The Touchstone Trilogy

by Andrea K Höst

  Today wasn't the 'weekend' for just the Setari, but for most of Pandora, since the settlement has shifted to a four days on, one day break cycle, and so there were people – children – everywhere. The old town drew them like a magnet – the other major point of interest being Moon Piazza, which had lots of kids playing ball games – most groups had some kind of adult supervisor and there were some rather harassed-looking greensuits patrolling in an effort to keep the more adventurous out of any of the uncleared buildings. It wasn't just Nuran children, but the long-serving KOTIS employees and the first wave of settler families, nervously picnicking on the lake's bank.

  Not wearing our uniforms was reasonably effective at muting attention – though walking around with four seriously fit guys isn't exactly the best way to keep a low profile. Some of the gawking was down to me, some to Setari recognition, but much was down to ogling. Most of the Nuran kids, at least, had no idea who any of us were, and the Tarens and Kolarens simply stared or waved. Sen went into puppy mode, bouncing about, scampering off the path and bringing things back to show me or Kaoren. I ended up weaving all the flowers she kept bringing back into a little coronet for her, which she has yet to take off, crushed and wilted as it's become. Ys and Rye continued to act seriously worried about something, paying a good deal more attention to Kaoren explaining to the other captains his theories on enhancement than on the beautiful day around them. I didn't notice when they separated Maze out from our group – it was a quick sharp glance from Sen which tipped me off.

  Sen is very much a sweet and joyful girl, but that doesn't stop her Little Miss Machiavelli moments. Rather than go and find out why Ys and Rye had dropped behind, she held up her arms demandingly and when I picked her up kept taking peeks over my shoulder. I exchanged glances with Kaoren, then decided to pretend I hadn't noticed. Ys and Rye's conversation with Maze took a good hunk of our walk, while I tried to decide whether it was a good thing they'd decided to talk to someone, or a bad thing that they didn't feel they could talk to me or Kaoren. It says something about how innately and obviously nice Maze is, that the brief conversation he'd had with them the other day had impressed them enough that they were willing to open up to him.

  They looked inordinately relieved when they finally decided to catch up with us, took a few sidewise glances at me, then finally started paying attention to their surroundings. Sen wriggled to the ground and went and tucked herself between them, and I gave Maze a 'really need an explanation' look. He opened a channel with Kaoren and I and asked: "Have you looked at the news feeds this morning?"

  I hadn't, but immediately looked, and could hardly miss the feature article titled: "Killing Caszandra Devlin". It was actually a pretty good article, discussing KOTIS' dilemma in trying to use me to find solutions to problems both major and minor. Because my talent set and connection to the Ena is so little understood even now, and yet so useful, they're torn between 'poking Devlin at it' and the repeated close calls I've had. The reporter had pieced together a pretty accurate summation of the injuries I've received since being rescued, which was impressive in a single list, and discussed the morality of almost inevitably getting me killed for the greater good.

  "When did Ys and Rye get access to the main news services?" I asked, embarrassed not to have known. "That seems a little complex for the filtered, age-appropriate information the technicians described."

  "It would fall in the 'challenging content' area for children in their early thirties," Maze said, shrugging. "It's the language differences which were causing most of the problem here – using a reader for a complex article in a different dialect. They wanted to know if the article meant that the leaders here were planning to kill you, and if you knew and had any chance of getting away." He gave me a wry smile. "They seem to have not wanted to ask you directly, since being marked for sacrifice would obviously be an upsetting thing for you to talk about."

  "They don't yet talk to Cassandra because they fear that as soon as they accept being a part of our family, we will reject them," Kaoren said, frowning as he studied the kids' backs. "They've been taught that they have no value, and won't allow themselves to trust anyone treating them as important. But it's a good sign that they're becoming protective of you," he added to me. "For all we can do little to deny the dangers. I've found the steps we need to follow to ensure their care if we're both lost."

  Maze, though he looked sad at the blunt pragmatism of preparing for the possibility of us dying, only said: "I suspect that you might find more than a few among First and Second who have taken an interest in their future."

  I just wanted to hug them all, but settled for catching up to them to point out the tower I'd lived in – well off to the north – and agreed to take them there after lunch (a trip made much easier by having a Setari escort who could fly us there). We headed down the stairs to Moon Piazza, where many of the buildings in the bracketing half-circle have been completed, and the residential areas just beyond are far less raw and un-lived-in, more like a place which might be a living town. The interiors of the museum and the art gallery were coming together, and some of the fancier shops. The area beyond the Piazza particularly surprised me, since it had just been paths and residences when I'd last been here, and now there were several new buildings in places which had been reserved for non-residential structures.

  The biggest change was a school just past Moon Piazza's outer circle – they grew an entire huge school in a week. Maze says there's actually four of them, spaced out among the sprawling residential sector (and that's still two thousand students per school – the closest one was for the oldest students). It's something of an open-air school because they haven't fitted the windows yet, and it follows the circle theme of most of the new structures in Pandora by being a full crescent shape, with rising smaller tiers going up five levels – once again merging with the slope of a hill. The circular school yard and the open part of the crescent face south so it will get a lot of sunlight during the day. Opposite the building is a much lower structure in the same shape – a huge two-tiered crescent around a lot of what will be flat, grassy areas once they finish removing boulders and bushes. This seems to have been designed as a 'youth recreation centre', with sections marked out as courts for different games, a small amphitheatre, lots of whitestone benches and tables, and – the entire reason for our trip – Pandora's first store and café.

  The store part was larger than the café part, and still mostly unstocked – just whitestone shelving everywhere. The café had opened two days ago (with plenty of teething problems, but a lot of good-humoured support), and I liked it straight up because it was playing actual music – from speakers instead of over the interface. It just makes all the difference. Whitestone everything does lend a certain sameness to the décor, helped along a little by a gorgeous desert scape filling one long wall in the interface, and some decorations hooked on the wall above the servery hatch. There were also a seemingly random bunch of painted handprints on the other wall, but before I could get a good look at them the fifteen-ish boy (impressive in an ankle-length black apron) who was seating people saw Raiten.

  He whooped, reminding me of when I visited Isten Notra's house, then reeled off welcometoMuina'sfirstcaféandpickanytableyoulike in a single stream of noise before turning and running into the kitchen. This was soon followed by a rather large crash. We all had to laugh a little at that, except Ys and Rye, who looked highly suspicious.

  There were only a couple of tables which could seat a group our size, and we slid around one, ignoring the handful of other restaurant patrons, who were almost all openly staring. The tables were covered with the thin 'plastic' tablecloths which were the next generation along from flat screen computer monitors – Kolar's current level of technology. Each table cover was running a fancy patterned screensaver, but when we touched it, it shifted to a "Welcome to Café Crescent" message and then showed us menu selections.

  Raiten recommended dishes, since most of the choices were Kolaren, and Sen had
a wonderful time stabbing random selections and seeing pictures of food come up. I told her her eyes were bigger than her stomach, which sent her into peals of laughter (and Kaoren quietly cancelled most of her selections, and prodded Ys and Rye into picking something). We simply didn't look at the crowd of faces cramming into the servery window, and I appreciated that the staff didn't all come and squeal over us or anything, but instead carried out their usual duties except with a great deal of delight and huge, trembling smiles. The entire family took turns to bring us out glasses of water, and appetisers, and every serving separately.

  It was definitely a good idea to bring Raiten along – he drew the majority of the attention, and I was able to concentrate on my lunch, and enjoyed my dessert almost as much as Sen (who enjoyed a bit of everyone's desserts). The café staff invited us to put our handprints on their customer's wall and write our names, and I glanced back as we left to see them all clustered around the wall comparing their hands to Raiten's print. He's a serious megastar on Kolar and I think it says a lot about how skewed my perspective has become that it's never even occurred to me to fan girl him.

  After a quick glance at my still-sealed tower, we went to look at the island where Kaoren has been practicing his enhancement. It was well out into the lake, and big enough that you would need an hour or more to walk around it. Really nice trees – tall and black-barked with fat flower buds all over them, but no leaves yet.

  A tiny waterfall ran from a spring on the small central hill, and we followed the stream which drained the pool at its base, paddling in the shallows. Rye was in his element, forgetting to be shy as he and Sen searched the water for fish, and spotted tiny flowers and the occasional fleeing animal.

  A definite holiday day, and all four of my captainly escort were looking refreshed when we flew back to the Setari building. I'm feeling – I don't know – protective. Not just of three Nuran children, but all of them. Kaoren, Maze, Mara, Zee, Nils, Isten Notra, Tsur Selkie, my endless horde of medics. Every squad member. Planets' worth of people. Even Forel and Kajal.

  It's too late for us all to skip off into unicorns and roses, crisis solved, no bones broken. Nuri's not coming back. But I just – yeah. I keep seeing the title of that news story. If fixing this means letting KOTIS risk me over and over in the hopes that they'll learn something before they kill me, I guess I'm going to do that. Maybe not the most heroic approach, but I don't have any better ideas.

  Training with Mara tomorrow.

  Sunday, September 7

  Toughening Up

  I continue to exhibit my lack of parenting chops by guessing the kids' ages totally wrong. I was reading through a comprehensive report provided by the school and found the age estimates according to their physiological development.

  Sen I'd been right about – the estimate is twelve (four). Rye, though, is estimated as twenty-nine to thirty-two, and Ys as thirty-one to thirty-four. Ten to eleven, when I was thinking of them both as twelve. I can't imagine myself at ten (let alone seven or eight) having all the responsibility of looking after a little girl. I so much want to find out more about them, to know how they ended up with only each other, but I think it's going to be a long time before they're at ease enough with me to talk about things like that.

  I think they're a bit like I was when I was first assigned to Fourth Squad, starting to feel like I fit in and happy to be near Kaoren, but knowing that I'd eventually be transferred, sure that I was just an assignment to him. Except for Ys and Rye it's a thousand times more uncertain. They do like being read to, though, and the routine Kaoren's established continues to please them. We finished the book I'd been reading and I've asked Rye to pick the next one.

  Fifth and Eighth were swapped out for Sixth and Ninth today, and tomorrow is another starting people with self-enhancement session, and also an attempt to visualise the location of any other malachite marbles. Lacking any clearer direction, KOTIS has decided to make establishing malachite marble numbers and locations their highest priority.

  I spent my day at Mara's mercy, while Fourth was off doing more intensive training. Mara's working getting my fitness up into her rehabilitation (and Lohn's given me strict orders to wimp out and have an attack of vapours whenever it looks like Mara's pushed herself too hard). She's a lot better now, though, and could probably have run rings around me, but instead focused back on the basic combat stepping exercises, and then amusing herself throwing balls at me. We had lunch together sitting on the hill roof of the Setari building. It's become a favoured spot already and someone's put a couple of whitestone benches up there under the cluster of trees which survived a building growing beneath them.

  Our visit to the café had sparked some questions about the three children who'd been with us, which in turn led to a wide range of news stories, the worst of which was about over-pampered me treating traumatised Nuran children like dolls. And yet another irritating expert talking about my isolation, and coping mechanisms, and how I was plainly trying to create a sense of stability and normality by building myself a family.

  Fortunately there were also a lot of broader articles on how the mass of Nuran children were adjusting, the weight of the loss they would continue to feel, and the percentage which had been – officially and unofficially – made part of Taren and Kolaren settler families.

  I was skimming some of the nastier articles when Mara said: "Nominate Lohn and I as replacement guardians."

  Since Mara hadn't seemed to approve of my connection with the kids, I had to hide my surprise. "Maze told you we're making wills?"

  She nodded. "I'd like to pretend that you needn't think about such things, but it's only sensible. And I'm..." Her mouth curved in a wide, bitter smile. "I'm so jealous I could strangle you."

  There wasn't any bite to her words – thankfully – so I only panicked a little, then slapped myself mentally and said: "Because you..." then paused, thinking it over. "Would you still be in the Setari if Maze wasn't?"

  "No. Or – perhaps. The situation has changed and retirement is out of the question until this crisis is over. But these past few years, since Helese, we've stayed because we couldn't walk away from Maze. Which means putting our lives – so many things – on hold because the cycle of rotations and training and injuries leaves no time or energy for anything else. Even though I'd hardly want to be in your position, I'll take leave to resent you just a little for the way those three have come to you."

  "I hadn't even thought–" I began, then blushed and said, "Sorry. And thank you. It really helps to know you'll be there for them."

  Then I asked her what the crisis being over – 'winning' – would mean to the Setari program, to all those kids who've been living rigidly strict lives so they could grow up and kill monsters. What would they do if the monsters weren't a problem any more?

  Mara just gestured around her and of course the answer was completely obvious. And the way she smiled as she looked out over the lake was a proper Mara smile – warm and thoughtful and sure.

  Monday, September 8

  Secession

  Last night (or just before dawn, rather) about a hundred of the older Nuran kids and a couple of the adults decided to leave Pandora. They took a bunch of tools from the old town gardens, and also a bucket of unformed whitestone, and went off north along the lake.

  KOTIS Command knew straight away, of course – even before their ID tags flagged that they'd gone out of the town zone. But they simply informed the Nuran Setari, and Korinal and Inisar went for a talk.

  Except for a lone ten year-old who they considered too young to make this choice, and who is now ensconced in the talent school to make it easier to keep an eye on her, the two Nuran Setari made no attempt to bring the group back. Instead they pointed out the Ddura's usual range (which is about four days' walk if you could keep to a straight line, and means I either was walking in circles or was very very lucky) and gave them an emergency beacon which they could use if they wanted help returning to Pandora. Not for if they just want
ed to call for help, mind you – only if they wanted to return. It was how the Nurans decided to handle it, and nobody is sure if it's the right thing to do or not.

  KOTIS held off making an announcement about it until mid-afternoon, saying its position was simply that it wasn't in the business of holding people against their will.

  There was a lot of back-and-forth discussion in the Setari common room about whether the splinter settlement would make a success of it, and why they went (not liking to be told to go to class and learn Taren reading and writing seems to have been a major factor, though it sounds like a few of them would have left no matter what). Muina's a lot easier to live on than Tare or Kolar, but it'll be a huge challenge compared to being looked after in Pandora.

  Lohn asked me what I thought, being the resident expert in wilderness survival on Muina.

  "Huge disaster," I said.

  Inisar (who, like all the Nuran Setari, tends to keep his opinions to himself and just listen to these conversations) asked me why.

  "Because you had to tell them how far Ddura's protection extended. Whoever is leading them is idiot if he didn't find that out before they left. And if idiot's making decisions, they'll keep doing silly things. I don't understand point of building settlement a short flight from Pandora anyway. Wouldn't it have been more sensible to demand be taken to one of the other platform villages, and re-establish it? It's like they don't really mean it."