Sunstone: A Steampunk Reality

by Holly Barbo

  “Sure. That sounds good. It is something we need to know. I would like to read her notes about them. Her death was such a loss.”

  Mitch patted the young man on his back. “Get going. I’ll drop off Dylan. This morning I sent a dash-key message ahead and your boat will be waiting.”

  It had been a full day. As hostess for her uncle, Marova had been busy arranging luncheon meetings between the Council and those affected by the new regulations. It hadn’t been a smooth transition, as the people who had been currying the favor of the elders now found the government leaders resisting. They felt cheated, and some vowed to ardently back other candidates during the next election. She sighed. “They will acquiesce because it’s the law, but I’m not sure they’ll accept. We’ll see.”

  She slid between the sheets and, just moments later, she was relaxing into sleep. As the clock gears ticked off the minutes, she began to dream. The images that appeared in her mind were vivid in detail, almost as if she was slowly studying the pages of blueprints. Hours went by in the fantasy workshop as a new sculpture took form under her hands. Her body twitched as she sculpted and molded the piece in her dream state. In one such movement, her hand hit the edge of the small table beside her bed and she woke… startled.

  The dream was still vivid in her mind. She turned up the aether lamp, pulled on a robe and got her drawing materials out of her desk. The next hour flew by as she sketched all the details and made notes in the margins. Dawn hadn’t quite touched the night sky when Marova smiled and crawled back into bed. The rest of the night was undisturbed by dreams.

  In another home near the Four Corners, a dream was extinguished. Raj’t stood beside Dan’l’s bed as his chosen heir succumbed to the very disease he had designed. The laws he had pushed to have passed, to protect his monopoly on pharmaceutical manufacturing, had worked against him. There wasn’t enough medicine when he needed some to save his son.

  Epilogue

  Two Years Later

  Kes stood on the rocky escarpment that overlooked the Cradle of Navora. Southeast of where he was standing was the boat launch for that special body of water. The young man turned and took the hand of the lovely woman who was waiting beside him. He reached out and brushed the long red strands of hair off her face. “This is the last one. I know I won’t be setting anything in motion because the others aren’t here, but somehow it’s important for me to make this gesture to the Goddess… and for Mikla.”

  “I do understand, Kes,” Frea said softly. “She was like a sister to me. I’ll keep the secret of the Sunstones until I die, for the Goddess, but also because of you and Mikla’s sacrifice.” Her face lightened from the somber topic and she winked. “And that won’t be any time soon. Our life has changed and I’m very grateful. This time together locating the touch points for Navora’s energy has been wonderful. I thank her for our meeting.” She squeezed his hand. “First we need to get through this afternoon and the dedication of the new sculpture that Marova made for the Council Square. I’m still in awe that they chose you to say a few words to close the ceremony.”

  Kes laughed. “That surprised me too. Apparently names were submitted to the Council. I was told that Navora’s gatekeepers, the scientists in my building, even a host of gleaners voted.” He laughed. “Oh, well. That’s hours away and I wish to do this now.” He dropped her hand and, reaching into his pocket, palmed the sacred artifact. Approaching the large black meteorite that had been lodged into the stony bluff for as long as history had been recorded, he gently swept his fingers over the surface. Finding the subtle ribbed impression, he pressed the Mother Sunstone against it. The two fit like they were made for each other and he felt a quiver in recognition.

  Kes paused and sent a prayer toward the sun before stepping back. “You know, it’s strange. I found the spot that fits this stone but didn’t locate the other two little hollow places. Oh, well. It really doesn’t matter. If it wasn’t for Mikla, we wouldn’t know of these sacred sites.” He dropped the small navorite back into his pocket and, reaching for Frea’s hand, moved to the parked steam car.

  As the heat built pressure in the boiler, she brought up what was on her mind. “I can’t believe all that has happened since the day you came into the office. The reforms have helped so much, but it hasn’t been an easy journey. I wasn’t surprised when Stone, Bruin and their group were sentenced to the chromium mine for their crimes, but I didn’t expect Raj’t to go there, too. I mean, I agree that he was the mastermind behind The Blight and thus guilty of many deaths, but he was also very wealthy. I figured that would get him a lighter sentence. My faith in our justice system is somewhat restored.”

  Kes released the brake with care and put the car into gear. “You know, when I look back I’m amazed at the reforms and changes that have happened.” He paused in thought before continuing. “For instance, it’s incredible, when you consider how the elders behaved in the past, that the Council made Chemedco pay out millions in restitution for the families that were affected by The Blight. Between death benefits and those whose health was permanently impacted, their wealth has greatly diminished. They even had insurance against that possible outcome, but that was used up in the first year.” He shook his head in sadness. “The damage is permanent though, so it is possible that it will continue to drain their reserves. Sh’ar told me Ver’in was kicked out of the company before Raj’t’s crime came to light, so she was able to take the rights to the formulas for the good medicines with her. She and Sh’ar have been instrumental in working with our department scientists in producing some revolutionary medicines. It seems unbelievable that when I was getting my degree, Mitch was telling me how frustrated our department was with the restriction against our making medicines from our research. That’s all in the past! Since monopolies have been banned, there is ample competition, which keeps the costs down and everybody eager to produce the best. It’s a good thing.”

  As the steam car chuffed its way to the city, the large open square in front of the Council building was bustling with activity. A week before, the draped and bundled sculpture had been secured to the pedestal which had been prepared for it. The sculpture was an imposing size. When a speaker stood on the bunting-draped podium, they wouldn’t obscure the piece of art. In a semicircle facing the large swathed object, chairs were being set up. Frea separated from Kes and sat in the chairs next to Oshe and Ran, in the second row.

  It was a crystal-clear day, with the giant Shacir showing its red-and-tan bands in the blue cloudless sky. By midafternoon, the square was filling up with citizens. They had heard the story of how the design had come to Marova in a dream and how she and Elder Rune decided it needed to be a gift to the people who were celebrating a period of recovery and renewed hope.

  As the hour grew nigh, clockwork bots were sent scampering under the top drape. Wrappings dropped around the base of the pedestal to be pulled away, until all that remained was the outer-most cover.

  The appointed time had come and all assembled quieted as Marova took the stand and retold the tale of the dream. “Let this stand for our health as a people under the blessings of Navora, Goddess of the sun and mother to life on Myrn. In celebration I present to you…” She pulled the chord and the last drape fell away. “…Sunstone!”

  A slow grin creased Kes’s face as the crowd exploded in cheers and clapping of appreciation, which went on for several minutes. He exchanged quick glances with M’nacht to his left, and Sh’ar, seated two rows away, and his smile broadened. Giving a wink to Frea, he looked at Marova’s dream.

  It was a magnificent creation. A massive slab of polished black granite was rectangular in shape. Embedded through the stone was a beautifully cast replica of a large navorite. The details of the fossil facsimile were accurately rendered with different metals. Exquisite! True to the legend, waves, etched in stone and highlighted with gold, swirled away from the creature, radiating ever outward and upward toward the sun. It was breathtaking in its beauty!

  It took seve
ral minutes for the crowd’s audible appreciation to quiet. Elder Rune took the podium and explained the selection process for the last speaker before introducing Kes.

  During the applause, he looked over the crowd and gave a fond smile to Frea. Scanning the sea of faces, he spotted Thom, near the back, looking even more like a professor. The former gleaner lifted his spectacles and gave Kes a nod.

  Kes took a calming breath and began to speak. “We are one people on this moon. There is only here,” he pointed down to the ground, “to live. We have nowhere else to go. If we mess up and can’t or don’t correct… the Goddess will mourn our demise. Remember, she has said we have the freedom of self-determination. That is an awesome responsibility that we should not take lightly.

  “Two years ago, we made a start to straighten a snarl we as a people had gotten into. Yes, we all contributed to it together. Understand, we have it in our power to begin again, to do things right. This isn’t the first time we’ve been out of balance and had a very large disparity in wealth, power and quality of life. We’ve done this before, things were corrected, regulations were passed as safeguards, and we prospered.

  “Then someone—some entity—figured out a new angle or found a loophole to exploit. Greed reached out its hooks. The power structure said to itself, ‘We’ve learned and won’t make those mistakes again. It will be different this time.’ And regulations were loosened or rescinded. People just like you, busy with their lives, became lax in their critically important job as watchdogs. Greed rose and the balance shifted into dangerous areas.

  “This time the suffering took a deadly turn. A designed pathogen was dumped, in very large quantities, into the Okamak. As a scientist, let me tell you that there is no way to separate these chemicals from our ocean water. Oh, they will dilute and circulate throughout all of our water bodies, but when our moon’s resources are corrupted, all of us are also contaminated. Regeneration at the cellular level is ongoing and natural law has no mercy. Greed on one hand and the people not being vigilant on the other caused this.

  “Greed is like the pathogen. It will always be with us. I would like to quote the People’s Herald, who wrote that remarkable article two years ago: ‘Our government was formed to facilitate the protection, safety, pursuit of happiness and prosperity for the common good of the people, not for the profit or private interest of any individual, family or class in our society. The people have the incontestable right to form a government… and to reform the same when their protection, safety, pursuit of happiness and prosperity require it. This is where we need to shine a light.’ It is our duty, as one people on this habitable rock we call Myrn, to work together for the common good. That is our job and we forget it at our peril!”

  There was silence, then the applause built and people stood whistling and cheering. The quiet, when it came, swept from the back of the crowd and moved forward in a swift wave until every person assembled was staring above the newly dedicated art. Where the sky had been nothing but celestial blue just moments before, now, directly above the Sunstone sculpture, was a flat, lens-shaped cloud. As the people watched in stunned silence, it slowly rotated and took the shape of a navorite. A rainbow glistened on the spiral ribs of the cloud and seemed to reach for the sculpted gold waves of Marova’s Sunstone. There was an instant when the bands of light connected the dreamy apparition to its artistic counterpart and everyone held their breath. The entire square became bathed in a golden light which held for just a moment, then faded as quickly as it came.

  As people slowly looked from the sculpture and sky to each other, a voice from the back of the crowd rang out into the awed silence, “Perhaps the Goddess approves!” Several swiveled to look at the bespectacled man… then, as one, they cheered.

  About the Author

  Holly Barbo’s world is shaped by her love of her family, the beauty of the natural world in Northwest Washington State and an irrepressible creative drive.

  Living where the scenery is incredible with a rich abundance of wildlife “is so special and soothing that it feels like a quiet kind of magic,” according to Barbo. She is drawn to creating stories where there is just a bit of something unworldly, perhaps it is magic or psychic skills. Her stories are mostly in non-urban settings and usually have some focus on nature, building a discordant drama inside the peaceful frame.

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