The Key of Astrea

by Nicholas Marson

  Jenny’s cheek started to itch, and she turned and ran down the hall.

  24

  Locator

  Jenny’s body was hot from embarrassment after Sadi had tripped her. She could still hear the laughter as she made her way from the mess hall. Still, she could have handled the situation better than bringing up Trey. It was never Jenny’s intent to hurt Sadi, let alone be on her bad side. But, it was now hurt or be hurt, and Jenny didn’t plan to be Sadi’s target again. This also meant that she had to win the bet.

  Before she knew it, Jenny had reached the top floor. The door to Lin Song’s office slid open and Kensei stepped out.

  “Hey, Jenny,” Kensei said.

  “Hi, how’d your meeting go?”

  “Not bad.” He pulled his backpack onto his shoulders. “But I got stuck with cleaning the men’s bathrooms.”

  “I figured we’d get something like that.” An idea crept into Jenny’s mind. If I win the bet, then Sadi may have to clean bathrooms for me. A grin spread across her lips.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  “Nothing, I just thought of something funny.”

  “I was wondering…” Kensei shuffled his feet. “If you’re free, maybe we can hang out?”

  “Sure, but I have to meet with Lin right now. How about after?”

  “Yeah, sounds good.” He shrugged his backpack off his shoulders.

  Inside Lin’s office, a large brass floor lamp illuminated a simple desk in the middle of the small space. A silk-covered box, a bamboo whisk, and a cast-iron tea kettle rested on the wooden surface. In the corner was a cabinet of curiosities. The top shelf held a collection of black-and-white cow figurines. The other shelves held a panoply of kitsch. There were primitive talismans, religious symbols, and bizarre figures.

  “Come in, Jenny, have a seat.”

  Jenny moved from the doorway and sat on a simple wooden chair. Her eyes landed on a half-eaten plate of treacle tarts. Though she had just eaten, her mouth watered at the sight of the delicacies.

  “Take as many as you want.” Lin pushed the plate toward Jenny. “I love them, but my eyes are bigger than my stomach.”

  “Thanks.” Jenny picked a crispy tart from the plate. “I’m just so hungry all the time.”

  “Your mind and body are growing and strengthening—that requires a lot of fuel.” Lin twisted an owl-shaped ring on her finger. “How’s your first day?”

  “Good. I’m learning so much. It’s all a bit overwhelming.” Jenny bit into a tart and immediately wished she had some water to wash it down.

  “I know, it’s a lot of responsibility to put on you all at once. And I’m sorry, but I’m about to give you one more.”

  Jenny chuckled. “That’s okay.” Cabin had provided her with a priceless amount of benefits. It seemed a small price to pay for room and board.

  “To protect the Selkans all duties must be performed by those with proper clearance, which means that we all have to pitch in to keep things clean and functional. I have a shift in the mess hall myself. Mazu is responsible for health care and research. As a tradition, our newest members are tasked with keeping the community head clean.”

  Jenny shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what I expected.”

  “Good. I knew you would understand.” Lin’s chair creaked as she leaned back. “So, I heard about the fight between you and your sister.”

  “Kensei told you?”

  Lin nodded. “We encourage healthy competition, but not to the point where anyone gets seriously hurt.”

  “Did you know we were sisters?”

  “Of course,” Lin said. “We performed a thorough genealogy check on all our potentials.”

  Jenny chewed her tart in silent contemplation.

  “Do you have any questions about the program so far?” Lin asked.

  Should I tell her about my bet with Sadi, and how terrible I did on the mazes? And what about the Riftkey, and finding Cobol’s body? She decided on her most immediate concern. “I did terrible at the tests. How do I get better?”

  “This first round was about learning. You passed all the tests. That’s nothing to be upset about. All you need is practice.”

  That’s exactly what my mom would have said, Jenny thought. I miss her so much. At that moment Jenny wondered what her mom would think of her now. Would she agree with Jenny’s choice to run away and join Cabin to save the Selkans, or would she be upset that she abandoned her aunt? Maybe Lin could provide some insight.

  “Do you think my mom would be proud of me?”

  Lin took a long, slow breath and leaned forward in her chair. “You were selected by another universe, out of billions of people, to help save an alien race. Yes, I think your mom would be proud of you, and I’m proud of you too.” Lin jerked her head back and coughed loud and hard. She snatched a handkerchief off the desk and held it to her mouth. Red spots bled through the white fabric.

  “What’s wrong?” Jenny jumped up. “Are you sick?”

  “Yes.” Lin slumped back in her chair.

  Jenny’s sympathy turned to confusion and betrayal. She was starting to trust Lin. “Are you dying?” Jenny heard the bitterness in her own voice.

  “No, Jenny, I’m not dying, I’m just sick.”

  Jenny wasn’t happy with the answer, but she didn’t want to continue to talk about this subject either.

  “When’s your next test?” Lin asked.

  “Not until nine.” Jenny looked up at Lin. “What should I do until then?”

  “Anything you want. Play on your Topo, work out in the gym, or go for a swim in the ocean.”

  “I didn’t cross over to another universe just to work out and swim. I came here to save the Selkans. There must be something more useful I can do.”

  “Well, there is something that would help me a great deal.”

  “Yes, anything.”

  “Can you go down to the workshop and retrieve something from Kett’l and deliver it to Mazu?”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “It’s a Locator. Mazu needs it to explore that cave Adriana found this morning.”

  “Where’s the workshop?”

  “I’ll show you on your Topo.”

  Jenny retrieved her Topo from the front pocket of her uniform. She opened the ship’s map. The Endeavor had four floors. Lin’s office was on the uppermost level of the first floor, and the levels increased in number as they went down. So, the second floor contained the mess hall, and the sickbay was on the third. Lin selected the lowest level, the fourth floor, and the Topo’s screen reconfigured into a maze of maintenance corridors.

  “This is the engineering level.” Lin held a finger on a room, and a blue pin elevated from the surface of the screen. “And this is the workshop. Get the Locator from Kett’l and take it here.” Lin selected the third floor and put a pin on one of the rooms. “This is the moon pool, an opening to the ocean. Mazu is getting ready to dive, and may already be waiting for the Locator, so please hurry.”

  “Don’t worry, I will,” Jenny said as she rushed out of Lin’s office. In her haste, she stumbled over something in the hallway. “Oh, Kensei, sorry. I didn’t see you.”

  “It’s okay. It’s my fault. It’s these long legs.” Kensei had been leaning over his sketchbook and drawing with his legs stretched halfway across the floor. He pulled them in and sat cross-legged.

  “Were you waiting for me?”

  “Yeah,” Kensei said as he pulled out his bag and stashed his sketchbook. “Do you still want to hang out?”

  “Sure, except now I’ve got to run an errand for Lin.”

  “Okay, I’ll come with you. Just let me put Leon away.” He lifted the sugar glider from his shoulder and lowered him into a rigid box with air holes inside his backpack.

  “Yeah, sure,” Jenny replied. After all, Jenny thought. Lin didn’t say I had to go alone.

  Jenny and Kensei followed the map on her Topo as they descended the stairs. They rounded a corner and almost bumped into
Adriana.

  “Oh, hey, Jenny, I was looking for you.”

  “Looks like you found me.” Jenny smiled.

  “Are you free?” Adriana looked from Jenny to Kensei and back. “I thought we could take a swim or something.”

  “I’d love to, but I have to run an errand for Lin first.”

  “Want to come?” Kensei asked.

  “Um, sure,” Adriana said. “If it’s okay.”

  “Yeah.” Jenny rolled her eyes. “It’s fine.”

  “What are we doing?” Adriana asked as she followed Jenny.

  “Yeah, what are we doing?” Kensei repeated.

  “We’re picking something up from Kett’l and taking it to Mazu.”

  “Where’s Mazu?”

  “She’s in the moon pool getting ready to explore that cave you looked at with your portals.”

  “Right now?” Adriana sped up to walk beside Jenny. “They weren’t supposed to leave until tomorrow.”

  Jenny shrugged.

  “Okay,” Adriana said. “Where’s Kett’l?”

  “He’s in the workshop on the engineering level.” Jenny showed the Topo to Adriana.

  Together, they followed the map down the curved hallway. As they passed the sickbay the entrance to the engineering level came into view. A printed map hung from the wall opposite the broad stairway. The current level filled most of the plan. A miniature of the other floors appeared in the sidebar. Jenny’s guts turned to ice as she heard two voices echoing up the stairs to the engineering level.

  “That sounds like Aindriu and Sadi,” Jenny said.

  “What are they doing down here?” Adriana asked.

  “I don’t know.” Jenny ducked behind the wall. “Let’s try to listen in.”

  Adriana caught her hand. “Why?”

  “She thinks Sadi led the attack on Acacia,” Kensei said.

  “Really?” Adriana asked.

  Aindriu and Sadi’s voices grew louder, and Jenny could hear their feet on the steps.

  “I can hide us behind a portal,” Adriana said.

  Jenny looked at Adriana as if seeing her for the first time. “Yes, please.”

  Under Adriana’s guidance, Jenny and Kensei flattened their backs against the wall. Adriana had her key in hand. “We’ll have to be quiet.”

  Jenny and Kensei nodded. Aindriu and Sadi drew closer.

  Adriana’s eyes rolled back in her head. The air shimmered and two circular portals crystallized in the hallway. One moved between them and Aindriu and Sadi, and the other was on the other side of them.

  “If the portals work,” Adriana whispered, “then they’ll only be able to see a blank wall when they look this way.”

  Jenny’s hands grew cold, and a trickle of sweat traced a path down her back as Sadi and Aindriu came into view. She pressed herself against the wall with all her might.

  “So, Moonlighter, where do you think Lance went?” Aindriu asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’m sick and tired of not knowing what’s going on here.”

  “Lance trusts us,” Aindriu said.

  “That doesn’t mean he tells us everything.”

  “Like what?”

  Sadi stopped just in front of Adriana’s portal. She stared directly into Jenny’s face but only saw the hallway. “Like what really happened to Trey.”

  Jenny put her hand over her mouth and held her breath.

  “What is it?” Aindriu looked at Sadi.

  “I feel something.” Sadi licked her lips. “Something familiar.”

  “Look, I’m sorry about Trey.” Aindriu put his hand on her shoulder. “He was my friend too.”

  Sadi looked at the hand as if it were an evil creature. Aindriu removed his hand, and they continued walking. Jenny didn’t breathe until Sadi and Aindriu were out of sight. Adriana allowed her portals to shatter into millions of crystal facets, but her eyes remained rolled back in her head.

  Jenny and Kensei started down the stairs.

  “Hey, guys?” Adriana asked.

  “Yeah,” Jenny and Kensei answered.

  “I’ve gotten pretty good at getting around blind, but I wouldn’t mind some help.”

  “I’ve got you,” Jenny said. She climbed back up the stairs and took Adriana’s hand.

  The steel floor plates of the engineering level clanged underfoot. Pipes ran uncovered along bare metal walls. The air smelled of grease, and the consistent throb of unseen machinery pulsed in Jenny’s chest. They turned a corner and entered a dimly lit corridor. Jenny took out her Topo with her free hand and turned it on. Using the map, they navigated the narrow, serpentine hallways to the workshop.

  “Why were Sadi and Aindriu looking for Lance?” Kensei asked.

  “I don’t know,” Adriana said.

  “Maybe Lin would know,” Jenny offered.

  “Yeah, let’s ask her when we’re done with her errand.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Adriana stopped and blinked. “My sight is back.” She let go of Jenny’s hand.

  The farther they traveled, the more pungent with oil and brine the air became. After passing a giant machine that rumbled like a freight train, Jenny checked the map. “The workshop’s right over there,” she shouted, pointing at a door at the end of a long hallway.

  A gravelly voice spoke from behind them. “What’re you doing down here?”

  Jenny jumped in surprise and turned to see an old man in blue coveralls. His proud belly shadowed stout legs. The man held a blue trucker cap full of bacon in one hand while the other hand stroked an unkempt yellow beard that may have once been white.

  “Oh, oh, nothing…” Jenny stammered. “We were just…”

  “Looking for someone?” The man pulled a piece of bacon from his hat and took a large, crunchy bite. He noticed Kensei staring and thrust his hat forward. “Just got back from the mess hall. Want a piece?”

  “No, uh, thanks.” Kensei stepped back. “I just ate.”

  The old man wiped at his lips with the back of a hairy hand and held it out. “The name’s Winchell. I maintain systems and such—keep things from breaking down, and if they do, I fix ’em.” When Winchell smiled, his big rosy cheeks pushed his eyes shut.

  “Kensei.” He shook Winchell’s hand. “This is Jenny and Adriana.”

  “Yer the second set of visitors we had down here. You want to see the Riftkey too?”

  “No,” Jenny said. “We’ve come to pick up something for Mazu.”

  “But,” Kensei said, “I wouldn’t mind seeing the Riftkey.”

  “Great,” Winchell said. “I’ll come with you.” He led them to the door at the end of the corridor. A porthole window provided a teaser of the workshop interior. He turned the metal wheel on the door and pushed it open with an elbow.

  Objects with impossible geometries rested on shelves in the workshop. A Klein bottle, Möbius strip, and other objects twisted back on themselves unnaturally. A VRGo puzzle and a waypoint key also rested on a large work table.

  Kett’l sat on a stool in front of a large black box the size and shape of a refrigerator. At first, Jenny thought it was another maze test, but she saw that it was hollow inside. Kett’l’s back was to them, and he hummed an unfamiliar tune. With a hiss, a tendril of smoke curled around his massive head.

  “I’ll be right with you,” Kett’l shouted without turning. “Just adding some finishing touches.”

  “Wait here and stay quiet.” Winchell went to a cabinet and retrieved shaded goggles for each of them. “I gotta get going, I got a pump to work on.” He took a bite of bacon from his trucker’s hat of plenty, then he picked up a red metal toolbox. “See you all later.”

  “See you,” Jenny and the others said. They donned their goggles and crept toward Kett’l.

  Kett’l hummed as he held his hands up to the box. Past his broad shoulders, Jenny could see that the interior was more vast than its outer dimensions, and eight Waypoint keys hung inside the enlarged space. Swirling energy patterns coalesced from the w
alls of the box and formed a thin silver wire that fused into all eight keys.

  The beauty of it was astounding, like seeing four natural rainbows at once. Jenny focused on the point where the wire manifested from thin air and followed the myriad waveforms to the walls of the box.

  All the maze waveforms are here in this device, Jenny thought, but there are so many more. She felt like a kindergartner staring at a chalkboard covered with formulas of advanced physics. Somehow, he’s manipulating energy into matter. That means Kett’l is an Æon, and so far beyond my ability that I can barely follow.

  The silver wire vanished.

  “There.” Kett’l stood up and flipped the visor over his eyes. Reaching up into the ceiling of the device, he pulled a hidden lever. There was a bright flash of light, and all eight of the Waypoint keys merged into one. He put on a pair of leather gloves and reached into the box. When he withdrew his gloved hand, he held a Waypoint key. He turned and flipped up his visor to reveal his dichromatic eyes, light and dark brown. “Thanks for waiting, I just had to get through that last part.”

  Kensei took out his own Waypoint key. “It has the same gem as mine.”

  “Yes, this is to replace yours,” Kett’l’s deep voice boomed.

  “That was amazing,” Jenny said.

  Kett’l smiled, revealing the entirety of his tusks. “I’ve always been good with machines.”

  “I never thought that creating a Waypoint key was so complex,” Adriana said.

  Kett’l held up the newly formed key. “The key is impressive.” He pointed at the VRGo puzzle on the shelf. “Those puzzles were even harder, but I’m most proud of that.” Kett’l pointed at a shelf on the wall.

  Outside the workshop, the pumps seemed to chug at the same rate as Jenny’s heart. Inside a glass case was an object very familiar to Jenny. The flat of the blade was unbelievably shiny, and the blunt edge was impossibly black. Jenny hugged her burstepi, wanting to speak to Cobol, just to know that he was still there.

  “Is that…?” Kensei asked, his mouth agape.

  Kett’l nodded. “It is the Riftkey.”

  “I didn’t know it would be so shiny,” Adriana said.

  “That would be the single layer of nuclei lattice. It gives it a hundred percent reflection rate and is practically unbreakable.”