by Joe Darris
Tennay loved to watch Urea synchronize with her panthera. There was almost no change in the Evanimal’s movements, none of the clunky hiccups caused by hesitation. She became the animal. The beast behaved like it always did, it just accomplished goals set by the Spire. But Tennay had always been more impressed with her brother. Skup controlled an entire flock singlehandedly. Somehow the young Pilot had learned an entire language of animal behavior, and could coerce his flock into doing all that he wished. Thank Nature for that. If the enhanced flock went wild, there was little hope for the garden. The birds would decimate the elk population, and there’d be nothing to stop them. The twins proved that Nature had not forsaken mankind. They and their Evanimals proved there was a place for mankind on the earth, and now Baucis had imprisoned them.
Before the Wild Man, Tennay sometimes found himself doubting the Naturalist religion. It was based on miracles, no doubt, the twins proved that. And Ntelo knew how to stir up passion for amazing events, but the religion was simplistic and leaned too much on ignorance. Naturalists touted the forces of Nature. They loved the spectacle of the hunt, despite the Evanimals being anything but wild. Naturalists either didn't realize or didn't care. They paid handsomely for the cornucopia of plants that came from the Garden. Tennay doubted they'd work at all if they didn't have the proverbial carrot as incentive. So Tennay had forgiven Ntelo, and said nothing as she carried on with her show. The High Priestess never analyzed the Scourge's role in the symphony below them. It was a demon, a boogieman, never given credit for the increased strength and malleability of mind it afforded the Evanimals. Yes, the Scourge cursed humanity, but without it the Garden would have been lost to the forces of Nature long ago. Tennay had held his tongue on a lie so complicated. Could they have done differently? They were trapped up here, humanity's impact on the earth reduced to a single caldera. Beliefs do not matter so long as the Spire is content, Tennay had thought, wrongly, he now realized.
The religion was based on lies. Because of Ntelo's weekly tirades and public obsession with the Evanimals, people didn’t care to know about the workings of their home. No one bothered to ask about the mechanics of the Spire, despite the fact that its field powered every device in the city. People were too interested in the antics of their superstitious deities to work for their own survival. People had jobs, yes. They worked for credits to pay entrance to their Naturalist services, be it for entertainment or salvation, but their jobs did little to help humanity: waiters, maids, artists, chefs. Where were the engineers, the inventors, the mechanics?
Ntelo and Baucis had become blind with their lust for power. Tennay could see what the Scourge was doing to the people in the Spire. Those that ate from the Garden were slowly dying. Their bodies were no more used to the Scourge than the slew of vultus corpses that littered the mountains. People were losing their hair and muscle mass, their veins were taking on an unhealthy dark pallor. No one save Tennay had lived past eighty. He credited his dedication to his reclamation machines. Why hadn't Aurelius let him bring this to the public? Despite such horror hope still bloomed, like the tomatos a thousand meters below. The youth weren't affected by the Scourge so terribly. Instead they were adapting, growing hair black as the Scourge. There was even one girl, Phoebe, whose hair glittered like an Evanimal's! The Scourge wasn't death to the youth of the Spire, but a new way of life.
But the Council refused to share Tennay's knowledge, and he had obeyed, like a mindless biselk, he had forfeited his mind. No longer. The Spire had endured the sick trinity for far too long. Ntelo with her gospel, Baucis with his miracles, and pompous Aurelius who broadcast the whole spectacle in the name of giving the people what they wanted.
Then the three had the audacity to imprison the only people Tennay or anyone had ever believed in. Tennay didn't know everything that had happened between Baucis and Urea, but he knew he would never get the truth from Baucis. So onward he trudged, facing what would prove to be his last duty to the Spire.
Chapter 38
On this dark day the animals turn against us. Our Prince and Princess sit idle, no more than caged sheep that bow to the Wild Man's fury. Who will save us? Who among us is worthy to be saved? Even the Council must stay true if they seek salvation...
The twins sat in their cell a long time. It is a depressingly ironic place of capture. They were simply put into an Amplification chamber, the force field door turned on, and left there. The electromagnetic field that powered the VRCs is deactivated, the room is dead. They can't even get a signal to chime and find out what is happening. So they wonder and hope and try not to fall into listlessness.
Skup dreams of escape, of taking back his honor and claiming his rightful place as a leader. Urea dreams of her panthera. Would she ever see her again? Would Baucis ever allow her to see through her eyes, to feel her gentle plodding gate and silent footsteps. Both fear none of the pilots will come for them. They are too busy, overwhelmed with an apocalypse of their own devising.
Most citizens of the Spire avoided the two, seeing them as people from a higher station than themselves. No one wonders where they are. No one comes for them because of the dull thuds that dim the force field that locks their door.
“I'm scared Skup,” a huge confession from a girl brave enough to step into the mind of a panthera.
“We'll be alright, we'll escape when the field goes down.”
“What will that do to the Spire?”
Skup has no answer. He is terrified as well, and knows his sister senses it. Everyone thought the Spire indestructible. Yet now a few animals, less than a dozen last time he saw, shake its very core, testing it. He does not know if the ancient technological testament was up to the challenge.
The twins try to see past the blue force field. Useless. If they get too close their VRCs burn in the back of their heads. Their senses muddle, they experience tunnel vision, smell acrid smoke, hear a ringing in their bones. Whether it is in their mind or their nostrils is irrelevant. The force field keeps them imprisoned. Urea cannot imagine the pain Kao must have felt when he beat himself against the wall. He has no VRC, nothing to interfere with his mind. Just those antlers, spikes that rain sparks and crackle with electricity. They must have hurt beyond comprehension, yet no pain flickered in Kao's eyes. He made no indication that his ears buzzed or smoke stung his nostrils. Urea thinks he has a drive they do not. She wishes to learn from him, but knows he owes her nothing. Tonight is the full moon, and she cannot free him.
“If we escape, we free Kao?” She asks.
“You're crazy,” her brother says. He is closer to the door. He looks tense, “someone's coming. Let's see who it is first.”
Was that an answer? It was definitely not no.
Her heart drops when Tennay rounds the corner. The old Councilor understood the fields and systems of Spire City better than anyone. They will not escape him unless he allows it. But he scurries close, and closes his eyes. They flick beneath closed lids, moving numbers and code with his mind. The field vanishes.
Skup rushes the old man. His approach is silent, then with a shriek he shoves the Councilor to the floor and is upon him.
“Urea, leave” he snarls.
She starts to go, hoping Kao's where she last saw him. She pulls up a map on her VRC, no longer dead in the chamber. No luck, his cell no longer has the intense power drain it had before.
“We need your help!” the old man screams. A ploy she will not fall for. Baucis is not the only conniving Councilor. It is the job description. Then another thud, stronger than before. The lights in the hall dim. She hesitates. The brownouts are growing long. That one nearly half a second. “Spire City's in trouble, the biselk...” the old man bursts into tears. Low pathetic moans. Skup takes his knees off Tennay's chest but the man doesn't move.
“Drop the biselk, what about the Spire” Skup asks.
“They're draining its power. Every time they strike, the Spire discharges.”
Urea freezes in her tracks. She saw Kao ram the spire with h
is own horned helmet. He taught them this.
“Snake eyes they are. They'll be knocked unconscious long before they drain the energy from the core of the Earth. Go Urea. Leave this one with me.”
She starts to leave but Tennay blurts “No, wait! They're getting stronger. They're bones are working like batteries. They're charging with the Spire's energy!”
“So the Shepherds can't override their VRCs and make them stop?” Urea asks.
“Precisely,” Tennay nods his head desperately, “The signal's too shaky and they're carrying too much power. We can't override them with our systems.” Another thud and the lights flicker. Tennay looked around wildly like he thinks the hall will cave in. “Please. We need you... Prince, Princess.”
“Even if they knock out our power, so what? The Spire's made of carbon composites. They'll just keep ramming it until their antlers snap. Then the power will come back”
“If they damage the Spire at all there will be a power build up. This whole thing might explode. That'd be enough power to level this continent.”
“Serves us right, aye Urea? Maybe that'd finally get rid of the Scourge.”
Urea slowly plods back towards Tennay, careful not to get too close. She keeps her distance, like she would as her panthera. He is not to be trusted, but if what he said was true... Kao was here because of her and Skup. The biselk were ramming the Spire because of Kao. This is her fault. She was willing to sacrifice herself, even her panthera for the rest of the Evanimal's freedom, but she never expected this.
“The entire Garden would be destroyed?” she asks cautiously.
“This entire caldera will be like a meteorite impact, the explosion will compress the earth below us, then send a plume of ash into the air that will bury everything within a thousand kilometers, and if it makes it to the atmosphere, well... let's just say no one will ever worry about the Scourge again.”
“What can we do? You said yourself the signal's too weak,” Skup asks.
“Your Evanimals aren't charged like the biselk. It might be tenuous, but I think you can still sync. Besides, you two are... gifts,” Tennay's eyes sparkle as tears run down his cheeks “You can do things the rest of us dream of. If anyone can save us, Prince, and Princess... ”
“And what of Kao? What happens to him if we decide to help you?” Skup asks. Urea shot him a glance. He smiles faintly at her. She loves her brother.
Tennay looks desperately from Skup to his sister. “Baucis was going to implant him with a VRC, but he escaped.”
We'll help save the Spire. But you'll help us get Kao back to earth, and his sister.”
“His sister...?” Tennay starts, and thinks of all the girl could do for humanity, all Baucis and Ntelo promised she'd be, all that he imagined: the mother of humanity's future. A sister? If Urea knew then surely Baucis did, and he had made his intentions with the pair quite clear. Tennay looks to Urea, her shock of short black hair and mournful purple eyes. He looks to Skup, his features no less brave in face of true danger. The choice is easy. He should have made it years ago.
“I'll do as my Prince and Princess command,” he breathes out, and feels a weight lifted.
Skup yanks Tennay to his feet.
“Come on.”
It is every bit as bad as Tennay made it out to be. The Shepherds are listless and ornery when the twins get to the Virtual Reality floor. A few remain in their chambers, trying to get the biselk to stop their relentless pounding of the Spire. The twins can tell it is not working. The Spire can tell it is not working.
The Shepherds paw at the ground with clumsy movements, trying to steal the biselk's instincts from them. They shake their heads, possessing far away crowns of antlers invisible to all but themselves. The few keep it up for a minute or so at a time. Then their eyes go wide, the connection broken. The twins dump the old Councilor on the floor. He sits mute, trying not to shake.
“What's happening Jacob?” The chief Shepherd opens his eyes. He had been pouring over data accessible by his VRC. He smiles and hope stirs in Urea's heart for the second time that day.
“Its a variation of the usual mating rituals, but instead of butting heads with each other they're going against the Spire. Normally they back down when confronted with a larger crack of lightning, but the Spire is making them stronger and stronger. Each strike is more violent than the last. We don't have much time.”
“Until what?”
“Their skeletons cannot hold an infinite charge. At some point they'll short circuit.”
“And that means?” Urea points the question at Tennay but his eyes answer for him. Not good.
“And the howluchins?”
“All locked up in their cages in the safe. We've rerouted power to keep their fields charged but... there were some pretty intense disturbances.”
“The Wild Man.”
Jacob only shrugs.
“Great. No pressure. Where's my panthera?”
“She's on the outskirts of the garden, keeping her distance.”
“She hasn't touched the Spire?”
“No. I think she's as afraid as we are.”
“Great. I'm terrified too.” she says with a smirk. Jacob doesn't smile, in fact his face just about hits the floor. “I'm just kidding Jake, Sync me up.”
“You got it,” he says, a hair more confident hearing Urea say his name.
Urea steps into her Amplification chamber. The Shepherds that sit on the floor listlessly, counting the strikes until the end of the Spire, look up. A few of them stand. One starts to applaud. The rest join in and soon they're cheering. Urea still senses their exhaustion, just not as much fear.
“Let's not celebrate yet,” Skup cuts in. “How's the flock?”
“Not good. About half of them took flight.”
“At night?”
“He didn't tell us in person... he's locked himself in a chamber,” Jacob nods towards one of the chambers towards the end of hall, “he told us as the Wild Man.”
Skup tries to keep his face expressionless. What Baucis has is not the Wild Man. The Wild Man is ten times stronger, armed and dangerous. The Wild Man is loose, somewhere in the city, probably looking for a way to finish them all. Skup promised to free the Wild Man, and his sister, he hadn't sworn to protect the old one, nor did he know if he could.
“Skup, I didn't want to say anything to Urea... its not really her department and I didn't want her to worry...”
“Spit it out Jacob.”
“If the shield goes down...”
“Don't worry, the Scourge is an empty threat.”
“No not the Scourge,”
“Then what else could get us up here?” Cold fear chills Skup's bones.
Jacob nods, fights back tears. He was an engineer and a gardener, not a hunter or a warrior. “The biselk attacks have dissipated the storm somehow...”
Jacob nods. “Prep the prince's chamber.” Three howluchin pilots nod and the chamber crackles to life. No one had given up hope on their prince and princess, not yet, not until the Spire falls to earth.
Skup steps inside, closes his eyes. “Go.”
The air crackles to life and his mind rockets out of his brain at the speed of light.
Chapter 39
We sit here, awaiting what Nature brings us. There is nowhere to run, nothing to do but pray. Feel the bed of grass beneath your feet,
thank Nature for a small gift. Soon enough, we will all be one with her.
Tunnel after tunnel Kao runs through. The little monkeys are fast. He tries to keep up. They know this place, he thinks. They hoot and yip excitedly. Freedom is a dangerous drug. Passage after passage. All the same. No plants. No animals. None of the pale hairless gods, the Hidden. A cave long abandoned. Lifeless. Inorganic. It smells of nothing but the power in the air that makes his prongs tingle and his hair stand on edge. The power comes and goes with gentle tremors. It never leaves entirely, just lessens.
On and on they run. The monkeys turn back and check the hunter now and then. Keep up Kao. They are far ahead. He cannot tell if they wait at corners or rush to them. Do they want me lost? Again the monkeys come to a corner and take it, they vanish. His heart pounds. He speeds up, the wind whistling past his ears, through his fur, and rounds the corner.
He reels, dizzies, falls back to the ground unable to stand. Nothing is in front of him. Nothing but sky. He is high up, very, very high up. Through wisps of clouds he can see the ordered garden below him, the river snaking around it, the mountain he scaled and fell from. He can see on and on.
He looks up and his eyes adjust. The shimmering blue wall is in front of him. He can hear its persistent hum. The prongs in his arm tingle. Another dull thud this time with a blue flash from the earth below and he feels the ground below him, yet above the earth, rattle. The wall dims. Maybe he can break it now. If he was brasher he might have, a caged hunter would, but Kao does not want to, not yet. Another flash, another rumble, he leans forward.
Prongelk. They pound the Totem. Each one weighs a boulder. They challenge the Totem. They learned it holds lightning like their prongs. I taught them that. They will not back down and Kao is thankful for them. Another flash, another rumble. He can see and feel the strike before he can hear it. This makes his stomach retch. Everything about this place is wrong.
