by Stefan Bolz
Dr. Veneira nods again. C.J. and Tevis, their hands tied behind their backs, are led out of the hut and toward them. When Aries sees the bruises on their faces, she starts to cry. Mila takes a step toward them, but Aries holds her back. When Aries looks at her and sees the pain in her face, it seems as if the whole world is falling to its knees inside her. From Mila, she looks at Tevis, who holds back her own tears.
Seth, Kiire, and Jeremiah are led out next. Seth can barely walk and holds on to Kiire's shoulder. The next android that emerges pulls Max behind him. He's not moving, and when the android reaches the others he drops him on the ground, where he lies motionless. Then there is a scream from inside the hut. The cloth parts and two androids carry Amber. She struggles to escape her captors, but to no avail.
"Look at them! Look at each one of them," Dr. Veneira says. "You will have to live with this for the rest of your life. And don't think we will end it here. No. We will make sure you'll live. You. Not them. You will spend the rest of your life in prison, the one that you walked through so carelessly, without respect for the institution and the function it fulfills. No. You will live in a cell. As for your friends, you will only see them on a screen in front of you. How they suffered and died in the end because of your stubbornness. That will be your entertainment."
Aries only half listens to what she is saying.
"Ty, where is Ty?" she asks.
"Excuse me?" Dr. Veneira says.
"Where is Ty?" Aries says, louder this time.
Before the woman speaks again, Aries sees it in Tevis's face, sees it in her eyes. There is no judgment in them. Only pain.
"It's not true. It's not true. Tell me it's not true!" Aries says.
"Unfortunately it is," Dr. Veneira says. "Tybault Hennrichsen died at the age of seventy-one. On the foot of the slopes of some crater he had no business entering. He could have had another ten years at least. You know that he was about to retire when you came to Electrical? He had a month left on his contract, but after you’d been there for a few weeks he applied for a renewal for another four years. Less pay, of course. We allowed it. And that's what you did. Destroyed a man's life. A man you professed to love. Your mentor and friend."
Aries feels cold all of a sudden. As if she’s jumped from a large boat into icy waters and the boat is slowly pulling away.
"What do you want?" Aries asks.
"We want you to not have to look at your friend's deaths over and over when you're in prison. We want to spare you the... pain of that. Instead we want you to convince your friends here to tell us what the symbols mean. We want you to make your friends understand that they and you will be better off if you tell us."
Where Marjory Veneira was calm before, she now appears increasingly agitated. Aries glances at Amber, who gives her head a barely perceptible shake.
"The truth is, we don't know what the symbols mean. We've tried to figure it out ourselves," Amber says.
"But you must know something."
"Yes. We know something."
"And?"
"If we help you, will you let them go?"
For a moment, there is silence. The patterns created by the machine's blade in the background behind Dr. Veneira have an almost hypnotic effect on Aries. She tries to concentrate but her eyes keep getting pulled upward and toward it.
Conduit.
Born-of-Night, did you hear that?
No.
I didn't hear anything either, Mila replies in her thoughts.
"If you help us decipher the meaning on the pillars and the plate," Dr. Veneira continues, "we will take their efforts into consideration, yes."
"I want them to be set free," Aries says. "With no repercussions for them whatsoever."
"You can state no demands here!" Dr. Veneira screams. After a few moments, she continues, calmer this time. "We are extending a courtesy to you in considering their cooperation, but that is as far as we are willing to go. This is not a negotiation."
I need to leave you for a while, Aries hears Born-of-Night think. Can you tell them not to shoot at me?
Will you let my bird go? Aries can feel the knot in her stomach when she asks this.
Dr. Veneira makes a gesture with her hand.
I think this means, “yes,” Aries thinks.
Born-of-Night takes off, letting out a loud cry as she flies toward the machine. Then she turns in the air and toward the side, where she disappears behind a building.
What is it? Aries asks.
Not sure yet but I'll let you know.
"I cannot make my friends tell you what to do," Aries says. "They have to decide for themselves if they wish to help you."
"But if they won't say anything they'll die, and you will have to watch it happen every day for as long as you live," Dr. Veneira says. "So, if they are your friends, as you so proclaim, they will have no problem telling us what we need to know."
"I will tell you," Amber says quietly.
Aries shakes her head no.
"I will tell you everything we know."
* * *
He felt death reach out and touch him, felt its fingers clasp his chest and squeeze it mercilessly, his lungs compress until taking a breath, one more breath, was an insurmountable task. He was finished. He lay at the bottom of a dusty slope, his eyes open, and fully aware of his surroundings. He could move his hands and his head and his feet, but he couldn't take another breath. I'm sorry, Aries, he thought. I'm sorry I couldn't watch over you better. You'll have to find your way alone. His eyes closed, blackness engulfing him. It'll be over soon. It'll be over soon.
A word arose within him. From the depth of pain it ascended, passing the threshold of his mind. At first, it had no meaning. Just another word. Not even a good word. But he couldn’t deny the surge of strength it gave him, fueling his desire to live.
No.
He opened his eyes.
No!
The spec of dust, moving above the city and toward him, came closer.
No!
The surge of power the word brought with it made his lungs expand. His mouth opened and he took a breath. It was his first breath. The very first breath of his life. No. A short and powerful word. Two letters. Like Ty.
He saw the hawk fly toward him. He heard her cries as if she were calling him to stand up, calling him to arms, to fight one last fight. And he got up, stumbled, and fell again. Sharp rocks cut through the skin of his hands. There was blood on them. It comes from my abdomen, he thought. Born-of-Night landed next to him. Her eyes followed him as he got up and walked, past the opening in the stone wall, and onto the road that led straight toward the machine.
* * *
"For you who stands here at the turning of the tides," Amber says, pointing at the first line of symbols on the plate.
One of the two men writes in his pad.
"What are you talking about?" Dr. Veneira asks.
"This is what it says," Amber replies. "For you who stands here at the turning of the tides."
"You have one chance to tell me what it means," the woman says. "After that, you will have to face the consequences for your actions. And your friends will pay for it."
"Your enemy's upon you. He comes for you in strides," Amber continues, pointing at the second line. "You shall neither fear him..." Amber looks at Aries. "Nor your own death and pain. For when your... I don't know what this next word is ...are open, I shall... don't know this word either ...you again."
Ty is alive, Aries hears Born-of-Night think. He's on his way to you.
Aries looks behind her. A figure moves slowly toward them. It's Ty, unmistakably. He wavers, staggers, and catches himself.
Conduit.
Dr. Veneira nods to the man next to her.
"Bring the boy," the man tells one of the androids.
The android holding Jeremiah pushes him forward. He stumbles and lands next to the plate.
"You will convince her right now to give me an answer that makes sense!" Dr. Veneira shouts.
/> Jeremiah reaches the plate, climbs onto it.
"I'm s-s-sorry, but that's what the symbols s-s-say."
"Those symbols contain mathematical formulas! Are supposed to contain mathematical formulas!" Dr. Veneira can barely contain her rage. "We have deciphered some of them but nothing, nothing in them suggests a poem!"
Aries looks behind her again. Ty has reached the first row of androids. Nobody seems to be interested in him.
"They are b-b-both," Jeremiah says. "The language is m-m-mathematical. Each symbol contains a f-f-ormula. All of them together give an equation. But they also mean w-w-what Amber s-s-said."
"So, you're the one from the drawings," Dr. Veneira says. "On the walls. You're the one."
"Y-y-yes."
Ty collapses about thirty feet from Aries. She turns and runs toward him. When she reaches him, she kneels, lifts his head, moves some of his hair off his face. His ponytail has come undone.
"I'm so sorry," Aries says, as the androids come toward her.
"Shhh," Ty says. His hand reaches up and he touches her face. Two fingers brush against her cheek. Aries sees the blood on them.
The androids pull her away.
"Remember what you said, Aries," Ty says. "You ask the question 'why' often enough, you get to the bottom of everything."
The androids pull Aries toward the plate and drop her next to it.
"Your pathetic gesture of remorse comes too late," Dr. Veneira says. Aries can hear the disgust in her voice. "He needed you a few weeks ago." She points at Jeremiah and Amber. "You two will come with me and you will help us put the formula together."
"Wait!" Jeremiah cries out when one of the androids moves to grab him.
Dr. Veneira gestures for the android to stop.
"I'm s-s-sorry but I w-w-w. ...I w-w-w..."
Jeremiah's face is red from the strain of getting the words to come out of his mouth.
"I w-w-w...."
"Jeremiah, tell us what you know," Tevis says quietly. The relief over Ty's reappearance, as well as the pain over seeing him helpless on the ground, clearly show in her face.
"Yes, Jeremiah, tell us what you know," Sam says.
"Tell us what you know," Mila says.
Jeremiah stands there, shaking and barely holding himself up. He turns to face Dr. Veneira.
"I w-w-won't... I w-w-won't... I w-w-won't tell you anything."
Dr. Veneira's expression holds a fury Aries has seldom seen in another human being. From her, Aries’s glance moves to C.J., who has been kneeling this whole time but now gets to her feet. As she takes a step forward, she looks at her hands in disbelief. The ropes that tied her hands together lie on the ground around her feet. Aries sees something in C.J.'s eyes, a desperation that seems to well up in her. C.J. shakes her head as she slowly lifts her hands toward her shoulders.
"Get down!" Aries cries out. The others react almost instantly.
"What is going—?"
Dr. Veneira can't finish her sentence. From C.J.'s hands, Aries sees a ripple in the air extending outward in a circle around C.J. Dr. Veneira staggers and falls to the ground. So do the two men next to her. The androids closest to her collapse where they stood.
Aries looks up, unable to comprehend what has happened. She steps onto the plate. Amber's eyes search hers. When they find each other, Amber nods.
"Now, Aries," Mila says, stepping backward.
Dr. Veneira has trouble getting up.
Now what? Aries thinks. I don't know what to do!
One of the men gets up, looks around, disoriented.
What am I supposed to do? Aries asks.
Do what you came here to do, Born-of-Night answers, as she lands on her shoulder.
But what is that?
Dr. Veneira gets up, points at Aries, still unable to form a word.
You know what to do.
She searches her mind feverishly for the missing piece of information. If you ask the question “why” often enough, you get to the bottom of everything. Why am I here? Right now, at this point in time, why am I here? Because I'm part of the symbols on the stone. I'm the “you” in it. For when your... are open. Eyes? For when your eyes are open?
Conduit.
What's a conduit? she asks. It covers wires, it contains wires, it contains... something. A channel.
"Take them! Take all of them!" Dr. Veneira screams.
A channel for what?
Aries remembers it at the same moment Max lifts his head and looks at her. In the vision she had while she was dead, she stood in front of the machine. A slight smile appears on Max's lips when he moves his arms, opens them onto either side of him.
Arms, Aries thinks. It's arms!
She looks toward the machine, sees the patterns inside the center. We're not here to destroy it, she thinks. We're here to... switch it on. And while she stands there, while the androids move toward them, grab Amber and Jeremiah, reach Seth and Kiire, and while Dr. Veneira screams at her, Aries spreads her arms to the side. Nothing happens at first. Then the light in the center of the machine dims. At the same time, the humming sound stops. Dr. Veneira turns her head toward the machine. The two men turn as well. Aries can feel the tingling in her feet and fingers. From there it spreads through her body, like a thousand needles penetrating her skin.
The low humming sound comes back, changes its frequency, becomes higher-pitched. The blade in the center of the machine begins to rotate faster. The light increases. The circle around the blade gains speed. The symbols on the pillars begin to glow slightly. The androids have stopped and turn to face the machine. And then, very slowly, the massive triangle outside the circle begins to spin. In her peripheral vision, Aries can see Max holding his ears in pain. While looking at it, taking it all in, she can't hold back her tears. The plate below her feet begins to vibrate. Cracks appear in its surface.
You are the first, even though there were three before you.
Where is this coming from? she thinks.
When the first android drops to its knees, Aries thinks it's probably a malfunction. Then the second one follows. He... it... looks toward the machine, unable to grasp the situation, while at the same time becoming aware of its surroundings. A cracking sound reaches them from high above.
Something is breaking, Aries thinks, as Born-of-Night lifts off and flies upward. Aries closes her eyes, lets the wind, generated by the massive blades, go through her. As the hawk ascends next to the machine, Aries is overwhelmed by its graceful motions, its intricate patterns of light in the center. So beautiful, she thinks.
Born-of-Night flies upward, higher and higher, and is now already far above the machine and almost at the ceiling. The crystallite plate at the bottom of the first lock, together with the transformer units, begins to break apart. Large pieces fly down and into the light beam while disintegrating almost completely. And when Born-of-Night descends within the beam, Aries sees through her eyes that the large half-moon-shaped plates in the lock move. First, there is a round opening in the center. Then it expands until the plates are gone.
The locks are opening, Aries hears from the hawk. All of them.
Aries opens her eyes. Half the androids are down. Others walk around as if disoriented and then fall to the ground. "Where am I?" one of them seems to say. Then it collapses. Dr. Veneira sits on the ground, a baffled look on her face. The vibration seems to diminish the faster the machine's center blade turns.
"I think you did it," Mila says.
Aries turns, goes down on one knee, and embraces her.
"We did it, Mila. It was all of us," she says.
They step off the plate and toward Ty, who is still lying on the ground. Tevis kneels next to him.
"He'll be fine," she says. "But we need to get him to a hospital."
"I'm fine," Ty says, sitting up. "It's just a scratch."
Aries kneels to embrace him.
"Easy there, girl," Ty says. "I'm getting old."
"You're not old," she says, and kisses his f
orehead. "I'm so glad you're still here."
"Tell me about it."
Seth and C.J. come toward them, together with the others—Kiire and Max, Amber, Sam and Jeremiah.
"What happened?" C.J. asks.
"Well," Kiire replies. "You did your thingy again with your hands and then Aries did her thingy with her arms and here we are."
"I missed it," she says.
"Look," Mila says, pointing at the machine.
The center blade inside is no longer visible. Instead, there is a sphere of blue-and-white light. From it, narrow beams of the same light extend outward until each of the beams reaches one of the small structures with the domelike roofs surrounding the machine.
"What are those?" Aries asks.
"Beats me," Ty says. "What I do know is that Tier Six is right now experiencing a major power outage."
"Good for them," Kiire says. "There's nothing better than going back to basics once in a while."
"I think I know what those are for," Amber says. "At least, I remember vaguely what they were used for." She walks over to one of the small buildings and stops before what looks like a console.
As the others follow, Dr. Veneira screams at one of the men next to her: "I have to get back up there! Get me back up there!" The man shrugs and points at the elevator—stopped about thirty feet above the ground, the limp forms of twenty-five androids collapsed on its floor. "But I need to tell them! I need to warn them!"
When Amber moves her hands over the console, symbols appear. She pushes a couple of them. The panels in front retract and an opening appears; inside are twelve egg-shaped containers arranged in a circle. The containers' dark, glassy surfaces reflect the light that streams through the large sphere in the ceiling. Strings hang from either side of the sphere, meeting about two feet off the ground where they are tied to either side of a narrow board.
