The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) (37 page)

"She is unconscious, but I can see her through Born-of-Night," Tevis translates.

"Good. Good," Ty says. "Stay in touch with her."

Max understands without Tevis signing it. "As long as we have Born-of-Night, I can stay with her," Tevis translates.

When they are halfway between the ceiling and the ground, C.J. points into the cave.

"The light is stronger there," she says.

"There must be a source somewhere," Ty says.

"We have to get her back," Amber says. Her face is red from crying.

"We will," Max signs.

As they drop, the massive proportions of the cave become even more evident. The pillars must be at least six hundred feet in diameter. They look as if they’ve had been chiseled out of the rock in one piece. Their color seems to change from deep black to dark blue and back, depending on how much light reaches them.

"This looks like a mine," Ty says. "Except the proportions are off."

His glance falls on Amber. She has not even begun to comprehend what is happening.

"Mila, can you make a drawing of the tunnels?" Max signs to her. "And can you draw what I see, where they take Aries?"

"I'll try," Mila says. "I need to find a good surface."

The platform reaches the bottom, slowing down until it stops a few inches above the ground, where they jump off. A layer of fine black sand covers the ground as far as they can see. Here and there, monolith-like rocks, sharp and pointy like dark glass, jut out of the sand. Some of them are at least three hundred feet high.

"We need to find water," Ty says.

"I'll go," Seth says.

"I'll come with you," Sam answers.

"Maybe it would be better if one of you would stay here," Ty says.

"Okay," Seth replies.

"I'll come with you," C.J. says to Seth.

Sam nods. Mila searches for something in the sand and finds a hand-sized stone.

"You see that, over there?" she says. "The flat area next to the pillar? I can draw there."

The ceiling is now far up. So far, in fact, that it’s hard to make out the opening they came through. When they reach the pillar, Mila begins to draw lines into the sand. As she moves around, Max nods here and there, sometimes correcting her, at other times signing to her with his own suggestions. Amber sits on the ground, her back against the pillar. Ty and Tevis sit beside her. Sam stands, watching Mila draw.

"Do you have any idea w-w-what happened?" Jeremiah asks Amber.

"No," she answers. "I remembered the words."

"They d-d-didn't know about it," Jeremiah says.

"What do you mean?"

"The androids didn't know about the p-p-platform. They moved us to the large s-s-space so they could control us better. They didn't know about the platform or the elevator."

"Makes sense."

"That also m-m-means that the Corporation didn't build them. It must have been here prior to the buildings being erected."

"That doesn't explain why I seemed to remember that room," Amber answers.

"W-w-what now?"

Max turns his head, looks over to them.

"We can follow Aries’s path through Born-of-Night." Tevis translates his signing. "We could go where she goes."

"What would that do?" Amber asks.

"I'm not sure, but at least we'll keep pace with her and maybe there is a way for us to get back up," Tevis translates.

"Or for her to c-c-come down," Jeremiah says.

"How would she do that?" Ty asks.

"Look over t-t-there," Jeremiah replies. "You see the thin beam of light going all the way up to the ceiling?"

"Barely," Ty answers.

"I see it," Amber says.

"That's the same b-b-beam, or at least it looks like it is the same beam, that was connected to the platform we came down on."

"There are more of them." Amber states a fact rather than asking a question.

"Yes," Jeremiah answers. "The question is, how can we g-g-get it down?"

"I have no idea," Amber replies.

At that moment, Max looks past them into the distance. Then he points behind them. When the others turn, they see Seth and C.J. running toward them, waving their arms.

They get up. Mila stops drawing. Amber begins to run toward Seth and C.J.

"...see this!" Seth yells. "You have to come see this!"

The others run toward them. The sand slows them down, makes it hard to move.

"What is it?" Amber asks, as they meet.

"I... I don't..." Seth is having trouble getting his words out.

"It must be a wolf or a very large dog or something," C.J. says.

"I don't think it's that, C.J." Seth says.

"What is it?" Ty asks. "For God's sake, what is it?"

"See for yourself," Seth replies.

As they come closer, they see a mound of sand, about eight feet long. Some areas are caved in as if parts of the mound are hollow.

"It's a skeleton." Tevis translates Max's signing.

"A skeleton?" Ty asks. "What... is it a skeleton of?"

There’s no answer. They all stare at the remains.

"I know what it is," Seth says.

"That can't be possible," C.J. replies.

"I'm sorry. But it is. I've seen these before. Many times. Only much, much smaller."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ty asks.

"Yes." Seth answers.

"Rats?" Ty says.

"Are you sure?" Tevis says quietly.

"I'm sure. As I said, I have seen many of them. They have a distinct body shape. But that's not the most worrisome part," Seth replies.

"What do you mean?" Mila asks.

"Yes, they are big and I don't want to encounter one or run from one, but what's more frightening is what did this."

Seth points to the neck. It half disappears into the sand. He lifts the carcass up and out of the sand. On the lower part where it was buried in the sand, the fur is still attached, completely flattened and dried up, but there.

"Look at its head," he says. "Its spine was severed. And crushed. You see here?"

Seth points at the spine below the head.

"Dammit," Ty says. "We need to find shelter."

"Shelter from the rats, or shelter from whatever’s eating them?" Seth asks.

"Ideally from both," Ty replies. "Until we can come up with a plan."

"I'm going to assume that whatever eats r-r-rats is airborne," Jeremiah says. "Which will make it more difficult to find shelter that provides p-p-protection against both."

There is a moment of silence.

"It's not all bad,” C.J. says.

"What?" Ty replies.

"We found water."

"You did? Where?"

"Just over there." C.J. points at a small indentation in the ground, about a hundred feet away.

When they reach it, they see that it's a mere trickle over a flat rock.

"Most of it must be underground," Tevis translates for Max.

"Is it drinkable?" she asks.

"So far I feel okay," C.J. says.

One by one, they quench their thirst with the small spring.

"I saw something when we came down here," Sam says. "Looked like buildings. Ruins or something."

"I saw them, too," Mila says.

"Where did you see them?" Ty asks.

"That way." Sam points toward a large wall of stone a few miles away. Halfway between their location and the wall, a few low structures are visible. "Maybe we can make it there."

"That's a long way," Seth says.

"Aries is moving in the same direction. We're following her path if we go this way," Tevis translates for Max.

"Let's do it then," Ty says. "Sam, why don't you go last and watch our backs. Seth, you go first and the rest of us can watch the sides."

"Sounds good. But one of us should be watching above," Seth says. "I just wish our feathered friend could be here to scout the air."

"Let's get going" Sam says.

Besides the sound of the sand under their feet, it is eerily quiet. They all watch their surroundings while moving toward the structures in the distance. About a half hour later they see that they aren't structures as such, but rather ruins of buildings long since gone.

"We must be below Aries right now," Tevis translates for Max. "At least I think that's where she is."

"Look at t-t-this," Jeremiah says, pointing at a thin beam of light coming from the center of the small enclave of ruins. The beam reaches high up to the ceiling. "This must be connected to one of those p-p-platforms. Maybe there's a way for you to get this down here, Amber?"

"I don't know how I'd do that," she replies.

"Maybe there's some kind of control panel somewhere that can call it down?" Ty asks.

They pass the first ruin. The stone the structure is built from is black, similar to the walls of the tunnel.

"Look at the surface of the stone," Tevis translates for Max. "It's very rough. The edges are round."

"That's strange," Ty says. "It looks like it has been sandblasted."

Everyone gets quiet. Then they look from the building to the opposite side of the cave and far into the distance.

"Can there be wind inside a cave?" Mila asks.

"Sure," Ty answers. "A heat source and temperature fluctuations is all you need. Then it just depends on how big the fluctuations are."

"There is no shelter here," Seth says. "We need something to climb onto."

They all look toward a tower a little further in the distance. The front is fallen in, but the back seems intact.

"I have lost Aries," Tevis translates for Max.

"What do you mean?" Amber asks.

"It's hard for Born-of-Night to follow them through the tunnels."

"The first question would be, where are they t-t-taking her," Jeremiah says. "If we knew that, we could figure out where they are g-g-going."

"Back to the core and up into the building?" Seth asks.

"If that's the case, we'll have to somehow get through that wall," Tevis translates. "The core should be behind it, this way." Max points past the large tower to the wall in the distance. It reaches all the way to the ceiling. With the light source behind, it seems almost transparent.

"We can only speculate right now," Ty says.

The light beam is about a foot in diameter. It reaches straight up and all the way to the ceiling. Where it meets the sand is a circular hole in the ground, as if the sand can't penetrate the light. Amber stretches out her hand to touch it.

"No!" Ty cries out.

But her hand has already touched the beam. They all fully expect her to be blown backward in an explosion of some kind. But Amber stands there, her hands slightly moving over the beam.

"It feels cold to the touch," she says. "A little tingly. And it's solid."

C.J., standing next to Amber, stretches out her hand. When she touches it she cries out, more in surprise than anything else.

"Are you okay?" Amber asks.

"Yes." C.J. replies. "I was just... a bit startled."

This time she stretches out both hands. Before they touch the beam, she closes her eyes. First, her face shows no emotion. Then after a while tears begin to stream down her cheeks. One hand goes to her lower abdomen as if she has a cramp.

"Are you in pain?" Tevis asks, while walking toward her, ready to disconnect her from the beam. Ty gently holds her back.

"She's alright," he says. "Give her a minute."

C.J. moans in pain but keeps one hand on the beam. She begins to sob. The others stand around her, not quite sure what to do. Seth lays one hand on C.J.'s back. After a while, Amber steps back from the beam, so does C.J. They embrace each other quietly.

"Can I?" Seth says.

He touches the beam for a few moments. Then he pulls back. Mila and Sam are next.

"So beautiful," Mila says. "Look at all the colors inside."

Max steps toward it and reluctantly touches it with one hand.

"Don't be afraid," Amber says.

After a few moments he pulls his hands back and covers his ears. He cries out but no sound escapes his mouth. Tevis goes to him and holds him, rocks him gently back and forth. Mila takes his hand.

"It must have h-h-healing properties, somehow," Jeremiah says. "But it doesn't p-p-provoke the same reaction in all of us."

When Jeremiah touches the beam, his eyes light up and a wide smile crosses his face.

"It's mathematical," he says in wonderment.

The others laugh.

"I'm scared," Tevis says, half smiling when she realizes that she and Ty are the only ones left.

Ty smiles, then he lays his hands on the beam. Tevis does the same.