22. Building Up

Tilted Spire Timetable
 
 
In the state between wakefulness and sleep, Nox drifted. The triangular layout of the Spire was replaced by another triangular building, larger in footprint than the spire but not as tall. For a moment, her near unconscious mind accepted the vision as an artefact of a dream and something made up from the day's recollections. In her mind, she moved through the main doors of the triangular building into the dimly lit and silent space. She stood at her Father’s side, uncomfortable and shy. They walked up to the altar, where the priest waited to accept their offering of shins, spare parts and plans for new inventions. She hated it here. She hated how the priests stared at her, waiting for her to do something wrong. She hated the oppressive quiet brought on by seeming piety and false humility. Most of all, she hated her father’s nervous tension. She could feel it in his stiff gait, the tight grasp he kept on her arm so she couldn’t escape.
 
Nox’s eyes blinked open, and she sat up, surprised by the realisation. In that state between awake and dreaming, she’d remembered the old Temple of the Devotees of Erinai back in Cerelon, a building she hadn’t visited since her father had ceased to be able to catch her. With her waking mind, she recognised the similarities between the old temple (old even when the Devotees took it over) and the Spire.
Laying back down again, Nox compared the two buildings. They were equilateral triangles at their base. While the temple was twice as big, the Spire lacked a hexagonal wall, though she admitted they could be buried underground. Otherwise, they were both ancient buildings, repurposed millennia after.
 
She contemplated the relationship of the Spire to Cerelon, the transport network that started at the Endoval towers and may well end in the field in front of the Spire. Thinking about the connection between the two reminded her of Fureva-Yung’s tattoo, a triangle of dots connected by thin lines. Marius had also seen something like it in the larger Endoval tower on a projection of the town. Later, he’d thought the tattoo and the cross over the temple was a map of some sort. If that was true, did it point to two other locations? One to the north and one to the east?
 
With these thoughts, she finally drifted to sleep, waking the following day in the centre of a building site.
 
With a sense of purpose, the whole community put effort into building their new home. For the next four days, a squad of the best builders created more housing while others, under Jaden's guidance, started new public buildings like a workshop and healing hall. There was a lot of excitement about a pub as Yitti, Alton, and even Temila were deep in conversations about a distillery from salvaged parts. Temila and Walara, a general farm hand from Cerelon’s Tilled Messa, planned an apothecary garden and farm a short distance from town. They’d found a good stretch of land beside a natural swale in the land that collected rainwater and stopped nutrients from being washed away.
 
In the Spire the ground floor was finally cleared of the last building supplies, and Marius found a clever cypher that would improve his eyesight.
I want to be there when you install this, Nox said, knowing that such a useful cypher would interest Marius. That’s why I’m learning all this medical stuff, to help you.
Out of the question, He thought adamantly, trying to leave and finish the conversation. Nox would not be put off.
We worry when you go out adding cyphers to yourself. What if it goes wrong? What if you’re attacked mid-installation?
Marius expression was mutinous. It’s unnatural and… embarrassing…people won’t accept it.
You share your entire body with Temila, but implanting your cyphers makes you squirm?
Marius had nothing to say, but it looked like she’d crossed a boundary between them. She tried again.
Look, for one thing, it's part of who you are. Though you are, on occasion, embarrassing, you are only doing what your nature allows. For another thing, you’ll want to tell Temila eventually, won’t you?
 
This really depressed Marius and the mutinous fight went out of him. The fact that, eventually Temila would have to know... everything, had been gnawing at him.
I’m very worried about when Temila finds out, He confessed, I’m afraid to tell her in case she…, He couldn’t finish the thought, but images of rejection repeatedly circled through his mind.
I’m her friend, Nox suggested, She’s known about me most of my life. I could talk to her about it.
What do you think she would say?
 
Nox had never read Temila’s mind. She had no idea what she would think. Risina has asked what Nox had thought of Temila, and she remembered times when Temila had gone out of her way to look after others, used her intelligence not to make herself richer, but to make other people’s lives better. Wasn’t it more how Temila acted than what she thought more important?
I think she’d worry that you’re hurting yourself…
But I’m not…Marius tried to respond but couldn't get the words out. He hated the thought of Temila trying to persuade him away from this path.
Temila knows about the human body and infections, Nox said, seeing the struggle in Marius in him and allowing him to keep his secrets, I can tell her I’ll be there to make it safe. I can tell her you know what you’re doing.
 
He did know what he was doing. Years of practice had shown him what he could achieve. He also knew the pain of rejection when, as a teen, he'd innocently boasted of his first implant to his Mother. Her horror and disgust taught him to keep it secret. It was years before Mother caught him implanting again. The arguments he’d never wanted to be repeated started again, along with the looks of fear, horror and disgust. She would never trust he knew what he was doing.
 
Ok, kid, you win. Don't tell Temila yet, but when I add this vision implant, you can tag along and... keep an eye on me, He handed her the cypher for safe keeping, and Nox could see, without reading his mind, that Marius would keep his word.
 
That afternoon, they left their work early and found a quiet place where Marius was sure they wouldn’t be disturbed. Nox cleaned the cypher as best she could before handing it to Marius. Marius’ preparations were to poke around looking for a good place, in this case, beside his eye and cut a slit into his temple before slipping the cypher under his skin. Nox watched on, fascinated as the skin quickly bound to the cypher and closed around the wound. “Amazing. No infection, no rejection, no scarring, no pain…”
“Oh, it stings like the dickens, but not for very long. Well, not usually.” Marius interjected, and Nox adjusted her mental notes.
“That’s why I’m here. Maybe we can think of ways to make it better.”
Marius shook his head in bemusement as Nox went through what she currently knew of local anaesthetics.
“You just accept. That’s what I like about you.”
 
For the rest of the four days, Marius spent his time getting to know the region. He never travelled far. Mostly only as far as a few kilometres before heading back. Occasionally, he had a specific target in mind and would be out all day exploring the last tip of the Endoval Forest or the start of the canyons. By the fourth day, he had set his sights on the nearest shores of the lake.
 
 
Yung was bored. For the last four days, she’d moved things clearing up the Spire and moved things helping with the building. She was strong and wanted a challenge to prove her strength. Unfortunately, everyone in the herd was too weak to give her any decent competition. So, she’d given up the work and set her sights high on the peak of the Spire.
 
Nox found Yung contemplating the climb, her eyes fixed on the summit. Taking the big woman’s arm, she pointed to the tattoo. Lit in the centre of an equilateral triangle was one of three lights.
Yung, I’m trying to understand the connection between Cerelon and the Spire. Can you help?
I help. I am very helpful.
Marius thought your tattoo was a map. Do you remember when this one turned on? She pointed to the far left spot.
Always and forever, Yung replied. For as long as she could remember, which they knew from visits to the pyramid, and the memory Nox had shared was not as long as she’d been alive. Not by a long way.
O-kay. When did this one go out? In the forest? In the pit? Travelling underground?
That one, she stopped Nox, In the stupid box. She gestured with her hand how the transport had recognised her touch.
Right. So, we left the area of Cerelon. She now pointed to the lit spot in the centre. So, when did this one light up?
Yung pointed back the way they had come five days ago.
When we see this, She pointed to the Spire. So the morning they’d seen the Spire for the first time and entered its range. She looked at the other two unlit spots next two to the Spire.
What are these? She asked.
Don’t know, Yung shook her head, perplexed.
For the last four days, Nox worked for Temila pulling weeds and rocks, collecting seeds and drying them for sowing. Now the scent of exploration was in the air. Nox smiled a mischievous smile.
Do you want to find them?
The same smile slowly lit Yung’s face, Maybe see up there, She pointed back to the Spire.
You’re climbing the Spire? Now Nox’s exploration senses were zinging like violin strings, I’ll go too!
 
Nox ran back inside for the Marius’ knotted rope and a thin twine used by the crafters to make soft furnishings for the houses. When she returned, Yung had equipt herself with a smudge of waxy paste used as grease on now-defunct wagons. She stepped back three or four paces from the base of the Spire and leaned back. Like a wound spring, she leapt up the wall, way above the open doorways and started speeding up the Spire. Fureva-Yung had only shown this speed a couple of times before. Once on the underground bridge to the crystal caves when Marius looked as though he would fall into darkness. At that time, only half the community were present to see her supernatural speed. The second time was the night of the fight with the margr. She’d zipped into the dark so quick that even Nox was hard-pressed to say how fast she’d run around the camp. Now, everyone looked up at the pounding of Yung’s round feet on the metal surface like the striking of a gong. The cheers of surprise and astonishment roared in response as Yung kept her eyes on the peak of the Spire.
 
She was fifteen metres off the ground when the flat metal surface gave way to a recessed section. Yung stopped, marked the area with the grease and leaned back against the Spire, her hands and feet planted to keep her from sliding. A softly motorised whirl preceded the whole wall opening up and her falling through. She tumbled backwards into the Spire, hitting a rusted railing that groaned and shuddered under the sudden impact. She caught the rail and righted herself, leaning out over a large trapezoidal-shaped room. She was on a catway approximately two metres above the ground. To either side of her door blocked her path.
Yung? Are you okay? Came Nox’s voice, thinner and fainter than usual.
I am Yung! She replied as if that explained everything.
The door opened for you like it did in the transport! Exclaimed the tiny voice.
I am Yung.
Yes, And this time Yung could hear Nox’s laughter ringing inside her head.
 
“GREE-GREETINGS COMMANDER…INTRUDER! INTRUDER!...” A computerised voice spoke out from all directions. Occasional sparking and crackling interrupted the message before it finally gave up and fell silent. Outside, Yung could now hear the sound of something tiny clang off the Spire’s metal surface before clattering away. She pushed off the rickety railing brackets, and poked her head out the open door.
Catch this, Yung! Nox sent before returning a shiny crystal to the cup of her sling and swinging it above her head. When it released, crystal sailed up into the air trailing a thin line like a wriggling tail. The crystal went high, but Yung caught the light twine thread. Below, Nox was quickly tying the other end to the grappling hook Jaden had made Marius for their exploration of the elevator shaft.
You can pull up the rope now. Hook it to something good and strong.
Yung didn’t have a lot of options. She found the strongest of the railing uprights and hooked the bottom of that.
 
Come up, Yung replied when she’d tested it was safe, and Nox started climbing up the long sloping side of the Spire. She’d made it a few metres before her upper body strength gave out, and she hung limply from the rope.
I need your strength, Yung, Nox lamented and allowed herself to be hauled up like an exhausted fish the remaining twelve metres. Even then, holding on to the swaying rope had been all she could do. At the top, she sat, looking out at the view, and tried to return circulation to her arms.
 
At the lake, kilometres away, Marius was investigating the shoreline. The water was fresh, cool and clean, growing various weeds and algae below its surface. As he watched silently, a fish jumped out of the water after a tasty dragonfly, and he thought fishing might be an excellent way to feed the community. He then spied something winking in the sunlight. As he waded out the few metres required to see the thing, a roar of applause and happy cheers erupted from back at the Spire. Even from this distance, he could see Yung running up the Spire to stop partway up.
“That looks like fun!” He said to himself as he watched her fall backwards through an open door. It was time to go back and see what the others were up to, but first, the shiny! A huge crystal larger than him floated just below the water's surface. He could make out a metal platform and beams within its sparking surface. The whole thing looked heavy, though it bobbed along in the wake he created by his movement. It was certainly too big for one person to carry alone. He dragged it ashore and promised to send a working group to come to pick it up before heading back to the Spire.
 
He arrived back just as Nox was getting feeling back in her arms and waved them loosely in his direction. Taking a similar run up as Yung, he sprinted for the Spire. Leaping up, he made it a little higher than Nox had with the rope before losing momentum and squeaking all the way down again.
 
“Can you send down the rope, please?” He called, and a cheery-faced Nox and Yung gathered the rope and threw one end back down to him. With the rope, he made it up alone and soon stood on the catwalk beside Yung.
“Look what Yung found!” Exclaimed the ever-curious Nox, who now forgot about her aching arms and went to investigate the left-hand door.
Marius looked out at the spectators gathered at the base of the Spire. Temila was there, shading her eyes from the glare of the sunny day.
“Hey, Temila! I can see your house from here,” He said, and though it was impossible, even with his enhanced sight, he was sure she rolled her eyes.
 
“Yung, I need your help,” Nox said a few moments later after discovering the door she’d chosen had no handle, “This place likes you. Put your hand on the door and see if that works again.”
Yung was about to drop down to the room below but stopped to assist the little one.
“My magic hand or the other one?” She asked, gesturing with her right as it seemed it was the one that held power.
“The magic one, “Nox agreed wholeheartedly, and Jung pressed her palm against the door's smooth surface. There was a grumble of ill-used electrical motors and grinding from the door, but it slowly slid aside.
 
Beyond it, the long room was filled with small empty alcoves quickly disappearing into the gloom.
“Follow me, Captain Furry,” Marius said, stepping over Nox crouched in the doorway and entering the room. His cat's eye cypher engaged, Marius could see clearly to the back of the room, where it ended in another sliding door and a curved wall. The curved wall was reminiscent of the elevator shaft wall on the ground. He quickly gestured to Yung to try her magic hand once more.
 
The door started sliding open before jamming on something above. A cascade of sparks rained them harmlessly as Yung seized the door in both hands and attempted to pull it open. Her movement jarred the mechanism, and the door rolled shut again under her hands.
Yung huffed in disappointment.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get Jaden her to put the sparks back in,” Marius assured her with a grin.
 
As Marius explored the room, Yung was drawn back to the empty alcoves. Like those found in the pyramid, she placed her magic hand against the smooth metal of the alcove. Instantly, she was no longer in the Spire but in another space filled with faces. She didn’t know any of the individuals represented, but their presence wasn’t disturbing quite the opposite. It was a comforting feeling, a sense of belonging to something much more significant than herself.
 
The alcove switched off, and Yung stumbled back, perplexed and a little sad. Watching close by, Nox deduced what had occurred.
You connected to something. What was it like?
It was faces.
Did you know them?
No, Yung paused and thought again, But I know them. Her expression was so sad that Nox reached out a small hand in comfort.
It felt good?
Yes, Yung nodded, It felt like home.
 
The door on the other side of the catwalk slid open as they stood in silent conversation. Through the door rolled an automaton. Nox ducked out of sight behind Yung just as the automaton raised one of its arms and ejected a spray of metal discs. The ten-centimetre disc streaks across the catwalk, embedding its sharp edges into the wall. One struck Yung’s shoulder, sending a grey weakening fuzz down her right arm.
“Magic hand,” Yung cried as Marius stepped in front batting away discs with his armoured hands. One disc ricochetted off Marius’ fist and back at the automaton, ringing its casing like a bell.
 
Seeing the automaton was distracted by Yung and Marius, Nox snuck out onto the catwalk and edged towards the rogue robot. If she could just touch it, maybe she could turn the murderous thing off. With her other hand, Yung whipped her chain out from around her body in an attempt to bind the automaton. The grip with her off-hand was clumsy, and the chain slithered off the metal casing. A glancing blow on the automaton from Marius made it turn its attention to him. With its other metal arm, it tried a claw attack, but it was far too slow. Marius swayed back, allowing the arm to go past. He swatted it with his off-hand, pushing the whole automaton off balance. Seeing her chance, Nox forgot about trying to turn off the robot. From her low position, she pushed on the rollers of the automaton, tipping it over. With the door open, there was no wall to stop the automaton from falling the 15 metres to the ground where the Dritmen took great joy in tearing the machine apart.
 
Yung turned her head to look at the vicious piece of metal poking out of her shoulder. Contemptuously she pulled it free and threw it out the door with the rest of the automaton.
“Here, sit down,” Nox gently took Yung’s hand and guided her into a sitting position so she could see the wound. As Nox bandaged Yung, Marius checked out the room beyond the second door where the automaton had come. There he found a second automaton, its face plate removed but an intact deadly razor arm weapon attached. He quickly dismantled the arm, collecting a few parts and a magnetic cypher.
 
After applying one of Temila's healing compounds and binding the wound close as Marius had shown her, Yung stretched out her hand.
“Magic hand is back,” She said with satisfaction, and Nox beamed.
“Good, I feel we’re going to need it.” They joined Marius in investigating the second room. Beyond the alcoves set up for the automatons, an l-shaped wall hid a shiny metal cylinder. On scanning it, Nox realised it was a hub or conduit for a lot of data. Something in this silent, seemingly empty building was thinking very hard. Intrigued, Nox touched the cylinder and was at first surprised by a powerful mind.
Begone! It demanded, trying to push her out. She had had many scarier things than a disembodied voice tell her what to do, so she pushed back and ordered as forceful as possible.
I am the interface of Commander Fureva-Yung. Let me pass.
 
Instantly, one mind split into two. The first was delighted to hear Fureva-Yung’s name. The second became hostile in response to hearing Fureva-Yung’s presence. A static hum started building.
SNAP!
The energy discharged, sending a concussive force out of the cylinder into the room. Nox, already sitting on the floor, ducked out of the way of the blast, Marius’ danger sense doing the same for him. Yung, unfortunately, was thrown against the opposite wall.
 
“Magic hand?” Yung asked after the bells had stopped ringing in her head and touched the cylinder. The whole unit fell apart at her touch.
“Sorry, Yung, I think I broke it,” Nox admitted, but Yung would not hear of it.
“Magic hand broke it.”
 
They moved to a small space behind the elevator shaft piled with boxes. Marius had already started scavenging and found two cyphers. Beyond the boxes, the grizzly remains of a skeleton lay. With all curiosity of her new vocation, Nox crouched down beside the skeleton. It was of a slight individual who had been shorter than the average human in life. The temporal bone that protected and held the eyes in place bulged out further than expected, giving the impression the individual in life had enormous eyes. On the bones, she saw signs of trauma, nicks, breakages and stains where bruising had occurred, but she also saw boney ridges at the joints that showed the person had suffered from malnutrition and starvation before the end. Delicate hands that lay in the skeleton’s lap ended in bony claws. Held in their clawed hands, a long piece of metal lay as if this had been their last weapon.
 
“They had suffered a lot before they died,” Nox finally said, pointing out what she’d learnt. It was hard to imagine, amongst all this seemingly magical technology, that a humanoid life could have come to such a tragic end, “In the end, I don’t think your spaceship was such a very happy one,” She said, turning to Yung.