by A. L. Knorr
Then all movement and sound ceased.
We looked down at Georjie and she looked up at us, her hands hovering in the air and a look of amazement on her face.
"This earth is full of seeds!" she called up to us.
"Isn't the earth always full of seeds?" Akiko called back.
"Not like this. There are literally hundreds of thousands of species, many of them not native to Canada. If I made them grow, we would have the world's most diverse and colossal greenhouse right here—not to mention a problem with the law."
"That's the idea," Mr. Nakesh called down at her. He bobbed his head. "Not the problem with the law part, just the greenhouse bit."
There was a beat while Georjie absorbed this. "You put them here?"
"My team did, yes," Hiroki answered. He cleared his throat, still seeming a bit uncomfortable.
"Ohhhh…." Georjie let out a long understanding sigh and her expression and body language conveyed that her entire being was melting with pleasure. "You want me to develop them?"
"Yes, once you've shifted the continents into place, if you'd like, you can populate them with plants."
Facing front, Georjie said, "It's like the best theme park game ever." She spoke as though to herself, but the words drifted up and we laughed. She looked up again. "But some of these species are invasive."
"That's what the dome is for," Petra replied. "They'll never escape the barrier."
Georjie let out a long breath. "If you say so. If you're wrong I'll have to kill them all later, and that would suck." She returned to her work.
The cacophony started up again and the world below us shifted and swayed, dropped and rose. The topography began to make some sense of itself when the swells and dips of the land began to follow the laser lines. Replica continents rose as the floors of replica oceans and seas sank away. Jagged rocks appeared as Georjie unearthed stones and assembled them haphazardly. The optics of random rocks emerging and rolling around in the dirt to congeal and climb one another was bizarre and mesmerizing. The air was filled with dust and I was grateful for the goggles and the face masks.
The earth between the continents began to darken, and soon water seeped from underground.
I looked over at Targa and saw that she had also taken the goggles and mask off and was concentrating in the direction of the Atlantic, drawing it through the ground. Dirty water swelled and churned as it bubbled up through the earth, filling the caverns Georjie had built.
Goosebumps marbled the skin of my arms as we watched the heaving, churning real-life map of the world being constructed by Georjie and Targa. It was messy, filthy, and disorganized, and a little sickening to the senses, but through it all I was thoroughly amazed.
At first it looked like a mud pit, but as we watched the water began to clear. The land continued to shift into place, roiling and seething, and the water crept higher and higher. The air was so rich with the smell of soil and water, even through my mask, that it reminded me of the greenhouse in Georjie's basement.
The first of the plants began to appear, sprouting out of the earth like tiny hairs in a million shades of green. Wiggling and vibrating in response to Georjie's power, everything grew rapidly. Grasses, flowers, shrubs, vegetables, and herbs burst into bloom and filled our eyes with verdant shades of green speckled with yellows, pinks, and blues, while the taller plants continued onward and upward.
The oceans and seas were now full of shifting, slopping water, which began to calm as Targa let them be. Georjie was now a slash of blond hair in the sea of green below us. The tops of the trees were lush, and a canopy had formed along the fresh banks of dark water. Vines looped through tree branches while mosses crept over bark.
Georjie's arms came to rest at her sides and she looked up. "How's that?"
"Beautiful," Hiroki called down to her. "Marvelous job, both of you."
For several moments, we gazed out at the incredible scene before us. It looked like a huge swamp dotted with large forested islands.
"It's so quiet," Akiko murmured, who had now abandoned her mask and goggles too. I glanced at Petra, who had her goggles up in her hair and her mask hanging around her throat. I smiled at our quiet rebellion and slipped mine off as well. The dust was clearing and it felt nice to breath the air.
"Yeah, like it needs birds and animals and bugs," I added.
"Of course," Mr. Nakesh said. "We will introduce those to the domes as well. We want the experience of living in a dome to be as natural as possible. Like a paradise, or an Eden." He rubbed his hands together and turned to gaze at Petra with an expression akin to adoration. "Let's get to the next part. It's the most exciting. Our Euroklydon will now make our impenetrable dome."
13
Saxony
"Its borders will follow the flags we've set out." Hiroki said as he took out his kerchief and mopped his forehead.
Georjie had rejoined us on the platform and we were once again hovering over the ground. She leaned over and whispered to Petra, “Euroklydon, that’s what they call you?”
Petra nodded.
Hiroki continued, "Petra has a remarkable ability to allow material through the field while keeping out everything else. If I live to be a thousand I don't think any science could ever explain it."
Petra stepped away from us and a look of concentration came over her face. She held her hands apart, palms facing one another, and then let them rest slowly at her side. Her eyes had an unfocused look.
“You won’t be able to see it,” Hiroki said. “It’s invisible to all except Petra.”
"I can see it," said Akiko.
"You can?" Hiroki sounded shocked.
Akiko nodded. "It looks like heat, sort of. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never see it. Your eyes wouldn't know how to focus on it."
Hiroki took out a notepad from his chest pocket and jotted something down before tucking it away again. I stole a glance at his notes but his scrawl was hard to make out. The only word I caught was 'cryptochromes.' What was that? I made a mental note to look it up later.
"But you have to get it around us." I was looking at Petra. "How do you do that?"
"You each have a unique signature," Petra said. "I can feel it, and then I make the atoms of the force-field pass through yours."
At the look of alarm on our faces she added quickly, "Without hurting you. Kind of like this." She held the fingers of both hands spread open and passed the fingers through the spaces of the opposite hand, between each digit. "Touch it again," she directed me.
As I did, the solid surface of the force-field seemed to vanish as my fingers passed through it. "That's so bizarre," I said. "It’s like a shadow passing over your skin."
"Now, I'll make it bigger."
The shadow passed over my skin, went up my body and disappeared. I looked up. There was nothing to see but clear blue sky.
A beat later and Petra said, "Okay, Hiroki. It's up."
"Great." Hiroki bent to his bag and pulled out a plastic flare-gun. "Just to demonstrate the efficacy of the barrier." He cocked the gun and fired it into the sky.
A red flare of light shot from the gun with a pop and hurtled into the sky. It hit the invisible barrier and exploded into a million sparking fragments.
"Can I try?" I asked.
"Absolutely," said Hiroki, putting the gun down and smiling at me. “Have at ’er.”
I cocked my arm and released a fireball as hard as I could. Rather than flying up, like the flare had, it flew across the land at a blazing speed. Much brighter and faster than the flare, it hit the force-field with a dry crackle and exploded. A blue wave of ripples shot outward across the wall of the barrier. Against the forest beyond, it looked like a computer-generated effect.
"Wow!" Georjie laughed with amazement. "There it is! Did you do that?" she asked Petra.
Petra shook her head, looking mildly dazed herself. She was gazing at me with something akin to awe. "Nope. The force-field did it all by itself. I guess there was some juice behind
that fireball."
I grinned, feeling a little cocky. "Some."
"Crank it up a notch, just for fun," Hiroki suggested.
"Don't fry us, Saxony," Targa said.
"I won't." I drew back my arm again, stoking the fire and drawing more heat up my arm as I released a larger, hotter fireball. I threw it in the other direction. Everyone squinted as its streaked into the air.
"I can feel the heat of that thing on my face," cried Petra, with her hand up to protect her eyes. Her hand bumped her goggles and she slid them down over her eyes again.
My fireball hit the inside wall of the dome with a light dry thud which didn't do justice to the heat I had packed into it. But the corona of blue ripples and the burst of fiery light that followed had all of us making sounds of appreciation. This time the blue ripples lasted a long time and the force-field seemed to waver before settling back into its quiet and invisible existence.
"What about fresh air?" Akiko asked Petra.
"Petra can make a barrier which air can permeate, if she wishes to. That's one of the most remarkable things about it," Hiroki explained. "It’s impenetrable but permeable. Truly magical."
He turned to me. "Are you ready for your part?"
I gulped and my stomach did a little flip. "I've never made a sun before. It's going to be very hot."
"You can do it," Hiroki said. "If you have any trouble, we can get you there with coaching. Besides, you'll have Petra to help you. So we don't have any accidents, move away from us and into that clearing." He pointed. "Petra will lift the sun telekinetically while you increase its size slowly. Does that make sense?"
Petra and I nodded. Hiroki signaled the crane driver to lower us to the ground where Petra and I stepped off into a wonderland of lush green life. Petra put her goggles back up on her head.
"I did some rough calculations," Hiroki said from the platform, "but I had to guess a bit because I don't know how hot your fire is or how dense your fireball might be. I figure, if you make it roughly twelve feet in diameter, it will suffice for today's work."
"Twelve feet." I could do that. “I don’t know if it will burn in perpetuity, though,” I said. “I’ve never just left a fireball to burn before.”
“That’s all right,” said Hiroki. “Let’s just get the thing up there for starters. We can work on its lifespan later.”
Hiroki stepped back onto the platform and had the crane lift it again. Targa gave me an encouraging wink as she peered over the side, then she slid her goggles into place and spoke to Georjie and Akiko, who both seemed to agree that now was finally a good time to wear the goggles, too. Mr. Nakesh and Miss Marks stood on Hiroki’s other side, out of my view.
Petra and I made our way to the clearing Hiroki had appointed and stopped.
I looked into Petra's strange, silver-gray eyes, and she gazed back.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“A little,” I admitted.
"I've had more coaching than I'd like to admit," she said with a quirky smile. "Georjie and Targa have put me to shame with how well they manage their powers. I'm sure you will too. I'll stand behind you. I don't really fancy being roasted today."
She took a step behind me.
“Heat doesn’t bother me so I’m trusting you to lift it as fast as you need to so you won’t burn,” I said over my shoulder to her. “I’ll make it small, then toss it up. Can you make sure it doesn’t come down as I blow it up?”
“Piece of cake,” Petra called as she took a few more steps back.
She put her goggles back into place. I didn’t bother with mine. Light from fire had never hurt my eyes, even when I was surrounded by it or when my whole body had been aflame. If anything, it had taken my eyesight to a whole new level.
I waited until Petra was well behind me, then took a deep breath and closed my eyes, visualizing the fireball I wanted to make. I spread my hands apart and sent two small jet-streams of flame toward one another where they collided and swirled in a messy blur of fire. Rolling my hands in small circles, the misshapen ball began to form a rough sphere. It boiled and flickered and seethed in the air, spinning slowly and licking flames outward like it didn't know which direction was up.
I tossed the ball into the sky and watched as it paused and hovered. Petra was controlling it now. She pushed it up into the air, farther and farther from us.
Focusing, I compressed it, asking it to take up less space yet remain bright and hot. It did my bidding, becoming brighter and denser. Petra continued to lift the ball high into the air above our heads. As she did so, I asked the fire to condense further, and I gave it more fuel. It shrank, but brightened. It was too small still, so I sent jet-streams of fire from both hands to meet it in the air. It increased in size and the heat and light now coming off it was immense.
I continued to pack it tightly as Petra lifted. I added more fire, brightened it, and turned up the heat. I couldn't help but smile as I looked at the creation—it really did look like a small sun.
"Higher, Petra," Hiroki called from the platform.
Mr. Nakesh added, "Wonderful! Both of you!"
Our shadows darkened, their lines becoming sharper as the artificial sun rose overhead. Georjie and Targa made sounds of amazement. I looked back and up, catching Akiko shaking her head with wonder.
"You're all wonders of the world." Akiko's words drifted on the air.
"Big enough," Hiroki said.
I relaxed my hands and let the fire be, feeling a bit like I had just sent a kid off to kindergarten for their first day. Who knew I could create a sun-like object, even if it was minuscule? How big could I make it—as big as the sun? With Petra's help, could we create new stars? I swayed a little on my feet at the impact of what Hiroki was having us do. Alone, a supernatural was a force of nature. Together, we were like demi-gods or something.
"Okay, Petra, that's good. Leave it there."
The sun stopped moving and hovered in our artificial sky, sending heat and light down over us and the plants. The crane lowered the platform again so Petra and I could step on board.
At this point, everyone except for Miss Marks removed their goggles and masks and gazed at the effects of having a much closer light source.
“I have an issue for you to note,” Georjie said to Hiroki.
He turned to her and took out his notepad. “What’s that?”
“That sun doesn’t throw the right spectrum of light for plants to grow.”
Hiroki’s pen scratched on the pad. “Thanks for bringing that up. I’ve made a note for later.” He tucked the pad and pen away then said, "Okay, Georjayna, you're up again."
"I am?" She sounded excited, and had a lemme at it look on her face.
Hiroki pulled a box out of his bag. He opened it and held it out so we could see inside.
I peered in, curiously, but my face must have fallen with disappointment because Hiroki laughed.
Georjie reached into the box and picked up a boring gray rock from the pile. "It's just a bunch of common minerals."
She easily broke the piece apart with her hands. It crumbled back into the box and a bit of dust puffed up.
"That is what it seems like, yes,” Hiroki said. “But these minerals were specially gathered by a friend of Petra's."
"They were?" Petra looked as surprised at this as the rest of us were. Then her face slipped into understanding. "Oh, Ibby."
"Yes. Ibukun is one of our supernaturals."
"What kind?" Georjie asked this and then seemed to hold her breath. "If she knows minerals…"
I knew what she was thinking and hoping—that Ibby was also a Wise.
"She's an Inconquo," Hiroki explained. "A Metal Elemental. She's in your category, Georjayna, but doesn't have your breadth of power. What she's gathered for you here are the various lunar minerals we need to create a synthetic moon. They aren't in the proper proportions to solidify and reflect the sun's light the way the actual moon can, but that's where you come in. Think of them like the ingredient
s for a cake all mixed together. They just need to be separated and re-arranged properly. Think you can do that?"
"I can feel the different minerals. They're just like what we have here on earth." She glanced at Hiroki. “I’m assuming Ibukun didn’t go to the moon to get these?”
“No. She just had a list from me and procured them,” Hiroki explained. “Mostly from the desert, I think.”
Georjie's fingers shifted through the dust and rock in the box. "Pyroxene, olivine, iron, anorthosite, and some others. If you tell me the proportions, I'll see what I can do with them."
"Sure, hang on a minute." Hiroki handed the box to Georjie.
She took the box off the platform, set it on the ground, and knelt beside it, rolling up her sleeves. She looked up and her brow wrinkled in the light of my sun.
"Any chance you could move the sun away, Petra?" she asked. "It's a bit intense."
"Oh, sure." Petra raised her face to the fireball and it shifted over the land, sending our shadows reeling in response. The sun skidded across the sky. It slid to a stop and remained aloft and still.
"Thanks."
"Okay, here we go." Hiroki pulled out a notebook and went over the proportions of the moon’s makeup for Georjie, who listened intently.
"Don't worry about making the core," Hiroki said. "It's not necessary. It would just be nice if you're able to make it appear moon-like."
Georjie was already packing a ball into shape, her hands hovering above the box, her bare feet and toes half buried in the ground. The gray dust arranged itself into a ball and then seethed and churned in the same way the soil had under Georjie's command. Dust and pebbles and fractured bits of rock fell back into the box. The 'moon' became a gray ball of dirt, not entirely smooth, but nowhere near as pockmarked looking as our real moon.
"That's about as big as I can make it with what you have here," Georjie said, standing. She left it sitting on the ground in a bed of grass. It was about the size of a beach ball.
Petra held a hand out to the ball and it began to levitate. It rose above our heads, shrinking and shrinking as it climbed.
