Keris forced herself to watch to the end of the recording, then cycled through the remainder of the spheres, finding nothing of interest. She stood in silence for a while–hand over her mouth, the images of the plague victims replaying over and over in her head.
It was Patris who finally snapped her out of her reverie. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have warned you.”
She had to find the Prophet’s weapon and destroy it, or a tragedy like this will happen again. And this time, no-one might survive. She desperately needed a lead. Information. Something.
She turned slowly, taking in the pedestals, the central column, the empty vastness of the atrium. Then she looked at the small box of spheres. All of this, for two dozen of these things? It wasn’t possible. There must be more. It could be that these ruins had been excavated, and the other “books” removed, but as Patris had pointed out, they were useless without the pedestals, so that didn’t seem likely. Perhaps Annata’s people, knowing that they were facing disaster, had removed them for safekeeping. But if that were the case, then they still had to be somewhere. Maybe they would give her the clues she needed? Keris returned to where Patris had found the box of spheres. She placed the box back in the receptacle, then began a circuit of the atrium wall, probing the surface with her eyes and her fingertips.
Patris had strolled over and was watching her curiously. “What are you looking for?” Keris didn’t answer. He smiled without humour. “I never realised what happened to those people back then. It’s pretty awful to watch. I mean, it’s one thing to face an enemy that’s standing in front of you, but when your enemy is a disease, how do you fight a thing like that…?”
Keris wasn’t listening. She moved slowly along the wall, examining every inch. The only features were the unexplained symbols she had noted earlier, and an occasional circular depression. She pressed the wall at intervals, but no mysterious panels opened. The exercise was beginning to look futile. Patris was relating a conversation he had had with the people in Lechem about the dark time. How the survivors in this world had braved harsh conditions and terrible privations during the period following the disaster. Many had died before the recovery began. But those few, who through determination and fortitude had founded a new society, were revered almost as legends.
Keris stopped in mid step. There was something. Something familiar. Something that nagged at her from the farthest corners of her mind. It was in a different place and a different time. She stepped back from the wall, then began to retrace her steps.
Patris broke off from his soliloquy. “Have you found something?”
She ignored him, fixing her eye on the section of wall before her. Then she saw it. One of the indentations was not circular. It was an odd triangle, the same size and shape as…She reached into the pouch at her side and extracted a smooth flat object. She turned it over in her hand, gazing at the multicoloured workings within. It was the access module that Boxx had retrieved from the base of Annata’s machine–the device that she had used to gain access to the great globe at the top of the tower on the Eastern Plains. Could it be…? On impulse, she aligned its irregular sides to the niche in the wall and pushed it home. It was a perfect fit. Immediately it lit up with a bright yellow hue. There was a faint hum, then the light changed to crimson and a door slid open.
Patris gasped. “How did you do that?”
Keris retrieved the access module and peered into the newly revealed space beyond. It was black as pitch. There was no way of telling how deep it was or how far it extended, but she couldn’t back out now. She needed answers. Warily, she took a step across the threshold. She couldn’t make out anything of the interior. She hesitated. Patris sounded a note of alarm. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.” Keris said.
“Be careful, it might be dangerous.”
For all her distaste of Patris and the principles he stood for, Keris reluctantly had to admit that she did trust his instincts. Yet in this instance, something told her that his fears were unfounded. No-one would place a trap in a library. But more than that, why would the device Annata had entrusted her with open this particular door, unless there were something behind it that she needed to see? Thrusting her habitual caution aside, she stepped farther into the darkness. She heard the thief’s steps behind her.
There was a gentle humming sound. She whirled around just in time to see the door slide shut behind them, plunging them into total darkness. Then, just as suddenly, bright light exploded all around. Patris gave an anguished cry. Keris’ mind reeled, struggling to take in the scene before her. They were standing on a spacious patio, high above a cityscape, the like of which Keris had never seen before. Above them, huge flying machines drifted lazily across a cerulean sky, adorned with a few wisps of high cloud. In the distance, impossibly tall buildings vied with spires of white, silver and gold for dominance of the skyline. Tiny silver craft darted between them like angry insects buzzing around the stamen of an immense flower. How did I get here?
The patio was laid out with broad-leaved trees, no more than head height; some laden with yellow and white blossoms, others with purple and green fruits. Between the trees, a slight young woman with flowing dark hair and clad in a plain dress of pure white stood with her back to them, her tail moving lazily back and forth. She turned slowly to face them and smiled warmly. “Hello, Keris,” she said simply.
Keris looked at her with disbelief for several moments before she finally found her voice. “Annata…you are Annata.”
<><><><><>
Chapter 22
“I am not Annata.” The young woman took a few steps toward them, stopped; then smiled again reassuringly. “I was created by Annata as a computer generated representation of her. My program consists of adaptive heuristic algorithms, keyed to her personality profile. There will be a six point three percent variance factor in the interactive responses. It’s good to see you again, Keris. How have you been?”
I must be dreaming. This person was not Annata…and yet she was. None of it made sense. “Where am I?” Keris asked.
The figure in white laughed lightly. The sound was almost musical. “Well, I suppose there are two answers to that question. In a physical sense, you are still in the designated projection room at the city’s central archive. However, I have recreated a setting appropriate to our meeting.” She extended a small, perfect hand and swept it before her, taking in the patio area. “This is my home. I thought you would enjoy seeing the city as it was in my time. What do you think of it?”
It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life. “It’s…nice,” she said.
There was that same tinkling laugh again. “Tell me, who is the other one with you?” Annata asked.
“He is called Patris,” Keris said.
Annata gave a slight bow. “Be welcome in my home, Patris. I honour those who would risk their lives to save our people.” Keris blinked. Patris said nothing. “I had this terrace planted to remind me of home. When I first came to live in the city, I fell in love with it right away. It’s so…alive. But at the same time, I found that I missed the farm where I grew up. I longed for the scent of growing things. Did you grow up in the country, Keris?”
“Yes I did,” she replied. “My childhood years were spent on the Dagmar Manse.”
“Then you’ll understand what I mean.” Not really. My parents were indentured farm workers with too many mouths to feed. They sold me off into service the first chance they got. “Now I can get up each morning, upload my work files for the day in my apartment; then go outside, pick a karel fruit and imagine myself strolling through the orchards near my home. Is that vanity?” Annata’s eyes twinkled. The woman was shorter than Keris. Her dark hair was only of shoulder length in contrast to Keris’ long tresses, but her face was softer, less careworn. It was the face of someone who had led a contented life–a life of privilege. Keris stifled an irrational twinge of resentme
nt.
Keris turned to look at her surroundings. She could feel the gentle caress of the wind; smell the scent of the blossoms. This was nothing like the images produced by the spheres. They had been insubstantial, diaphanous. This was real in every sense of the word. Yet Annata had said they were still in the library building in the heart of the ruined city. She walked past the woman in white, to a balcony where she could get a better view of the huge metropolis. They were near the top of a stately tower, broad at the base and tapered at the top. Far below, wide streets were thronged with tiny people and machines, moving purposefully as if they were the city’s lifeblood. “So this is…Kynedyr?”
Annata had moved to stand beside her. “That’s right.”
“How many people live here?” Keris asked.
“Two million, four hundred and seventy-three thousand, eight hundred and twelve, according to the latest figure on the date my program was stored.” She pointed out across the cityscape. “There is the great Ardath Spire…and over there, the Tellyn Carillon…and there is the Institute where I work.” She turned, and Keris noticed for the first time that the other woman’s eyes were a soft shade of green. She had never seen anyone with eyes that colour before. “How has my city fared in your time, Keris?
It’s nothing more than a massive ruin of abandoned buildings, broken down walls and encroaching vegetation. She scrabbled to think of something positive to say. “There was a moving display that came on when I passed through one of the public squares.”
Annata chuckled. “So the only thing to survive of the mighty Kelanni civilisation turns out to be the automated advertising hoardings. I’m sure comedic artists in the theatres on Dalantyne Street would have a field day, if only they knew.” Her face grew serious once again. “To be truthful, I chose this setting for another reason, Keris. I wanted to show you not only your past, but your future as well. This is what your people–the Kelanni–have built through hard work, ingenuity and enlightened thought. This is what our people were and can become again. Only this time, it is my hope that you may go on to even greater things. If not you, then your children or maybe your children’s children’s children. To that end, we must defeat the Unan-Chinneroth. Together.”
Patris was standing behind them. He seemed to have recovered from his initial shock. “So you really do exist. They said you were an old friend. I see they weren’t exaggerating. Did you know they named a ship after you?” Annata looked puzzled. “Never mind,” he said.
Keris could hear the faint hustle and bustle of the city far below; the heartbeat of a living thing, dead now for three thousand turns and more. “I’m not sure I understand. Annata sent a machine to the Chandara in order to communicate with us from the past. I certainly didn’t expect to find you here. How…”
“I was created as a failsafe, after your first contact at the Great Tree,” Annata said. “Time slows down in the vicinity of the White Sun relative to time here. A message sent from our time around the white sun can be received by you. But the signal has to move a tremendous distance in space as well as time, which in turn takes a great deal of energy. There was a considerable degree of uncertainty as to whether we would be able to sustain the necessary power requirements for open communication with the future. So if the link failed, then Boxx was instructed to bring you here, as soon as the conditions had been met.”
“Conditions?” Keris queried.
“At the Great Tree, Annata told you that four were needed to operate the instrument we have designed for you, and that those four would need to face a test of suitability. The reason is that the instrument is very dangerous in its own right. Too dangerous for any one person to control. And for the same reason, it must be destroyed as soon as it has been used. The four controllers must each be trusted to do that. To that end, Boxx has been…collecting data. Information on you and your companions.”
“What sort of information?” Patris demanded.
Annata looked down at the floor of the patio. “I’m sorry, I cannot tell you that. If I did, it could taint the results. When it has sufficient data, Boxx is to bring a minimum of four candidates to Drani-Kathaar. It means ‘proving ground’. It is the place we have designated where the final testing will take place.” She looked up and smiled. “And to answer your next question, no, I cannot tell you anything about the testing either, because in truth I do not know. We have built and preserved the place we call Drani-Kathaar, but I cannot say what manner of trial you will face there. That will be up to Boxx.”
“The Chandara?” Patris said in disbelief.
Annata strolled to a table near the balcony and sat on a silver metal stool, inviting the others to join her. “When we created the instrument you would need to counteract the Prophet’s weapon, we knew of its potential for harm, and that if it fell into the wrong hands, then the results could potentially be worse than the weapon itself. Kelanni are emotional creatures. The judgements they make are not always rational. Chandara are different. Boxx is flesh and blood, but in many ways it is more like me. Its chemical makeup allows it to record information and assess it dispassionately, so that its assessment is always accurate. At the same time, its nucleotide chains cannot be altered or falsified, unlike a computer program. So it was felt that the only safe course was to entrust our future to them.”
Keris frowned. “If the Chandara are more trustworthy than Kelanni, why not ask four of them to operate the device?”
“I did not say that Kelanni were not trustworthy,” Annata corrected. “It’s just that the consequences of failure were so dire, there could be no room for error. But to answer your question; first, getting to the weapon will not be easy. Chandara do not have the physical capabilities or the manual dexterity that Kelanni do. Second, they are taking a great risk by helping us as it is. If their actions were discovered, the Unan-Chinneroth could choose to eradicate them, and they would be defenceless. We cannot ask them to do more on our behalf. And third…well, if we cannot find four trustworthy people among our own kind, do we deserve to survive?”
Keris went over the woman’s story in her head. “You said Boxx was to bring us here, if the machine you were using to communicate with us failed.”
Annata nodded. “That’s correct.”
“Why?” Keris asked.
Annata smiled beatifically. “I am to give you your final instructions for the testing.”
~
“May I offer you some refreshment? Do you like karel juice?”
Keris and Patris exchanged a look. “I thought you said we were still in the library building,” Keris said.
Annata had a faraway look, as if she were considering some abstract problem. “If I were to combine the molecules necessary to produce karel juice, would it be any less real than if I had picked the fruit and squeezed it out with my own hands? A question for the sages and philosophers at the Institute, perhaps. As for me…” The air above the table swirled, and there was a bright flash of light. Keris and Patris flinched. In its place stood a pitcher filled with a bright blue liquid and three tumblers. “…I just enjoy the juice.” Annata lifted the pitcher with a delicate hand and began pouring.
Keris took up the tumbler and cautiously brought it to her lips. It was cool, with a delightful sweetness. She had been living on short rations for the past several days. She thought of asking Annata if she could whip up some raleketh steaks and a side order of baked moba, but decided against it. There were more important things right now. “You spoke of final instructions?”
Annata looked from Keris to Patris and back again. “There should be four of you.”
“The others stayed behind in Kieroth, trying to fix the machine,” Keris said.
Annata looked undecided for a moment, then appeared to come to a decision. “Well, it doesn’t matter, provided you are capable of relaying the instructions accurately. Really, there are only two things you must know. The first is that from the moment you enter Drani-Kathaar, you must do exactly as Boxx tells you without question.” The
woman from the past did not know–could not know–that Boxx was gone. Should she reveal that particular truth? Better to wait until she had extracted the information she needed.
The second,” Annata continued, “concerns the trials themselves. You will be tested individually, but whatever happens, you must not under any circumstances discuss your experiences with each other until the trial is concluded.”
Patris had not touched his drink. “May I ask why?”
“Again, it would taint the results,” Annata said. “I must ask you to trust me on this. If one of you reveals the nature of their trial, then the entire testing will be compromised–with disastrous results.”
Patris looked distinctly unhappy. Keris had to admit that she shared his misgivings. But there was no turning back now. “Assuming we pass your…Boxx’s tests, then we will gain access to the instrument we need?”
“The instrument has been divided into four. The four parts are…linked. When four individuals have passed, then one component will be given to each. Those four must then find the Prophet’s weapon and hold their respective parts against its outer casing. When all four components shine red, then the weapon will have been neutralized. Once you have accomplished that task, the components must be destroyed. After that, you can use the vacuum hole transporter to return to your side of Kelanni. That must be at least ten days after your arrival. The power source at the base of each tower draws on vacuum energy, but they are currently working only at low power, so it will take at least that long for the tower to store sufficient energy to enable a person to make a successful transport.”
“So, where is this proving ground of yours?” Keris asked.
Annata cocked her head slightly. “I do not understand.”
Keris drew out each word. “The proving ground. Where is it?”
“Boxx was to be told the location of Drani-Kathaar as soon as you arrived at the vacuum hole displacement tower on this side. Where is the Chandara?”
The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) Page 54
