Still Falling: Book 1: Solstice 31 Saga (12 page)

The porridge was wonderful.

“I remember having oatmeal like this when I was a boy. My mother would put honey, maple syrup and crushed nuts in it. It was wonderful on a winter morning.” He looked at the snow, melting in the sun.

“What is maple?” Po asked.

“It's a kind of tree.” She was looking at his eyes again. It was like her words asked a different question than her eyes. Olias came running up, then speaking too fast for Barcus to understand. Po barked at him. He stopped.

“Have you eaten, Olias?” Barcus spoke slowly.

“Yes, Keeper.” But he was looking into the tall stone jar.

“Call me Barcus. And eat more. Please.”

Olias dove for his bowl and ladled up three spoons, and then his hand was hovering over the honey ladle. Barcus nodded.

Em's avatar walked through the doorway then. “
Barcus, do you realize that these two have been starved their entire lives? These last two meals probably represent more food than they have eaten in the last week. They have always been mistreated. You will need to let them help you, or they will mistrust you.”

That reminded him about Ash.

“I know this must all be very confusing for you both. But I will try to explain.” He set his empty bowl down on the counter. “I am not like the Keepers you have known.” He didn't want to lie. “I come from very far away. I'm alone and lost. I am just trying to survive.”

Po was murmuring translations to Olias as he spoke.

“I was alone. Until now,” he said.

She didn't need to translate that.

“I think the Keepers are the ones that killed my family, my friends. All of them. Just like you. And I don't know why.”

He looked around the ruined courtyard. Em was standing there. She spoke.

“
Ask them to stay. Give them a choice. They have never had one before.”

“You are free to go whenever you like. I will never bind you here. But if you stay, I will do my best to protect you. I will try my best to be your friend. I promise. I need your help. I'm lost here.”

Just then, Ash appeared in the archway to the fountain yard. He ducked under the arch and paused before he came in. He stood just inside.

“This is Ashigaru. I call him Ash. He will protect and help us. You do not need to fear him.” He moved forward quietly, into the full sunlight. It was a bad idea. He was actually still splattered with blood in many places.

Barcus wondered why he didn't speak to them. Instead, he made a barely perceptible bow and left the way he came.

“He's big,” Olias said in common, making Barcus smile.

“What about the other thing? We saw it at Greenwarren. A giant spider?” Olias asked, as Em was translating.

“Her name is Pardosa,” Barcus said. “They are both my friends.”

“Good,” Po said. “Now do we have a decent broom?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cauldrons and Questions

“The Emergency Module had assumed three separate personas. Remember that they were all operating as EM extensions. Barcus had no idea how advanced this survival system had become. Em, Par and Ash were all the same mind.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Emergency Module Digital Forensics Report. Independent Tech Analysis Team.

<<<>>>

There was another big pile of supplies just outside the gate - bags of foods and grain. There were clothes and utensils and tools in the salvage pile as well. Po and Olias set about sorting, organizing and storing the supplies and gear without a single question.

Barcus went off to the throne room to study the hundreds of active status windows. The inventory lists were growing as the salvage was assessed. The survival estimate changed as the amount of food they had increased.

The cauldrons were being analyzed. One was dedicated to heating water for laundry. The cooking cauldrons constantly boiled fresh water that could be used to make tea or start a stew on a moment’s notice. There was an iron grate in the bottoms of the cooking cauldrons that allowed boiling water to circulate all the way around the tall, heavy jars, slow cooking their contents but never burning them. It was brilliant.

The Abbey had a bakery. It was a big one. So big that it seemed like it had to be used to bake things for sale, not just for consumption by The Abbey residents.

There was a growing list of items to repair. Just like back on the Ventura. Same format even, same annotations.

“Plumbing, 5% complete, due date, prerequisites 12...”

“Em, what is the story here?” He indicated the plumbing.

“
The plumbing depends on the aqueduct, and the aqueduct will not be repaired until the wall is repaired. The wall repair should also be considered a security priority.”

The security task list was then highlighted. It was long.

“We have a 'shopping list'?”

“
Items that we need to obtain before winter are priority items.”

“For god’s sake, Em. There are hundreds of things just on that list.”

Barcus noticed then that six new villages had been added to the main tactical map. Active, living villages. More ruins had been added as well.

“Have you detected any more soldiers? Fires?” Barcus asked.

“Negative. No smoke plumes anywhere visible on any horizon. No troop ships detected.”

Barcus scanned the screens for an hour before finally saying, “Em show me the top priority tasks that involve me that are not projects or major objectives. Where do I start?”

“1) Retrieve Shuttle Transport Unit (STU).”

Behind the words hanging in the static HUD configuration was Po, standing in the open door. Wiping her hands on an apron. Frozen.

“My Lor... Barcus, dinner is ready,” she said, eyes averted.

Suddenly he realized it looked like he was standing in an empty room talking to himself. Insane.

She turned and walked back toward the gatehouse.

When he got there, Olias was already sitting at the table. His face and hands were freshly scrubbed, unlike Barcus’s.

Before he could get up to go wash them, Po was at his elbow with a small carved wood platter that had three wash clothes rolled and neatly arranged. He took one and then Po offered one to Olias and he took one, uncertain. They were wet and still warm. Barcus washed his hands.

Po came back holding the third warm towel, washing her hands with it and then setting it to the side of her place setting.

“The oven is not working yet. It has old raccoon nests in it. I'm sorry there is no bread yet,” she apologized.

Steaming bowls of food were already on the table, and she picked up and served Barcus some vegetables and handed the bowl to Olias. There was venison tenderloin sliced in one of the bowls, fried potatoes in another, and what looked like yellow carrots, except they were spicy.

Barcus could tell that she was uncertain about eating with them. She was acting as if someone would catch her at any moment and drag her away by her braid.

Olias was uncertain for only a moment. Following the lead set by Barcus, he would not start until Po served herself and began. Then, he dug in with gusto. He eventually took thirds. Po ate more than she usually did, Barcus was glad to see. He didn't even have to badger her to have seconds.

Barcus thought the dinner was over, but when Po got up, she came back with three saucers that had a thin crusty looking cookie in the bottom. It did not look appealing. She went to a tiny pot that smelled of apples that hung by the fire during dinner.

“The oven is not working yet. But I managed these.” She dipped a spoon into the pot. “These are dried apples, stewed in honey with spices.” She ladled the mix over the coarse looking cookie.

It was glorious, the texture of the oatmeal crust cakes that soaked up the juices. And the apples were warm and sweet with a splash of cream. Perfect.

She served herself last. Staring at it. The spoon trembling in her hand.

“I've made this hundreds of times. I never once got to taste it.” She looked up to look at Barcus in the eyes.

Olias had already finished his.

She put a spoonful in her mouth and closed her eyes as she tasted it, chewed and swallowed it. Barcus knew how wonderful it was.

She opened her eyes and looked at Barcus. He was smiling at her.

Something overwhelmed her. She furrowed her brow and covered her mouth with her hand. Her shoulders shrugged as her face collapsed. She fled unhindered to the other room.

Barcus looked at Olias. Olias raised an eyebrow, twisted up a half smile, pointed at her desert, pointed at Barcus and then pointed for him to follow her.

He did just that.

He walked with the desert to the curtain and entered without preamble. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her face in her hands.

Barcus sat next to her. Sounds of dishes being stacked came from the other room.

“I have decided that there is only one thing you are never allowed to do.”

Removing her hands and wiping her face she looked at his, which was quite serious.

“You may never let this ever go to waste.” He handed her the dish.

She looked up at him again. She was so tiny. She took the dish. After a long moment she sighed, took a deep breath and took up the spoon.

“It is good.” She took a bite.

“Did your mother ever make this for you?” she asked, finally taking another bite.

“No. I wish she had,” Barcus answered truthfully.

She took the last bite of the desert. After she had swallowed, she handed the dish back to him. He was surprised.

“Thank you,” she said with her eyes averted.

“Po, everything is going to be different from now on,” Barcus stated quietly.

“I know.” She moistened a finger and collected a few crumbs from the small plate. “Can I pick one thing you are never allowed to do?” she asked.

He was surprised by the bold question.

“Sure, if you make that for me again soon.” He smiled, as she licked the spoon again.

They both heard the door close. “Can I ask you never to lie to me when we are alone in this house?”

“Yes. I promise,” he said without reservation.

“Where did you come from really?” she whispered, her eyes glistening. There was a long pause.

His answer was just as quiet. “The sky.”

She scanned his face and found only truth.

Her relief was evident on her face.

“I made you a nightshirt,” she said as she looked away.

Barcus was getting used to her
nonsequiturs
.

***

Barcus went back to the throne room again after dinner and lit fires in all the hearths. The windows in his HUD were multiplying and sorting into piles. The list of things they needed was growing and being updated. The biggest problem with Pardosa on salvage runs alone was that she could only reach so much. While her front legs could be used as arms, some things were too fragile or too big to haul out a window.

As soon as Par was back, Barcus planned that she would take him to retrieve the STU. Ash would stay here at Whitehall. The day after tomorrow would be good. They would do some salvage on the way. Barcus was remembering the wine from that Tavern.

“Barcus, I have been studying the two Plates we have brought back from the raiding Keepers. Initially, it was to ensure they would not give away our location. I have discovered several useful things.” A list opened in yet another new window.

●
      
One was not secured - no passcodes required.

●
      
The other was locked and fully encrypted.

●
      
I have disabled SAT comm protocols on the unlocked one.

●
      
I have located its User and Administrative manual.

●
      
They support multiple network protocols including NearFi.

●
      
There is small 1TB local storage capacity.

●
      
I am reviewing files now for relevant content.

“Here is the best part so far.” With that, the tactical display expanded beyond the small region it covered. It zoomed out, completely filling in the map; villages, towns, roads, rivers, lakes and seas were all labeled.

Finally, it zoomed out to the point that the globe was floating in the center of the room.

“The device was loaded with base maps, but not the annotations unless the specific user added them. There were none in this case. No annotations, no local documents. The only thing the local storage was used for was pornography. Nothing special there either except, the girls ran a little young.”

“What do the maps tell us?”

“We are in an area that is outside their established provinces, of which there are eleven. The population centers on this planet are mostly on this continent in a temperate band - here.” The area rotated toward Barcus and zoomed in.

Em laughed. “These people don't like the snow or the heat.

“The Plate itself is a very early model, second gen. The Augmented Reality Interface works still. But it really needs server side support.

“I believe I can use the device via NearFi if I activate a secure emulator on my side for it to talk to. I need your permission to try.”

“You need my permission?”

“Yes. Your admin level is ‘root’. As the AI, I have only limited admin rights. Connecting to other networks or devices requires root permission.”

“Say please,” Barcus said.

“Are you serious?” Em asked. He crossed his arms.

“Please?”

“Do it. If that works we can use it for communications locally,” Barcus said. “What about the other one?”

“If the first Plate functions as expected, I may be able to replicate it at the block level. I would rather wait until we have the STU. A locked device may assist him in decryption efforts. We won't know until he is here.”

“Par, when will you be back?”

“I will leave here at dusk today. Two nights travel. Dawn the day after that,” came his crisp reply

The calendar began cascading updates. Various schedules moved to the left.

“It is 12:07 a.m., Barcus.”

All the windows began to dim. All but one. That last one showed Po sitting up in Barcus’s bed, waiting.

He opened the door to the gatehouse quietly. He sat and took his boots off equally as quietly. Then, pushing the curtain aside, he entered the bedroom. He immediately saw the nightshirt. It was neatly folded on the quilt. Po appeared to be asleep, her back to him. He quietly began undressing, folding each item and placing it on the chair. After removing his shirt, but before taking his pants off, he pulled the nightshirt over his head. It was a knee length, gray tunic, simple and soft. It was the same color as Po's.

He climbed in, his back facing hers. A moment later she turned to spoon his back. He covered her hand with his. Barcus thought he'd be awake the whole night, his mind racing. But his mind didn't race. He listened to her breathing, slowly relaxing into a faint snore. He was asleep soon after.

As he drifted off, he felt a pang of guilt for allowing her to be in his bed. He had been rationalizing it but knew he was just being selfish. He knew he was seeking comfort and swore to himself that it was fine because he would never take advantage of her.

“
You already are,”
he chided himself.
“Got yourself your very own slaves, you bastard...”

When Barcus woke, it was 5:32 a.m. The clock was the first item he checked so he always left it on in his HUD. The HUD ribbon rolled out along the bottom of his vision with the indicators for priority items. Everything was deep green except the one that represented Pardosa’s trip status. It was light green. Nothing to worry about, but he would check it first thing.