniya was no longer on the stage.
Chapter 37
Jonas approached a grand, black throne of wood placed before a towering crystal window. Outside the window, heavy rain fell on the forest under a dark sky. He knelt before the seated Vectan premier, then rose at the man’s gesture.
Rechter spoke. “Why is she not here.”
With a relaxed look on his face, Jonas blinked once. “Soon, Great Leader. She will be.”
“Soon is not now, Advisor.”
“Haste would make waste, your grace.”
“I think you’re wasting time.”
“Waiting is not wasting time, premier, when waiting on the trail.”
Rechter locked his sky-cold eyes on Jonas. “You’ve set a trap.”
Jonas smiled. “A surprise, my Premier.”
Rechter’s mouth twitched.
Jonas continued. “For the Union, it is a surprise. For Vectus, it is a gift.”
The premier wore a smile under his cold eyes.
Chapter 38
A scruffy man in a long jacket strode through his fellow passengers as he clomped down the shuttle ramp in his dusty boots. A fresh-faced young scholar followed behind the ragged archaeologist with the overgrown beard as he headed directly towards an old, white-haired man standing at the bottom of the ramp.
When Jonathan opened his mouth to greet Christopher, the archeologist held up his hand in the old man’s face. “Jon. Don’t say anything.”
The old director’s mouth was a line. Passengers streamed around them.
The wearied Christopher continued, holding one finger in the air. “First, Jon. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been home?”
The archeologist gave his beard a single scratch then held up a second finger. “Second. Do you know how many times I’ve been into and out of the Ruin?” He sliced his hand through the air. “The answer is…” He blinked. “I can’t even remember.” He fixed his eyes on the old director with a feral grin. “That’s the answer, Jon.”
Tom, looking fresh as ever, glanced up at the wild-eyed Christopher then at his uncomfortable-looking great uncle. “I think it was seven times, actually.”
Jonathan, ignoring his nephew, smiled warmly at Christopher’s desperate face. “Chris, Chris, Chris.” The old director gazed at his old friend through time-baked, dark-blue eyes. “You do deserve some rest.”
A smile began to grow on Christopher’s face.
The smiling old man held up three fingers. “In three days.” Jonathan clenched his fists with a smile. “Just as soon as we wrap-up the goldenlight project.”
The smile that had been growing on Christopher’s face was gone. “Three days. Jon, why can’t I just sleep for those three days.”
The old director lowered his head. “SP is having problems.” He looked up at Christopher.
Christopher clenched his jaw and blew air out his nose. “So you’re telling me that we’ve made no progress unlocking the goldenlight sunstone. We haven’t learned how to save the Towers. You’re telling me that even though we got that goldenlight sunstone - THE goldenlight sunstone - literally out of the middle of the Ruin and literally into your hands, that all the Unions might and all the School’s light couldn’t unlock the very thing that has kept them alive.”
He shook his head. “But the most important question on my mind is, why does this colossal failure mean that I don’t get to take a nap?”
Jonathan drew in a deep breath. “They want your help, Chris. We’re past week five of the plan, and you’re in t
he next circle of specialists slated to work on the problem. You’ve been officially assigned to the Special Projects’ goldenlight research team.”
Christopher slapped his forehead. “What in the Ruin does SP think I’m going to do?”
Jonathan held out his hands and shrugged.
Christopher kept his hand on his forehead. He looked around at the streams of passengers flowing by, all exiting the large transport shuttle, talking, laughing, meeting and bowing to those waiting for them.
Christopher threw a sidelong glance at the old director, tilting his head at the crowd. “Hey, Jon. How much trouble would I get in if I? You know, just faded-off into the crowds.”
The gray-haired director rolled his eyes. “Chris. Now, really.”
Christopher forced out a tired smile then looked away from Jonathan, down at Tom. “Well, Spark, looks like your uncle’s got more work cut out for us. Let’s get to the Tower and register with Special Projects and study that fracted goldenlight sunstone for three days. What an adventure.”
Tom gave a neutral shrug, his mouth a sideways line. “Whatever. I don’t even know what to do with my life anymore. It’s completely controlled by everyone else.”
The old director addressed his grand nephew. “Tom. Actually, you won’t be on this project with Christopher.”
Tom threw up his hands. “This is what I mean.”
Jonathan nodded. “Soon, Tom. First, however, we need you to find Anniya and convince her to come back to the School. SP wants her to look at the goldenlight sunstone. That was the plan before we lost track of her.”
The crowd of passengers around them had grown sparse, just some lingering people chatting together in small clusters as the three of them were.
Tom tilted his head. “You lost track of Anniya? You lost her?”
Jonathan sighed. “Not completely. She’s still here on the planet.”
Tom drew in a breath. “How do you know Anniya’s still on Administra?” He squinted his eyes and shook his head. “What in the ruin happened while we were gone, uncle Jon?”
The old director nodded. “After you left, Anniya simply stopped showing up to classes and speaking events. That’s when her host found Anniya’s bedroom empty. ”
The old director phased-up a transparency with Anniya’s picture on it. “Then SP found this.” The old man let it go, floating in the air. “She submitted it five weeks ago, shortly after vanishing from her sponsor’s house. This is how we know she hasn’t left the planet yet. She’s waiting for this to go through.”
Tom took the transparency out of the air. “A planetary transfer application.” He looked at it, nodded. “Anniya’s volunteered to be a colonist on an ag’ world.” The scholar phased-down the transparency. “She doesn’t want a house, she wants a home. A place where she can be left alone.”
He looked up at his great uncle. “I have an idea where to find her.”
Chapter 39
A fresh spring breeze sighed in the trees as Tom stepped off a platform at a station and walked over to a line of booths. Stepping up to the nearest, he spoke to the big man inside. “I’m Scholar Weaver from the School. I’m here to study the traps that have been reported in Administra’s National Park, Garden Forest.”
The well-groomed man with a light beard on his strong jaw opened his surprisingly beautiful blue eyes wide and raised his thick eyebrows. “Finally, someone’s here to figure out what’s going on.”
With a comfortable smile, Tom nodded at the well-built man. “I understand the rangers have no idea who is responsible.”
The man in the booth shook his head, his long, wavy hair shining as he did so. “We have no idea. My understanding is that the park rangers aren’t finding the traps, they’re just getting caught in them. I can set you up with a meeting with the head ranger, but she'll probably just tell you about how they’re being really careful around the dark valley under Hook Hill. That seems to be where the most problems have happened. Hook hill. That’s what we all hear. And Hook Hill is a bad part of Garden Forest anyhow. Full of wild animals. I tell you, people are losing their minds since the Republic fell...”
Tom had already started walking away from the man. “Thank you, Sir.”
Tom walked back to the station and stepped onto the large, open, silvery square floor of a platform. In a silent flash, he was gone, whipping through the thick forest, heading towards a distant, large range of hills, the tallest having a dramatic peak that swept into an almost-hook.
Tom stepped off the platform at an abandoned station and walked directly into a dense forest. The ground was easily traversable, mostly medium length grass covered with fallen leaves. The floor of the thick forest rose and fell regularly, making it hard to see very far inside. Tom paused in a clearing, turning slowly around. “Hey! Is anybody here?.” He was answered by wind and some distant chirps.
“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Hey. Uh. Spirit. Spirit, appear!” His voice was lost in the forest. He scratched his head.
Some birds flew overhead in the blue sky, twittering, their wings beating. The wind sighed through the leaves.
Tom cleared his throat again. “Hey, Spirit, are you there?” Tom closed his eyes and shook his head. “This is silly.”
“Yes, Tom. I am here.” Spirit sat shiny at Tom’s feet.
Tom jumped back. “Whoa!” He spun around scanning the empty clearing. “Where did you come from?”
Spirit tilted his head. “From Anniya’s new house, Tom.”
Tom shouted up the winding trunks of a tall woven tree. “Anniya!”
High above, Anniya poked her head out over the edge of the unfinished deck of her new, currently-roofless treehouse.
From down on the ground, Tom waved up at her with a wide grin.
Anniya frowned down at Tom in wide-eyed surprise before tugging her head back from the edge of her naturally-grown walkway to face the shiny little fox sitting next to her. “Spirit, how did Tom find me?”
The shiny fox blinked his glowing eyes. “I told him where you were, Anniya.”
She scowled. “You told him? Why?”
The little glinty fox tilted his head.
Anniya dropped her scowl with an exasperated sigh. “You told him because he asked.” Her eyes shot to the side.
Anniya peeked out over the edge again, staring straight down at Tom. “How did you get past my traps? It’s that ruinous archaeologist, wasn’t it?” She threw her glare up and out at the forest. “Where is that big shard?”
Tom shook his head. “The Doc is still back at the School. But he did give me these.” The spry young man produced an assortment of several interesting devices from his jacket pockets. “Suns, Anniya. You set lots of traps!” He returned the devices back to their appropriate pockets in his jacket, then, squinting, glanced back up at Anniya staring down at him. “It’s just me, Anniya. Nobody else.”
The overcast noon sky was bright, making Anniya high above a silhouette to Tom looking straight up at her. He heard a huff. “Alright, whatever. Come on up, Spark. Step on that wooden board.”
Tom glanced down to the ground at a thick wooden plank. “Is that wood? Is that thing just made of wood?”
“Just get on it.”
Doing as he was told, Tom stepped forward onto the plank, then watched as the long thick vines that hung from the tree high above glowed green then began to slither their way down to slide under the plank on which he stood. Then, after several vines had wound a few times around, they began to lift the broad plank off the ground, with Tom standing on it.
Tom looked down nervously at the receding forest floor as the vines pulled him upwards on the plank. He then glanced up to the branches high above. “You know, Anniya, you could just get a really cheap and efficient lightlift. I could install it for you!”
Anniya, watching Tom on her vine-powered lift with interest, shrugged. “Why would I want a lightlift?”
Suddenly, the platform tilted awkwardly, one of the vines going limp and unravel
ing. Tom yelped.
Anniya shouted down at Tom through gritted teeth. “Sorry! New vines! I just grew them today, so they. Oh fracted shards, oops!”
The green glow from one of the thicker vines supporting the plank on which Tom stood suddenly vanished, causing it to unravel. The plank twisted suddenly then tilted, spilling Tom over the edge. Just as the scholar began to shout, three vines shot out and wrapped themselves around his ankle, halting his fall immediately.
The vines pulled him up by his leg, hanging upside down, his thick hair dangling in moppy bunches, and deposited him onto her naturally-grown veranda.
Tom stood, straightened himself out, then approached her. “Anniya. Please come back to the School. We need your help unlocking the goldenlight sunstone.” He gave a single nod.
Anniya’s eyebrows were low. “Hi. Nice to see you again, too, kid.”
Tom blinked. “Oh! Right. Hi, Anniya. It’s good to see you too.” He smiled. “Really good. I like your new house.” He looked around at the completely unfinished mess of her roofless house.
She smirked. “Thanks.”
Tom’s eyes landed on hers. “Anniya. Please help the School.”
Her eyes narrowed as they locked on his. “I have helped, Tom. I already gave you the sunstone. Don’t you remember?”
Tom frowned.
“I lost my fracted home helping you. I came with you, and trusted you, then you left me.”
“We had no choice about that.”
Anniya continued. “I tried to learn your School’s weird lightmaker techniques. I don’t get it, but I don’t care. And the scholars don’t care for me. So I’m going to just wait here until my colonist application is approved. Then I’m gone.”
“So you’re just gonna leave. And what about us?
“Us?” Anniya gave a slightly shrill, high-pitched laugh.
Tom frowned. “Your friends, Anniya. You can’t just leave your friends.”