Tales of the Dissolutionverse Box Set

by William C. Tracy

I hung in my harness, numb. I could hear Mom crying above me. The majus and Wailimani were whispering back and forth urgently.

  Partino had been Mom’s porter since before I was born. I had grown up with him around—his strong arms throwing me and my brothers up in the air and catching us. He was there when Alondri and Kayla, my other parents, taught us how to sail. He’d accompanied Mom all over the Nether. He’d shared half credit for some of her discoveries.

  He’s gone.

  * * *

  We were very quiet the rest of the day.

  Even Wailimani had lost his bluster. “Haribrana was the best assistant I was ever having,” he said, his crest almost flat. “And I pushed your porter right into him. I was only trying to keep from falling myself, you are seeing…”

  None of us said anything to the other explorer, though he looked around as if someone would tell him everything was all right. I couldn’t even really say it was his fault, though I wanted to. It happened so quickly. I wanted to shout at him, to throw something, but I didn’t have the energy.

  At least I have a name for Assistant Snea—for Wailimani’s assistant. Haribrana. I said a short prayer to the Sea Mother for both of them. Maybe they had survived? I felt tears running down my cheeks. They were saltier than the rain.

  Mom spoke with the majus, and even with Wailimani, about climbing down below the cloud layer to see if Partino or the assistant had managed to catch onto something. I mostly stared at the wall, thinking about what I could have done differently. I couldn’t come up with anything. When Partino fell into Haribrana, they had fallen away from the wall.

  “It’s a long way down,” Mom finally decided, “and it’s very unlikely they were able to grab one of these holes.” She put her fist out beside one of the holes the beetle had drilled.

  Trying to catch onto one of those, with no anchors, in the rain, while falling…

  Impossible.

  We began to climb again, each lost in our thoughts.

  That night, we rested, still wet, still silent. Mom had brought both harnesses with us, in order not to waste extra supplies if another harness broke. She inspected them while Majus E’Flyr went to each of us, reversing the strength she had given us that morning.

  I drew in my notebook, with a sheet of canvas above my head to keep out the wet. I was trying to get the curve of Partino’s face just right.

  Why can’t I remember what he looks like better than this? He can’t be gone. Surely he found a way to survive.

  When the majus touched me, removing the change she made, I slumped. I feel like I haven’t slept in two days.

  “I’m sorry about everything,” Majus E’Flyr said, her voice quiet. “I could tell how much Partino meant to you.” She fell silent, her wide silvery eyes catching the last glow of the wall. It reflected off the dark clouds around us, like we were in a giant cave. “He told me a lot about you and your siblings while we were climbing together.”

  I was trying to think of something to say when I heard Mom cry out. The majus and I were instantly alert, and I was climbing up to her before I knew it.

  Is she hurt too? What happened?

  “This harness was cut,” Mom said, holding it out toward Wailimani as if it was a spear. From the size, I knew it was Partino’s.

  Wailimani’s crest stood out in shock, like a grey and blue mop on his head. “Cut? I do not believe it!”

  His voice is even higher than normal. Like some sort of little rodent.

  “No need to believe it—it’s right here,” Mom said. “I want an explanation.” She was using that voice again.

  “Well, I can be telling you it was not me,” Wailimani said. For once, all pretense was gone from his voice. “Haribrana was always being a crafty one. I…I did not ask how or where he was getting his information from. Every expedition he was on was simply turning up in our favor.” The Kirian shrunk into himself. “I should have been asking. I would be asking him now if it was possible…”

  Everything from the past day boiled up inside me. “He cut Partino’s harness?” I shouted. “What kind of an idiot are you, not to know that?” Haribrana—no, Assistant Sneaky had done this on purpose? Why?

  At least he fell, too. Good riddance.

  “Give me a reason not to toss you off this wall, too,” Mom told Wailimani, and he curled in further, his crest crumpling.

  “I can be helping. You must be having four members, to climb. I have been paying attention. Less and you will not make it. The majus will be fatigued from bolstering your endurance.”

  “Not good enough,” Mom said, and started climbing down. I tucked my sketchbook away, ready to follow her, but the majus stopped me with one remarkably strong arm.

  “No one is getting tossed off this wall,” she said, and her voice echoed like thunder around us. Mom stopped climbing.

  “No one else,” I hissed at Majus E’Flyr.

  She stared at me a moment, like her wide eyes could bury me in the crystal of the wall.

  “No one else,” she finally agreed, then turned away. “Come back up here, Morvu. The Kirian is correct. We do need four to climb, despite what we all want to do to him.”

  Mom came back up to us, grumbling, and we glared at Wailimani. He made his hammock as far away from us as he could.

  I’ll be watching you.

  * * *

  I watched Wailimani until I fell asleep, and throughout the next day, while we climbed through the damp clouds. I was wondering how we could leave him behind, and I think Mom was too.

  Just as she said, Mom didn’t make Majus E’Flyr use the Symphony to help us out, and all of us felt it. We climbed slower than ever, with lots of rests. Mom had to help the majus place the anchors and Wailimani helped me use the pulley system to bring them and the food net up. We needed him, after all. Mostly, he let me do the work, except for bringing me up, and that was fine with me. It meant I could make sure all the lines were tied correctly. I wasn’t going to trust anything he did.

  Days passed this way. We would get up in the morning, stretch out kinks from the day before, then keep climbing. Majus E’Flyr used the Symphony on us every other day, but she still looked more tired than the rest of us, her skin so dark purple it was almost black.

  Slips were common in the never-ending wet. I began to long for the sky, and a sight of the Nether, but there was nothing but clouds. I tried to draw in the evenings, but I was too tired.

  Joy had left our group with the loss of the two climbers. There weren’t any jokes, or even much talking, except for Wailimani. That Kirian could complain. And he did—about everything—In his high and squeaky voice. The harness chafed. His robes were wet. His hair was wet. Everything was wet. His hands had blisters. The wall was too bright. It was cold.

  With his wet, bulky robes, it was common for him to slip and hit an anchor. I relished every single time he did. None of us were quick to give him a hand.

  I also fantasized about the clouds growing so thick that I couldn’t hear his shrill voice.

  The third day, I tried shouting at him, but that only made him complain more, and then whine to Mom about me ‘not showing the proper respect to one of his station.’ Mom shouted at him, too.

  The fourth day I ignored him completely, but that didn’t stop him griping. I was also getting sick of seaweed wafers and squid wafers. Wailimani complained about those too, and loudly—the lack of good food.

  “The squid in these hasn’t been alive in cycles,” he piped, while we paused to eat a midday snack. “How I am to be yearning for something wriggling between my teeth, just a little.” He bared his pointed teeth and I shivered. Kirian teeth were scary. I could only think of the smile Assistant Sneaky had given me.

  By the fifth morning of climbing in the endless clouds I was ready to throw him off the wall, whether we needed him or not.

  Then, halfway through that day, it began to get brighter. I felt something rise up, as if the ghosts of Partino and Haribrana w
ere drifting away.

  The rest of the day the clouds lightened, and we heard a distant rumbling, as if someone was beating a faraway drum. It vibrated the clouds around us.

  Soon, the crystal beetle drill became visible. She had been hidden since the accident because the clouds were so thick. She trundled above us, the rope dangling down.

  The clouds became white instead of gray, then misty instead of white. A giant presence loomed a little ways from the wall, and with a start, I realized it was my old friend the column. I could see its siblings, too. How long since I’ve seen them glistening in the wall’s light? The rumbling had only increased, until now it was louder than the surf in a hurricane.

  As the last wispy bits of cloud blew away, we stopped. Wailimani even trailed off in the middle of a complaint about his sore shoulders.

  Wow. That explains the sound.

  We could see the Nether wall again, glistening with water. It rose until it was obscured by a waterfall, rushing down the wall toward us. It was incredibly tall, and as wide as a sea. It would have plowed straight into us, and knocked us off like Partino, except the sheet of water crashed into a giant ridge in the wall, and was diverted straight out into the air. The noise of it rang in my ears, driving everything else away.

  The torrent of water thundered over our heads, like all the waves in the world breaking on the beach at the same time. Water glistened in a graceful arc as it hit the bulge in the wall, cascading out into open air, separating out into millions of tiny droplets, each reflecting the light from the wall and the columns. The globes of water glistened like jewels suspended in midair, striking the top of the cloud layer, grown thick enough to absorb the immense amount of liquid.

  “I guess we know why there’s always such a heavy cloud layer here,” Mom shouted. We could barely hear her. “It must be a separate ecosystem up here!”

  Rainbows were everywhere, arcing from droplet to droplet, and piercing the waterfall. They split the sky into a maze of color. One arc, larger than the rest, made a path between the waterfall and the white cottony layer.

  Something loosened in me, and I felt tears running down my face.

  We’re above the clouds.

  TEN-DAY THREE

  High Country

  - The atmosphere above the cloud layer is different. It is wetter here, most likely from the great waterfall, while it is relatively dry below. I see tiny patches of moss here, though I don’t know how it is attached to the Nether crystal. Below the cloud layer the wall was completely smooth. It seems like there has been more damage to the crystal this far up, probably from the damp. I have no idea how many cycles such decay would take. I will have to investigate the tiny white spots I’ve seen, in the next few days.

  From the journal of Morvu Francita Januti

  We stopped early that day, taking time to wring out our clothes and shake out the ropes.

  “It’s nice to see the walls fade again,” I said to Mom as we sat together in one hammock, chewing on seaweed wafers. The light from the walls was turning orange and deep red. “Partino would have enjoyed seeing it.” We had to sit close to each other to hear over the constant noise of the waterfall.

  Mom put her arm around my shoulders and squeezed. It was hard to have any contact when we were climbing, and I leaned into it. I sniffed.

  “Yes, he would have,” she said. “I wish he was here too.”

  No. Hold it back. Not now! It’s been five days!

  I sobbed into her shoulder. I heard her sniff too, and that made me feel better. If Mom was crying about it, then it was worth crying about. We sat that way for a long time, but both of us felt better afterwards.

  The walls slowly turned dark, and Mom and I watched the waterfall arc over us—droplets falling into the clouds below.

  * * *

  The next day, we climbed as close as we could to the bottom of the waterfall, right where the wall swelled out into the largest curve I had seen. It was like a giant ripple, or a cresting wave stuck at the midpoint, and it spread out as far as I could see to either side, above our heads. It gave a little protection from the water.

  We hadn’t been using the goggles the last couple days inside the clouds, because it was too dark. Now we all had them back on, except for Wailimani, who was squinting, and occasionally wiping water out of his eyes. None of us offered him a pair.

  I stared up at the bulge in the crystal where the waterfall splashed outward. The swell in the wall had a little overhang.

  Like a nose on an immense face.

  “Can we call it the Wall’s Nose?” I shouted over the noise.

  Mom shrugged. “Fine with me.”

  The majus nodded. “You have a way with words, girl,” she called.

  Still with the name. I’d have to find a way to show her I was more than a girl. I was Mom’s eldest child. I’d be following in her footsteps someday.

  Wait. When did I decide that? I’d been angry at Mom for dragging me on this expedition. I wanted to stay home with Alondri and Kayla, studying the artifacts Mom brought back. Except I didn’t, anymore. I wouldn’t have missed this sight for all of Etan.

  “If I had my way, I would be calling it the Waterfall’s Annihilation,” Wailimani piped up. His shrill voice cut right through the noise of the water.

  We all glared at him, and Mom went so far as to climb down and get the map of the wall out of the net. She had been tracking our distance each day. Now she made a note on the graph she had drawn, marking ‘The Wall’s Nose,’ in large letters.

  The Kirian glowered, and his crest stood up straight in frustration. “I am seeing how much I am contributing to this expedition.”

  “You weren’t invited,” I told him. Since the water was so loud, that meant I could shout at him and pretend it was just so he could hear. If you weren’t here, then Partino would be.

  “Now I am present, I can be helping publicize any discoveries we make.” Wailimani waved a hand. “I am seeing the sketches you draw, and the notes Morvu makes. I have been making notes too. There is plenty of fame to be going around.”

  “It isn’t all about fame!” I shouted at him. “It’s about learning about where we live, and why the Nether acts like it does.”

  “An apt summary of being a naturalist,” Mom added in a loud voice. “Which you, Wailimani, are not. You are only an opportunist, plain and simple.”

  “Though I agree, bickering won’t help us climb,” Majus E’Flyr said. I stopped with my mouth open, ready to support Mom. The majus’ voice had gained…strength, I suppose, bellowing over our argument. She must have done something with the Symphony. Her head was tilted up, her silvery eyes fixed on where the beetle hung stationary, right below where the Nose swelled from the rest of the wall. “I need to give the drill new commands.” Her voice was still loud, but no longer overwhelming, now she had our attention.

  “I…yes, you’re right.” Mom said. “I was wondering why it had stopped again, but I was afraid to ask.”

  “She isn’t sick again, is she?” I shouted.

  “Machines cannot be getting sick,” Wailimani put in. He had no trouble being heard.

  I rolled my eyes at him. I think we’d established how much his opinion mattered.

  “It must have detected it could go no further,” the majus said, ignoring both of us. “As far as I can tell, there is no problem. I just need to get closer.”

  We made our way up the last few holes and tied our ropes to the beetle. If she had gone farther, she would have had to climb almost upside down. That was probably why she stopped.

  “Can we get over the Nose and climb up the current?” Mom shouted as loud as she could. I could see the tendons in her long neck sticking out, and her face was darker blue with effort, just so we could hear.

  “We could, but we’ll hit the waterfall, and I don’t think even the drill could hold on in that deluge,” Majus E’Flyr said, pointing with a long finger to where the spray jetted out nearly horizon
tal, not far above us. “I might be able to strengthen the connection between the drill and the wall, so it can climb over, but it will take a lot of my notes.” She was speaking at a normal volume, as far as I could tell, but her words were clear.

  I wish I could do that.

  “Can the beetle climb sideways instead?” I shouted, looking from Mom, to the majus, to Wailimani.

  “That would work better. Your daughter has a good mind,” the elderly Lobath said. She pulled her head-tentacles back and tied all three in a knot. “Let me see what I can do.”

  Well, I guess ‘your daughter’ is better than ‘girl.’ I’d take the upgrade. I felt my lips twitch up in my first smile since the accident.

  We waited while Majus E’Flyr stuck her head inside the hatch in the metal shell of the beetle. Wailimani hung to one side in his harness, frowning at nothing. His crest was wiggling like he was deep in thought, though.

  “Should be able to do it,” she said finally. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

  “We’ll lose time, but it looks like the only way is to go around. This waterfall must have edges,” Mom shouted.

  The sheet of water cascaded from above, breaking on the Nose. The ridge in the wall went on as far as I could see in either direction, making a kind of overhang sheltered from the torrent. Surely the ridge had to smooth out somewhere, so we could climb over.

  “Which way?” Wailimani asked. His crest was under control now, and he showed no trace of remembering our disagreement.

  Mom brought out her telescope again and looked left, then right, then up. “I think I can see the Nose get smaller to the right, but I’m not certain.”

  “Right it is,” the majus said, and stuck her head back in the hatch.

  “Why did you look up?” I called to her.

  Mom bent her head close to mine, holding our harnesses close together. “I was trying to see if the roof of the Nether is visible yet.” She shook her head before I could ask. “I can’t see anything with the waterfall and the Nose in the way. I’ll have to look again when we’re out from under it.”