Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy (The Lightbound Saga Book 1)

by S. G. Basu

  “Well, we’ll need to study the topography of Quad 8 and the architecture of the fortress of course. Then solve the riddle of the relic. I think our main competition is Core 3 and Core 7.”

  “I agree about Core 7. Their counselor, Amanii, is a flying ace, and we will have to be wary of them,” Miir agreed.

  “Isn’t Amanii that cute girl with red hair? She’s the one who hosted the TEK club tryouts, right?” Nafi piped up.

  “Hmmm,” Miir replied.

  “Core 7 is Karhann, Yoome, Loriine, that other tag-along girl, and that pasty-faced boy,” Maia added.

  “That tag-along girl is Baecca, one of the best cartographers in the competition,” Ren reminded, sprawling lazily on the grass.

  “They are obviously quite talented,” Maia said with a sigh, thinking of Core 7’s win at the Prototype Challenge.

  “There is plenty of talent in everyone around here,” Miir remarked. “Focus on the challenge, gather information. Remember, this mission has to be led by you. I will simply advise you during your planning sessions and assist you in flying the craft. From now on, we will meet every week to go over your plans. I hope to see some good strategies and detailed maps and calculations.”

  They continued to sit under the trees after Miir left, solemnly discussing the assignment.

  “You guys still don’t get it, do you?” Kusha asked after they had sketched out a basic plan of action. “If we win, we get a chance to visit Armezai during the Carnival, our only chance to be near the Grotto. I have no idea what we could do when we get there, but at least we’ll be there.”

  And suddenly, the significance of winning the second challenge grew to enormous proportions.

  36: The Book of Treasures

  Preparations for the Seliban Challenge kept the team busy, and their hard work soon paid off. At the next strategy evaluation, Miir surprised everyone with a few nice remarks on their planning efforts. He also seemed exceedingly pleased at the progress each one of them made in their combat skills.

  Dani and Kusha had devoted themselves to a thorough study of the volcanic fields. On realizing that some of the oldest scrolls and manuscripts had not been integrated into data vaults, they started making frequent trips to the Archival Center to find these ancient records. The duo appeared one day, carrying some dusty books. These, they announced, were the first-hand descriptions of Quadrant 8 by some of the best-known explorers and travelers. Ren studied the material, which often had obscure references in ancient Xifarian script and needed translation.

  “This is what Historian Jenis writes,” he read aloud from a huge book bound in dark brown leather. “Quadrant 8 consists of an enormous volcanic field. Originally a wasteland of bubbling lava and volcanoes spewing ash and fire, this area was finally tapped during the Trosjnic Passage to meet the planet’s increasing energy needs. Most of the power plants in this area were made possible by Seliban metallurgical technology that could resist the intense heat of molten rocks.

  “As the Xifarians’ technological prowess grew and they switched to other sources of energy, Quadrant 8 was abandoned. With time the power plants that were plugged into the boiling lava fields crumbled and the volcanoes took over the area again. Only the Seliban Temple, a feat of engineering envisioned by the brilliant minds of the Selib System, remained hidden in the depths of the volcanoes.”

  Ren closed the Jenis book and picked up a sheet of paper.

  “This is the recent P’golan Survey from Yilosario’s data vault,” he announced. “A masterpiece of Xifarian architecture was the temple-fortress built as a shrine to the all-powerful forces of nature, as well as a hold to protect the energy field. The structure, erected into one of the biggest of the dormant volcanoes, the Origesa-8, was large enough to house a whole squadron of Xifarian Space Fleet. Later, as the field was abandoned, it lay buried somewhere underneath the ever-changing landscape, and it became a part of nature itself.

  “Only a few entrances of the temple-fortress are accessible from the outside at present time. The rest of the gates, as well as the hold, can be opened, but they remain locked from within. The open entrances, including the Gate of Spires and Spines, the Gate of the Rising Sun, the Coronation Gate, and the Gate of T’lmath are barely big enough to fit a small shuttle pod, and lead to the heart of the Seliban fortress.”

  Ren stopped and looked at his spellbound audience. “That’s all.”

  “But how do we find it if it’s sunk below the ground somewhere?” Dani rubbed her chin, immersed in thought.

  “We could use radio sensing to detect the temple and the entrance, probably on a smaller craft, like a Cylopede maybe?” Kusha suggested.

  “All we have now are the original coordinates of the temple. I’ve been studying that location,” Dani said, pulling out a few charts and maps, “and there’s a problem.”

  “What is it?” Kusha asked.

  “We have a few possible ways to go,” Dani explained, pointing at the maps she had unfolded. “Our destination, the area around Origesa-8, is ringed by a field of sulfuric gases called the Curtains of Vostl. It’s so strong and caustic that crafts cannot pass through it. The first choice is to fly over the curtain at twice the normal cruising altitude.”

  “What else do we have?” Maia leaned forward to look at the maps.

  “We have the Faith’s End canyon. The name kind of tells it all. Narrow, dark, and twisty—that will be one scary ride.” Dani stopped for a moment to catch her breath. “Then there’s the third way; it’s a course through a group of twenty volcanoes called the Draegen that are erupting right now, spewing out fire, rocks, and ashes.

  “The first is the safest way, but will also take the longest. We have to climb to a higher altitude, pass the curtain of sulfur, and then drop down to the surface. Needless to say, almost all the teams will likely crowd that route.” Dani paused and looked around. “Flying a craft through the other two needs great expertise, and since we have Miir, we might have an edge over the others.”

  “Only if we live through it,” said Maia dryly.

  “And if Miir is willing to take the risk,” Kusha added.

  “Of course he will,” Nafi said.

  Maia nodded in agreement, immediately thinking of the Siroccan Spiral that Miir had performed when he was just a boy of ten. Now in hindsight, she respected the skills required to make something as enormous and as complex as a Raptor spin.

  “We have to present a plan to Miir in three days,” she said. “Let’s complete calculations based on all three routes and see what he says.”

  ***

  Over the next few days, Dani worked on the flight maps and detailed all their routes and trajectories. Kusha and Ren made calculations with model crafts designed to their exact proportions and thruster powers. Maia, along with Nafi, started deciphering the clues about the relic. A small cryptic verse, intended to identify their prize, had arrived at the team communicator.

  The path of the light leads into the darkness

  In the shadows the chambers of life breathe

  They hold a million relics

  Ones that could build worlds

  Others that could destroy all

  Seek one that lives amidst the ruins

  “The path of the light? Could that be the Gate of the Rising Sun?” Kusha had said right away, and the rest of the team had agreed.

  While that first line seemed to resolve effortlessly, making sense of the rest turned out to be tricky. Maia and Nafi labored on gathering the next-to-impossible-to-find information on the interior of the Seliban Temple.

  On the night of their meeting with Miir, the group trudged along the corridors laden with all their wares, a little anxious but also looking forward to Miir’s assessment of their work. Among the goods were maps for the route to the temple-fortress, a few more of the interior, and some models of Pedes modified to better handle the atmosphere of the volcanic fields. It was not until they were halfway across the Hall of Spires that Nafi wailed in despair.

&n
bsp; “Maia, we forgot the Book of Treasures,” she cried, and Maia screeched to a halt.

  The Book of Treasures was one of the most worn-out manuscripts they had discovered at the Archival Center. It was a miracle that they managed to check it out, thanks to an apprentice at the center who was confused about lending rules for the participants of the Initiative. Its front cover had not survived the ages, so no one knew its real name. Out of reverence for the enormous amount of information on the Seliban Temple that was housed in every nook and cranny of the decrepit book, Nafi had ceremoniously named it the Book of Treasures. She kept it in an airtight wrapper, and then locked it inside her bureau drawer for safekeeping.

  According to the Book of Treasures, the Seliban Temple was used to house artifacts of immense value over the times mostly due to its inaccessible location. The two girls worked late every night to make a catalog of things that could qualify as the relic, as well as the means and methods to retrieve them, all with the guidance of the prized volume.

  “We need to get it in case he wants to look at something,” Nafi said, dropping the maps she was carrying on top of Ren’s pile. “You guys get started. I’ll go get the book.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Maia said.

  Maia and Nafi sped across the Hall of Spires as the others made their way to the Snoso. It was not too long before they were rushing back, the precious book tucked safely under Nafi’s arm. Maia thought how good it was to have these meetings so late when the corridors were free of lounging students. They would surely have knocked a few down had it been normal hours when the whole place buzzed with activity. At that precise thought, their luck ran out.

  Just past the alleyway into the Hall of Spires, Nafi crashed headlong into someone. Maia’s heart sank when she saw Karhann sprawled on the ground, fuming at Nafi, who fumbled next to him. Scattered around them were broken pieces of what seemed to have been an intricate model of the volcanic fields of Quadrant 8. Never too far away from Karhann, Loriine had appeared from behind the columns. She pounced on Nafi and pulled her up by the collar, her eyes shining.

  Maia stepped toward the girls, thinking of ways to make Loriine let go of Nafi when a small package lying next to Karhann caught her eye. The Book of Treasures had slipped out of Nafi’s hand and lay vulnerable on the floor. She lunged forward and grabbed it before Karhann or Loriine could get a whiff of it.

  “What is that thing?” Karhann hissed at Maia as he stood up and dusted himself. “And why are you hiding it?”

  “It’s just a book, nothing special,” Maia backed away a few steps.

  “And yet, you had to pounce on it,” Loriine simpered. She held Nafi in a steady grip against a spire, the other fist raised threateningly. Nafi’s eyes flashed with anger, but she did not speak a word.

  “Karhann, I think we should teach these kids a lesson once and for all,” Loriine said. “They’ve been harassing us for too long.”

  Maia took another step back, clutching the book tighter as Karhann strode forward, then another and another, until she felt the cold, hard surface of a spire behind her. It would be a futile effort, throwing a punch or a kick at a boy who was not only bigger and possibly stronger, but who was also furious at them for destroying his handiwork. Even so, she had to defend herself, her friend, the book, and her team’s chance of winning the finals. Her fist curled, her sight set on his jawline, when someone stepped out from the darkness behind Loriine.

  “Let them go, Karhann.” Yoome’s impassive voice was unmistakable.

  As Karhann whirled back to face his teammate, Maia took a few swift steps away from him. Yoome stood next to Loriine and Nafi, flanked by Baecca and the pasty-faced boy whose name Maia could never remember.

  “Yoome, don’t tell me that you want to protect the tots. Look at what they’ve done to our model,” Loriine snarled.

  “I am not protecting anyone but us. I am trying to not have ourselves disqualified,” Yoome said. “And we were done with that model anyway.”

  Karhann hesitated. Loriine fumed, sensing the sudden reversal, and tightened the grip on Nafi’s throat.

  “Miir won’t like this if we tell him,” Nafi squeaked as she tried to break away from Loriine’s hold.

  Karhann glared at Nafi, his face livid with rage. “Some nerve you have,” he spat, “threatening us on our own turf. And after you repeatedly bother us like this.”

  “Is that Karhann’s cousin Miir you are talking about?” Loriine spewed out a spiteful laugh. “You think he’ll side with you instead of his own family?”

  “Just let her go, Loriine.” Yoome’s voice was as cold as ice.

  Maia sighed in relief as Loriine released Nafi and pushed her away. She studied the situation, not sure of what their next move could be. Karhann was still close, and if they ran, he could catch up with them in a heartbeat. She decided to wait a bit longer.

  Yoome spoke again, her voice laced with an unusual trace of softness. “Karhann, we are not just a strong team, we are the top team. Whether or not we gain by looking at that book, these kids will file a complaint against us. And what then?” She paused for a moment. “We will be robbed of our chance to even compete. Should we take that risk simply because they bumped into us?”

  The silence seemed to stretch for ages. Then Karhann nodded.

  “Go away,” he whispered.

  Maia grabbed Nafi’s arm, turned, and ran. They did not even look at each other until they were inside the Spiral Elevator.

  37: Quadrant 8

  Miir and the rest of the crew were hunched around a table when the two girls burst in, breathless from running. For a few moments, no one spoke.

  “It is about time you arrived,” Miir said finally.

  “We ran into Karhann . . . and gang,” Nafi exclaimed as she set the book down on the table. “He was about to grab the Book of Treasures.”

  Miir looked at the book and flipped a few pages. “Good job digging this one up—it truly is a treasure,” he remarked.

  “Yoome saved us,” Maia piped up.

  “Saved you?” Miir’s eyes narrowed. “You mean the two of you could not fight back?”

  “We could,” Maia explained, “but it didn’t seem like a sensible choice. The five of them could have easily beaten us, so we waited. And luckily, it worked out in the end. “Of course, if Yoome had not convinced that stuck-up boy, I was ready to break that snout off his face,” she added spiritedly, sitting down at the table next to Nafi. “But then, we did destroy their model completely, even if by accident.”

  “Yoome helped you even after you destroyed their model?” Ren’s eyes grew wide. “Something is seriously wrong with that girl.”

  “You think she’s strange just because she was nice?” Nafi raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Or are you just mad that she doesn’t think much of you?”

  Ren rolled his eyes, shook his head, and looked away.

  “Well, congratulations on making their hard work go to waste,” Miir cut into the banter, his tone surprisingly lighthearted. “And I am glad that you had the prudence to wait it out instead of going ballistic. A cool head serves well during combat.”

  “We didn’t mean to hurt them in any way,” Maia sighed, saddened to think how much work Karhann must have put into the model, just to have it destroyed by their carelessness.

  “They will build another one if they need to, so do not fret over something that was clearly not within your control.” Miir’s sympathetic response startled Maia. He went back to studying the map, possibly not realizing how much his words meant to the two girls, but Maia noticed Nafi’s face brighten and her own heart felt lighter.

  The rest of the meeting went without incident. After looking through the calculations for the three routes, Miir picked the course through Faith’s End.

  “It should be easy enough to fly a Raptor through the canyon,” he said casually. “I could fly through the Draegen as well. That is without a doubt the shortest path, but—”

  “Would be too risky?” Na
fi interjected.

  “Yes, it might be considered taking excessive risk. We do not want to be penalized for that.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement. The discussion moved on to accessories and other equipment. Maia, Kusha, and Nafi were picked to use Cylopedes to find the open gate. Once inside, they would have to find the hangar and open its door to let the Onclioraptor in. Then the team had to locate the relic and bring it back to the academy.

  “We have to make good use of the time we gain by flying through the canyon,” Dani said. “Locate the entryway as fast as we can before anyone else shows up.”

  “Do not ignore the situation where we might reach after someone else,” Miir added, “in which case, we shall have to try our best to compete with them to find the door first. As long as the door is open, it is up for taking,” he continued. “So if someone else opens the gate and you engage in a duel and win, you can push them out and get in. But as soon as that gate closes, you have to waive your rights to the competition. Any aggression after that would result in a breach of the honor code.”

  “And the same rules apply to us if we’re the first group to find the gate, right?” asked Ren. “We won’t be safe until the door is closed behind us.”

  Miir nodded. “And that brings us to the subject of the clues.” He looked at the faces that ringed the table. “Have you deciphered the verse?”

  “The first few lines seem simple,” Maia started to explain. “We have to follow the light to enter the dark temple, that quite obviously means the Gate of the Rising Sun. Inside, surrounding the bay, are the treasure chambers—rooms that house the relics.”

  “We made a list of all the items that can build a world or destroy one,” Nafi added.

  “Do you know what we seek?” Miir asked, looking at Maia and Nafi.

  Maia saw Nafi’s face dim as all eyes focused on them. After all the time spent on decrypting the verse, the duo did not have a single clue as to what the relic could be.