by Tom Hoffman
“Back then the skies were filled with enormous flying ships carrying food and supplies from farms and factories across the continent. Water was piped in from distant reservoirs.”
“Like those aqueducts on Tectar?”
“The same principle, but it was a far more advanced and complex system utilizing enormous duplonium powered generators and water pumps.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in a big city like that, I’d probably get lost. I like Muridaan Falls and I like buying our food from the market or picking it from Proto’s garden. Not the red snackles though.”
“It looks a little like the city where I grew up on Quintari. It was exciting, but I’ve come to love Muridaan Falls. I like the trees and the mountains and the fresh air. And my best friend happens to live there.”
Orville grinned. “What a strange coincidence, so does mine. Speaking of cities, Amanda said Puella the Wise One lives in the last standing cloudscraper. That’s a really tall building, right?”
“Yes, it shouldn’t be hard to spot. Keep your eyes open.”
“I’m turning on the cloaking device in case we run into any Anarkkian attack spiders in Cathne.”
“A wise move, our Dragonfly would not survive a direct hit from one of their force beams.”
Sophia blinked up a sphere of defense around the Dragonfly. “That might help a little.”
“Over there!” Orville pointed to a towering silver spire in the distance. He twisted the dial on his flying goggles, one of Mirus’ marvelous inventions, magnifying his vision.
“Whoa, I can’t believe how tall it is! It’s way taller than the buildings on Varmoran.”
Sophia adjusted their flight path, heading them toward the cloudscraper.
“I’m going to shut off the cloak before we land on the building. I’m guessing bloodthirsty bandits are not fond of surprises, especially cloaked ships landing on their roof.”
“Good idea. Wait till we’re a bit closer, in case we run into spiders.”
Proto was studying the cityscape below them. “The Anarkkians did a thorough job of destroying Cathne, there’s nothing but rubble down there. I can just make out where the streets were. Orville, look ahead, to the left!”
Orville looked across the mounds of devastation.
“Spiders! There’s a whole bunch of them just standing there. What are they doing?”
“Waiting for something to move so they can destroy it.”
“I’m taking us up. Their force beams are powerful, but I think they have limited range.”
“You are quite correct, they were designed for close quarter battles, not for taking down high flying ships. Two thousand feet should do it.”
Sophia watched the city shrink as they rose up into the sky.
“That’s it, two thousand feet. I’m turning off the cloak. We’re almost there, I’ll circle around the building a few times to let them know we mean no harm. Hopefully they’ll recognize the Dragonfly, maybe even think it’s Captain Patcher.”
Sophia made a long lazy turn around the top of the cloudscraper.
“Creekers, the roof is huge, it must be half a mile across, maybe more. At least we have lots of room to land. Look, a mouse just came out of that shack! He has one of those glass vape gun things, like the one we found on Periculum.”
“Look behind us, we have an escort.”
Orville whipped around. “Whoa! They’re riding giant birds! Not as big as Gnorli birds, but close. They don’t look very friendly, they both have vape guns.”
The mouse on the building waved one arm, pointing to a large yellow circle painted on the rooftop.
“I guess we land on the yellow circle. They haven’t fired their vape guns, that’s a good sign.”
Orville blinked up a second sphere of defense around the ship.
“It’s windy up here, hard to keep it steady.” Sophia brought the Dragonfly to a hover, slowly descending until they landed on the rooftop with a small thump.
A rough looking mouse carrying a long cylindrical vape gun strolled casually toward the ship. He stopped when he saw Sophia, his vape gun suddenly aimed directly at them.
“Where’s Patcher? Who are you?”
“Captain Patcher sent us. We’re here to see Puella the Wise One.”
“What for?” The bandit’s vape gun was pointed directly at Sophia.
“We need to get a book translated. It’s in a language we don’t understand. He said Puella the Wise One could translate it for us.”
“Is that an A6 Warrior Rabbiton?”
“I’m nothing at all like that. I’m a prototype Rabbiton with the L7 Sincere Friendship Simulation Package.”
The mouse slowly lowered his weapon, waving off the two mice circling the building on the gigantic birds.
“You two follow me. The Rabbiton stays up here. No exceptions.”
Orville studied the long scar on the bandit’s scowling face, then turned to Proto. “I guess you stay here and keep an eye on the ship. I have no idea how long this will take.”
Sophia and Orville climbed down, following the bandit to a squat rectangular structure at the west end of the roof. The bandit grunted as he forced open a stout metal door.
“Down to level 142, use the rope, in the yellow door. Don’t go anywhere else. Clear? Nowhere else.”
“Okay, clear. Will Puella the Wise One be waiting for us?”
“Go.”
Orville and Sophia stepped through the doorway into the mysterious cloudscraper, one step closer to their meeting with the mysterious Puella the Wise One.
Chapter 10
Puella the Wise One
Sophia descended the dusty gray stairs into the depths of the cloudscraper. She pointed to a large faded yellow number on the wall. “We’re on level 163.”
“We have to walk down twenty sets of stairs?”
“It will be good exercise.”
“It’s not as dark as I thought it would be, the windows let in a lot of light. I can’t believe how tall this building is. Why doesn’t it fall over?”
Sophia was more than happy to display the depth of her engineering acumen.
“I learned about cloudscrapers in my structural engineering classes back on Quintari. A cloudscraper isn’t like a big stack of blocks that will topple over in a strong wind, it has a strong internal framework, like a mouse’s skeleton, and the building can bend and sway in a strong wind without breaking, the same way a tall tree does. Its framework extends far below the surface, like a giant fence post buried in the ground.”
“That’s amazing. I can’t imagine how they could build it though. It would be scary to live up in the sky. What do you think Puella the Wise One will look like? I bet she’s like Madam Molly, all mysterious and spooky, probably really eccentric like Mirus Mouse.”
“Madam Molly isn’t spooky at all. She’s really nice once you get to know her. She just comes from a world where the mice read each other’s minds.”
“She has those weird green eyes with gold flecks that swirl around. That’s very spooky. It’s not normal.”
“If we all had eyes like that it wouldn’t be spooky, it would be normal, just like it is in her world. This is level 145, we’re almost there.”
“What do you think the bandit meant about using the rope? Do you think we pull a rope to open the door?”
“Maybe.”
“My legs are burning. Walking back to the roof is going to be rough.”
“If you ask nicely maybe Puella the Wise One will carry you back up the stairs.”
“Very funny. I hope she’s not all creepy and weird. Hey, only one more floor. Last one there is a purple monkey butt!” Orville gave a shrieking laugh and dashed down the stairs, his echoing footsteps coming to an abrupt halt.
“Sophia, come look at this!”
Sophia found Orville standing on the bottom step, overlooking a deep chasm cutting across the building’s interior.
“What do you think happened here? I can see down at leas
t ten levels. It looks like something ripped through the side of the building.”
“It must have been damaged during the Anarkkian wars, maybe a force beam from an attack ship.”
“Is that the yellow door we’re supposed to use? How do we get across the chasm?”
Sophia pointed to a long rope dangling from a twisted metal beam high above them. “I think you’re supposed to swing across on that rope. You go first, in case the rope breaks.”
“Ha ha. There’s no way I’m swinging across on that rope. Look how far I’d fall if I lost my grip, I’d never even–”
Sophia vanished in a flash of blue light, appearing a split second later on the other side of the divide.
Orville had a silly grin on his face. “Oh, right, I forgot about blinking.” An instant later he was standing next to Sophia.
Sophia eyed the corroded yellow door. “We should probably knock.” She rapped gently.
“I hear footsteps. I hope she doesn’t have tentacles and claws and stuff.”
The door opened, revealing the oldest mouse the two adventurers had ever seen, a pale white mouse wearing a lime green robe adorned with several dozen colorful beaded necklaces. Perched atop her head was an old adventurers hat festooned with five feathers, each one a different color.
Orville nudged Sophia. Puella the Wise One definitely rivaled Mirus Mouse in eccentricity.
The ancient mouse gazed at them silently, her deep set eyes moving slowly back and forth between them, her expression unreadable.
Sophia bowed her head respectfully.
“Puella the Wise One, we have traveled far to see you, and we thank you for graciously taking the time to speak with us. Captain Patcher of the Metaphysical Adventurers Dragonfly Squadron has told us you might be able to translate a book for us, a book written in an ancient and long forgotten form of Mintarian. It is our fervent hope that you will grant us this favor.”
Sophia removed the red book from her coat pocket, holding it up for Puella to see.
The old mouse studied the book, then turned, motioning for them to follow her. Orville and Sophia stepped into an enormous room, the outer wall consisting of floor to ceiling windows.
“Creekers, you can see the whole city from up here! This is amazing. It’s not as scary as I thought it would be.”
Puella’s room was furnished in a decidedly eclectic fashion, containing a wide assortment of mismatched chairs, sofas, rugs, tables, lamps, and dozens of cryptic wooden sculptures. Orville thought one of them looked a lot like a pile of spiders. The walls were painted with hundreds of bright geometric shapes, positioned in a seemingly random fashion.
“You have a lovely home, Puella. We thank you for taking the time to see us.”
The wrinkled old mouse pointed to a green door at the far end of the room.
“We should go in there?”
The ancient mouse nodded, her gnarled paw running across a bright red beaded necklace, her eyes on Orville.
The two best friends stepped over to the green door, pushing it open. Orville peered into a long sky blue room, a single brightly flowered sofa sitting in front of a wall of windows. Orville strolled across the floor, flopping down on the soft couch.
“Comfy. This view is amazing. Look how big the city is. How long do you think it will take her to translate the book?”
“She didn’t take the book, I still have it. I think we’re supposed to wait here for her.”
“I hope she doesn’t take too long, I’m kind of hungry.” An oatmeal cookie blinked into his paw.
Sophia was about to make an extremely humorous comment about Orville’s eating habits when she heard a soft clinking sound coming from across the room.
“Orville, look at that mouseling.”
Orville grinned when he saw the furry little mouseling sitting on a soft blanket in the far corner of the room, playing with a pile of carved wooden animals.
“She’s cute.”
Sophia waved to the mouseling. “Hello, little one, are you having fun playing? I like your toy animals, they’re lovely.”
“Puella the Wise One must be her grandmum, or maybe her great, great, great, great grandmum.” Orville snickered.
“Be nice, we’re lucky Puella will see us. You shouldn’t make fun of mice just because they’re old.”
“I wasn’t making fun of her, I’ve just never seen a mouse that old. She must know a lot of languages.”
The little mouseling stood up, toddling precariously across the room toward them, a delicately carved wooden bird clutched tightly in one paw.
“Careful, little one, don’t fall.”
The mouseling came to a wobbly halt in front of Sophia, holding the toy bird up for her to see.
“What a lovely bird, you’re lucky to have such a nice toy. How did you ever get to be so cute?”
Sophia steadied the mouseling with one paw. “It’s very nice to meet you, my name is Sophia, and this is my very best friend Orville, we’re here to see your grandmum Puella.”
Whenever Orville would tell the story of their trip to Cathne, he would always say this particular moment was the most startling moment of his life, the moment Sophia’s voice came out of the little mouseling’s mouth.
“I am Puella the Wise One. You have brought me a book to translate?”
Two furry mouse jaws dropped simultaneously. “Did she just… what?”
A thousand thoughts raced through Sophia’s head. How was this possible? How could the mouseling be using her voice, speaking like an adult?
“You have a book for me to translate?”
This was the first time Orville had ever heard Sophia stammer.
“Yes, um… I’m sorry, Puella, you surprised me with… um… well, here’s the book, if you wouldn’t mind… I didn’t…”
Puella’s painted bird clattered to the floor as she took the red book from Sophia. With wobbly little steps she tottered back to her blanket and flopped down, waving the book above her.
“Is she playing with it? How can a mouseling translate a book?”
“I don’t have the slightest idea what’s happening here.”
Puella the Wise One closed her eyes, resting the red book on her little round furry tummy. A moment later she was fast asleep.
* * * *
Sophia’s eyes were drooping when Puella the Wise One gave a little yawn and sat up.
“Orville, wake up!” Sophia jabbed him sharply in the ribs with her elbow.
Orville’s eyes popped open. “Ow! What time is it? Did I oversleep?”
“Puella’s awake.”
“Did she read the book?”
“No, she took a nap with the book resting on her stomach.”
Orville snickered. “That’s how I used to study for my science exams.”
Puella rolled onto her stomach, after two attempts managing to stand up while still holding the red book with both paws. She teetered across the room, coming to a stop in front of Sophia, holding out the book for her.
Sophia took the book, steadying Puella with one paw. “Did you have a nice nap, little… I mean, Puella the Wise One?”
Puella touched Sophia’s knee. “Who shall carry the knowledge contained within the book?”
“What?”
“Who shall hold the memory?”
Orville looked at Sophia, then back at Puella. “Are you saying you read the book and you want to tell one of us what was in it?”
“Only one shall carry the memory for the rest of their days.”
“Well, Sophia has a much better memory than I do and she understands all that science stuff, so she’s probably the one you should tell. How did you read the book while you were sleeping?”
Puella clutched Sophia’s paw.
“You will need to rest when we are done. You are ready to receive the knowledge?”
“I think so. You’re going to tell me what was in the book?”
A blinding orange light flared in front of Puella.
Orville cove
red his eyes. “What is that? What are you doing?”
Sparkling yellow strands of shimmering light streamed out from the orange orb, wriggling their way toward Sophia.
Orville tried to pull Sophia away from Puella.
“Stop. The knowledge will be lost if you interfere.”
“It’s okay, Orville, I trust her.” Orville let go.
The undulating filaments of light attached themselves to Sophia, waves of pulsing white orbs flowing into her arms and shoulders and chest. Her eyes drooped, then closed.
“So strange… I’m floating… conscious, but there is only the book, don’t know where I am… but the book is here, there is only the book.”
Puella released Sophia’s paw and the brilliant orange sphere of light vanished. Sophia gave a small groan, slumping over onto her side. Puella took Orville’s paw. His eyes widened when he heard his voice coming from her mouth.
“She will carry the memory for all of her days. She must rest now, then you must find your own way. She shall face her greatest fear in Elysian. You must help her remember.”
“Her greatest fear? What’s Elysian? What does she have to remember?” Orville turned to Sophia, now sleeping soundly on the soft pillows. When he looked up again, Puella was back on her blanket playing with the wooden animals.
Orville held Sophia’s paw while she slept.
The late afternoon sun was dipping toward the horizon when Sophia opened her eyes, Orville’s worried face the first thing she saw.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you okay? You’ve been asleep for almost three hours.”
“Three hours? The last thing I remember was Puella–” Sophia stopped in mid sentence, her eyes wide.
“Orville, the book, I know what it is! I know every word of it, I understand everything!”
Chapter 11
Project Haven
“I don’t understand how Puella could translate the book if she didn’t read it.”
Sophia gazed down at the rolling emerald forests passing below, absently listening to the drone of the Dragonfly’s powerful duplonium motors.
