by HR Moore
Cordelia finally stopped talking when they reached the outskirts of Empire, countryside whipping by outside the window, the sun’s first orange rays now basking the frost covered fields in soft light. Silence fell in the carriage and Cleo and Alexander looked to Anita, silently pressuring her to speak next. She took a deep breath, ‘that sounds lovely, thanks,’ she paused, racking her brain to ascertain the least offensive way of asking what in the world Cordelia thought she was doing here, ‘but I was just wondering,’ she said as sweetly as she could, ‘um…why are you here?’
‘Don’t know if you realize,’ said Cordelia, fixing Anita with a look which told her this would be a short conversation, ‘but this is easily the biggest event in living memory. I may not like the Institution, to put it mildly, however, I am not about to pass up the opportunity of front row seats, with which I am assuming you can provide me,’ she said, turning to Alexander and waiting for an affirmative head nod before continuing, ‘because I dislike the organization that happens to be organizing it. Now,’ she said finally, ‘who would like a cup of tea?’
*****
They reached Kingdom by lunchtime, everyone spilling out of the train and heading in separate directions. Alexander, Alistair, Helena and Anita headed to the relic where they would set everything up and conduct a couple of test experiments ahead of the big day. By the time they reached the Temples, the whole area was a hive of activity, scores of people flitting this way and that, some unknown urgent purpose driving them.
‘Who’s done all of this?’ asked Anita, not quite sure which way to turn in the seeming pandemonium surrounding her.
‘I have no idea,’ replied Helena, sounding both surprised and a little put out that such a well-oiled machine was whirring away entirely without her knowledge.
They made their way to the very centre of the Temples, to where the relic stood as ugly and unassuming as ever, to find Marcus and Timi huddling over some drawing, deep in conversation. Helena’s annoyance blazed to full on anger when she realised who was responsible. ‘What in the name of the Gods is going on here?’ she flared, Marcus and Timi turning in unison towards the source of the attack.
‘We’re overseeing the arrangements for tomorrow,’ said Timi, calmly, as though this should be patently obvious, not even a little affected by Helena’s furious energy.
‘This is an Institution event,’ said Helena, importantly.
‘And if I’m not mistaken,’ said Timi, his tone still blasé, ‘I’m also a member of the Institution,’ he was going to leave it there, but when Helena’s face contorted he couldn’t resist adding, ‘and a more senior member than you.’
‘Right,’ said Alistair, no tolerance for time-wasting petty hostility, ‘we’re here to set up the apparatus for tomorrow and then we’ll need to do some test runs, so if you could lend us a couple of your helpers, we would very much appreciate it. It will make things go much more quickly and then you can continue, unburdened by us, with whatever it is you’re concocting.’
‘Of course,’ replied Marcus, ‘let me find you a couple of our best ones,’ he said, pleased to be able to extricate himself from the current company. He returned moments later, with two large, muscled, keen looking men who Alistair immediately put to work.
‘We’ll need to clear all of this stuff out of the way,’ said Alistair, matter of factly, motioning towards the flower decorations that had been placed around the base of the relic, ‘and you’re going to have to remove at least the first five rows of chairs. No, actually, make that seven rows, just to be safe.’
‘Seven rows?’ exclaimed Timi, ‘but that means there won’t be enough room for all the Councillors.’
‘My heart bleeds,’ said Alistair, barely looking up from the brass tripod he was erecting on the Body Temple side of the relic. He and Anita, with the aid of Marcus’ two helpers, put up another tripod on the Spirit side and another on the Mind side before moving several brass energy meters and other contraptions inside the circle this created. Once the heavy lifting had been done Alistair sent away their helpers and he and Anita worked all afternoon, measuring and then tweaking the positions of their equipment accordingly. All around them, the large song and dance created by Timi and Marcus continued; flowers arriving, a lectern and microphone placed strategically on the Mind side of the relic, names being placed on the seating at the front, ropes being erected around various other areas to ensure the crowd could be contained in the correct locations.
At one point two men appeared with staging and started to put up platforms for each of the Descendants to stand on, Alistair and Anita giving each other an exasperated look before Alistair quickly sent them on their way. Minutes later a flustered Marcus turned up to insist, rather pompously, that the platforms should be used. Anita pointed to the delicacy of the experiment as an excuse, saying that platforms had not been factored into their measurements. He bought the explanation, even though, in truth, there was no scientific basis for refusing them; Anita and Alistair were simply worried that if the Descendants looked too far removed from the apparatus, or if people could scrutinize them too closely, it was more likely someone would realise that they weren’t actually doing anything.
They finished setting everything up just as everyone arrived for the dress rehearsal. Gwyn, Marcus, Timi, Peter, Alistair, Helena, and to everyone’s surprise, Anderson, descending on the relic in quick succession, Timi seizing the opportunity to take control. ‘As you all know,’ he said, condescendingly, ‘tomorrow is a momentous occasion for the world, so we reasoned,’ it wasn’t at all clear who this ‘we’ involved, but he continued assuredly, as though it were self-evident, ‘that there should be at least a modicum of pomp and circumstance about the day.’
‘A modicum,’ Anita whispered to Alexander, sarcastically.
Timi’s head whipped around towards her, his energy losing, for only a moment, some of its normal rigid control at his annoyance. Anita smiled openly at him, willing him to say something, but he ignored her and continued. ‘So, Marcus and I have gone to great lengths to ensure the day tomorrow has an air of magnitude about it; flowers, seating plans, music, carefully placed people in the audience as well as overt security measures to ensure no trouble makers, and of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without someone to chair the whole occasion, a master of ceremonies if you will.’
Helena stepped forward at this point, having assumed this role would fall to herself, but before she could intervene, Timi went on, ‘Anderson, please step forward.’ Anderson stepped confidently forward, taking up position at Timi’s right shoulder. Timi looked with glee at the confused faces before him, ‘you all know Anderson?’ Timi asked, again continuing without affirmation. ‘As the world leading relic expert, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s only right for Anderson to lead proceedings; he also has a delightful theatrical flair, which I am sure will do much to rouse the spirits of the crowd.’
‘But surely it should be Alistair,’ said Anita, talking over the end of Timi’s sentence so as to get a word in. ‘Alistair has been central to pulling everything together for tomorrow and Anderson has been absent from the planning for quite some time now, not to mention that Alistair is a trusted and respected Councillor, so he brings a certain gravitas that Anderson can’t.’
‘But of course Alistair will be here too,’ said Timi.
‘Unlike you,’ said Gwyn, venomously. ‘In fact, what are you doing here now?’
‘Anita has played a fundamental part in setting up the experiment,’ said Alistair, brushing her comment aside as though she were an insignificant and petulant little girl, ‘it could not have been done without her.’
‘However,’ said Timi, again showing signs he wasn’t happy with all the interruptions, and continuing as though they hadn’t happened, ‘Alistair will be here in his capacity as technical expert, paying full attention to the task of ensuring the experiment works. Anderson on the other hand, will be directing attention away from Alistair, ensuring the crowd focuses on the Descen
dants and their role, and not Alistair and all the brass instruments kicking about.’
Anita had to admit he had a point; it was in everyone’s interests to ensure nobody realised what was really happening, however, that person being Anderson sent a ripple of discomfort down her spine. Bas hadn’t trusted Anderson with whatever had been troubling him, so Anita was wary about trusting him now. She looked over at Alistair who shook his head when their eyes met, clearly telling Anita she should let it go.
‘That’s fine,’ said Alistair, smoothing over the tension, ‘now if you don’t mind, we need to do some test runs to make sure everything is set up correctly.’
‘Of course,’ said Anderson, ‘anything I can do to help?’
‘No,’ said Alistair, pointedly, as he stepped towards one of the two huge boulders they’d brought with them for the purposes of the tests. The boulders were significantly larger than the relic, however the relic was far denser, so their weight was the same. They’d decided to aim for the great mineral sea Draeus had taken Alexander and Anita past on their way to the Cloud Mountain. If everything went according to plan, the boulders today, and the relic tomorrow, would land right in the centre of the expanse of water, that way, if there was something unexpectedly different about the relic, they had as much tolerance as possible for it to still land in the sea. They’d already sent Institution members there to track where the relic landed, pick it up before anyone else could find it, and take it to an Institution safe house not too far away. The same Institution members were standing by now, waiting to send a radio message when the boulders landed, hopefully in the spot they were supposed to.
Alistair directed each of the Descendants to the tripod in front of their respective Temple, instructing each of them to place their right hand, outstretched towards the relic, in the horseshoe shaped holder at the top. He then gave Anderson a radius around which he could walk when addressing the crowd, right back by the chairs so he wouldn’t interfere with the energy waves, and instructed the others to stand back, with him, by the first row of seats. Alistair explained the importance of nobody getting in between him and the relic, especially careful to make Anderson understand he had to sit down once the build-up was over, so as to be sure he wouldn’t get in the way.
When he was happy the others were all where they should be, Alistair picked up a brass instrument with a small, hook-like part in the middle. He turned the contraption on, ensuring it was hovering over the top of the first boulder as he did so, and then moved it to the ground, placing it carefully, tucking it as far under the boulder’s bulk as he could. Once he was happy with its placement, he moved back to his seat and sat down, telling Anderson he would have about four and a half minutes from the point of turning the instrument on to when the relic would be sent skywards.
Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Timi interrupted. ‘How exactly does it work?’ he asked, eagerly. Although he’d repeatedly quizzed Anderson about it at the Cloud Mountain, the answers had been vague and unspecific, and Timi’s thirst for new knowledge meant he simply had to ask.
Alistair inwardly rolled his eyes but saw no reason not to tell him. ‘In essence, when I turn on the instrument, it finds and then pinches a specific type of energy wave, and when I move the machine to the floor, that energy wave is stretched. The instrument holds the pinch, meaning on one side the wave’s energy stacks up, whilst on the other side, its stretches out. At the four and a half minute point, this particular machine will be unable to continue to hold the pinched wave, the force becoming too much for it to withstand. At this point, the machine will release the wave, which will spring back to its original course. However, we’ve taken great care to precisely position the machine underneath the relic, so when the wave springs back, the relic will be in its way, and the force of the wave should be sufficient to send it skyward. So, as long as we’ve done our sums correctly, we pinch the right frequency of wave, and position the machine correctly when placing it on the ground, the relic will fly with the correct force and on the correct trajectory, and will land in the salt sea.’
‘Fascinating,’ said Timi, shooting Anderson a disapproving look; this was not at all how he’d explained it.
‘Well that’s the plan anyway. It’s worked perfectly every time we’ve tried it so far, but as we’ve never been able to test it on the relic, Anita and I will be holding our breath tomorrow along with everyone else.’
The remaining minutes ticked by in silence, Anita’s mind wandering. If Alistair had positioned the machine incorrectly, the boulder, or indeed the relic tomorrow, would fly in the wrong direction, taking out anyone in its path. She looked over at Alexander and her blood ran cold; too late now to suggest the first trial run take place without the Descendants in place. Alexander turned towards her, a worried look on his face, feeling her energy change but not knowing why. It was too late to tell him, all she could do was hold her breath and pray.
A large crack thundered through the silence, the energy hook releasing, the boulder rocketing upwards, a burst of wind blowing flowers out of place and knocking Gwyn backwards as it disappeared into the darkening sky. It was sunset, the earliest they’d dared test the experiment in case the boulders caught too much unwanted attention. They hoped that in the fading light, even if people did see the spectacle, they wouldn’t be able to make out what it was, but even so, two trials was deemed all they could risk, keeping the threat of discovery to a minimum.
‘I think that went quite well,’ said Alistair, only a little caution in his voice. He turned on the radio receiver and waited anxiously for news from the salt sea.
A few minutes later, a crackly but distinctly excited voice leapt out of the speaker, ‘it’s here,’ it screeched, ‘by the Gods, it just landed right in the centre of the sea. You should have seen the splash!’
‘Many thanks,’ said Alistair, calmly, Anita smiling at the impressive spike in his energy that betrayed his true feelings. ‘We’ll be sending the other one shortly, please stand by.’
Anita smiled at Alistair, who gave her a reassuring nod. ‘Right,’ Alistair snapped, back to business, ‘this time, Anderson, I think you should try walking around and addressing the crowd, making sure you don’t go within the circle I’ve specified.’
‘I suppose so,’ said Anderson, for some reason sulkily, ‘but I don’t think I’ll practice the speech itself, it’s always better if these things are spontaneous, when members of the crowd haven’t heard them before.’
‘As you wish,’ said Alistair, paying him very little attention as he reset the energy hook and carefully placed it on the floor. ‘Over to you Anderson,’ he said, returning to his seat, ‘although tomorrow it might be a good idea for you to find some kind of distraction for the audience whilst I’m setting up the hook, to ensure nobody really focuses on what I’m up to.’
‘Fine,’ said Anderson, busy parading around the perimeter, every now and again casually checking his watch, before sitting down at just under four and a half minutes.
The second boulder went exactly the same way as the first; the same loud crack reverberated off the stone of the Temples, the same gust of wind followed, although this time Gwyn was braced for it, much to Anita’s disappointment, and in the same way, the boulder hurtled into the sky at considerable speed. Five minutes later, the same voice came over the radio to confirm it had landed in the middle of the salt sea, the only difference that the voice was noticeably less excited.
‘Right,’ said Alistair, ‘I think our work here this evening is done. Time for dinner and a stiff drink I think. Marcus, I take it your men will be here overnight and can be relied upon to guard the equipment?’
‘Of course,’ replied Marcus, motioning to a couple of his trusted men, who had been waiting discretely in the shadow of the Mind Temple, to take up their positions.
Alistair picked up the hook and put it in his satchel. ‘This one’s coming with me though,’ he said, to no one in particular, ‘we’re in a bit of a pickle if someone steal
s this,’ he said lightly, carefully fastening the straps before giving the bag a considered pat.
*****
They all had dinner together in Monty’s back room, Helena and the other more senior members reminiscing about how it had been when they were young, Cleo, Alexander and Anita chatting about what tomorrow would bring, Marcus, Gwyn and Anderson noticeably absent. The drinks flowed and the mood was spirited, everyone seeming relaxed about the events that would take place in the morning.
Anita and Alexander departed early, wishing the others a good evening, and lazily wound their way back to the Temples via Kingdom’s cobbled streets. They’d decided to stay in Alexander’s chambers in the Temple so they would be close to the action in the morning, and seeing as Anita had never been into this particular one of her boyfriend’s domains, she was excited to see what the place was like.
They reached the middle of the Spirit Temple and Alexander placed his hand on a stone to the right of the door, applying a little pressure before they heard a click and the door swung open. ‘That’s all it takes to get in?’ asked Anita, a little concerned for their privacy.
Alexander smiled leniently as he took her hand, pulling her in after him, ‘that’s all it takes if you’re me and have the right energy reading for the monitor in that stone,’ he said, pushing the door closed behind them.
