The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) (43 page)

But when they begin to climb through the jagged rocks, past deep crevasses and toward the pillar in the distance, Aries can't find the one moment in time during which she could have made a different choice. Not to listen to Born-of-Night to come to the Forgotten Floors would have been an option. But it was already too late then. Maybe if she had stayed on the job to exchange the corroded cable on the 172nd floor that day. But she wouldn't have been able to stay there, stay in her life as she’d known it. What if she had never met Born-of-Night, never saved her in the ducts? She could have left her there and gone back to her room. She would not have met Kiire. But they would still have C.J., and they would still have gotten Kiire for what he’d found out. And he would have found out because that's who he is: insatiably curious. And Ty, good old Ty. She couldn't have convinced him to stay away if she’d had a gun in her hand. He would have come with her either way.

"Stop!" Sam says in front of her. She is so engrossed in her thoughts that it doesn't register until she almost runs into him.

"What is it?"

Max and Ty are further down the path, peering at something below. For the last fifteen minutes, they’d been climbing through the jagged rocks until they’d hit a narrow trail leading through them. This path, not wide enough for two people to walk side by side, leads behind a large rock outcropping ahead. The others have caught up and now Aries gets a chance to see what they see.

The path continues to their left, along a massive rock formation that is almost completely covered with thick, silvery moss. To the right of the path, a straight cliff drops down about two hundred feet. At the bottom, there stand the remnants of an old stone building. Even in its current state of deterioration, it is still four stories high. Blind openings for what must have been windows once peer at them from behind the green vine cover that envelops the building. Slightly behind it, a steep creek bed ends in a waterfall that rushes into an abyss below.

The image is dizzying, and Aries has to concentrate on the solid ground below her feet in order not to feel sick to her stomach.

"Keep your hands on the rocks to the left. We should be fine," Ty says.

The others have already begun to walk along the cliff.

You okay?
she hears Max think.

"I will be,"
Aries replies, trying to get rid of the dryness in her mouth. She can't say whether the knot in her stomach stems from the drop or from the general feeling of dread over what might await them before this day is over.

Do you see this?
Born-of-Night asks.

For her to see what the hawk sees, she would have to close her eyes—something she can't risk without possibly taking a wrong step.

"Can you stop for a second?" she asks Seth and Tevis behind her.

"Hold on a second," Seth calls out to the others.

Aries stops, completely unprepared for what this might do to her equilibrium. She turns her head toward the mossy rocks. Much better. When she closes her eyes, she has to stop herself from letting out a scream. There is a tunnel. It's wider than the others and leads to a set of doors at its far end. Rows and rows of androids march toward it. Then the door slides open and the androids enter what must be an elevator. The doors close. On the other side, as far as her eye can see, like a slow moving serpent, the androids march in unison toward the door.

This has been going on for a while,
thinks Born-of-Night.
I have counted close to two thousand so far. The elevator holds about thirty and it takes about a minute for it to go down and come back up. They are coming down toward you, Aries. They must know where you are.

Aries opens her eyes. When she repeats to the others what she has just seen, they cast their eyes down.

"Let's get past this and to the pillar," Ty says. "From there we might have a better idea."

An hour later they climb through a narrow opening between two large rocks and arrive on a flat surface. The pillar is less than four hundred feet away. It is massive, formed from almost completely black stone, and seems to have been chiseled out of an existing rock formation. Aries has trouble comprehending the size of whatever it was that had carved the pillar out of the stone. It reaches far up—so far that she can barely make out the ceiling. It seems that over centuries vines have claimed a large part of its lower sections.

"I hear a humming sound," Tevis translates Max's signing.

"Come again?" Ty answers, a perplexed look on his face.

Max shrugs.

"I hear it, too," Aries says.

"Well, you must have good ears because I can't hear a damn thing," Ty says.

"Me neither," Tevis replies.

"I can't hear anything, either," Kiire says.

"I c-c-can," Jeremiah says.

Mila nods. "Me too."

"I hear it," Sam says.

"I hear it, too," Seth replies.

"I can hear it, too," Amber says.

"Me too," C.J. says.

"How come some of us can hear it and others can't?" Amber asks.

"I'm more interested in finding out how you can hear it?" Tevis says to Max while signing to him.

"I don't hear it in my ears," she translates his signing. "I hear it inside. In my thoughts."

When they continue, Aries realizes that as uncomfortable as the rock formations were before, being out in the open and exposed like they are now is not much better. When they reach and pass the pillar, it’s as if a curtain opens, revealing the landscape before them.

The rear side of the pillar stands inside a large lake. Its still, crystal clear water shimmers in turquoise and deep blue. The lake extends to their right and disappears around the pillar. In the distance, a settlement of ruins stretches along the edge of what appears to be a massive indentation in the ground. The crater reaches far into the distance and past the point that is visible to the naked eye. Among the ruins stands a tall tower. It has partially collapsed but the right side seems to be intact. The landscape seems ancient, untouched, yet not abandoned. The light spilling out from the crater is soft, golden, illuminating the walls, reaching far up toward the ceiling in the distance.

"Where does the light come from?" Mila asks.

"I haven’t the slightest idea," Ty answers. "Must be inside the crater."

"If we follow along the shore, we'll come straight to the tower," Seth says. "We might get a better view from there."

"Shouldn't we... hide somewhere?" C.J. says. "Rather than try to get closer to whatever is there?"

Aries can't help but think that C.J. spoke out loud what each of them has been thinking, herself included. She picks up a narrow piece of black rock from below her feet. It’s shaped like a small scythe and one end fits perfectly into the palm of her hand. The stone feels cool to the touch and she wonders if this would be considered an artifact from a time long since passed.

"We should go," she says. "There's no sense in avoiding what must be done."

But her words belie what she knows to be the truth—that they are walking straight toward their end.

* * *

Keeping the lake to their right, they travel along its shore for close to three hours. There is a heaviness to their stride—not the light footsteps of children, but the burdened walk of someone who has recognized the harsh reality of what is to come. Not much conversation is exchanged between them. Once in a while, Jeremiah and Amber talk quietly. Jeremiah tells her that, in his estimate, the amount of androids passing through the elevator and coming down toward them is approximately eighteen hundred per hour and that, by now, there could be as many as five thousand of them down here, if not more.

Aries has been walking next to Ty when possible, enjoying her old mentor's company. Once in a while he'd put his hand on her shoulder as if seeking to steady himself.

"I'm glad you're here," she says, overcome with concern for him.

"I'm glad you're here, too," he answers. "Even though I'd feel a little better if 'here' were someplace else."

"When we crossed the sky bridge between the buildings, we saw the city," Aries says after a while.

"How did it look?" Ty asks.

"I guess like any city that has been abandoned for eighty years. And to think that, all this time, it was perfectly habitable. People could have lived there, grown up, raised their children..." Aries's words trail off. "We have been taken advantage off. We've been whipped around like cattle in a pen. We can do better."

A smile crosses Ty's face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because you remind me of myself."

"How so?"

"I felt the same way when I was your age. I just never had the guts to do something about it."

She looks at him for a while.

"You do now."

"That is true," he says.

Their gaze turns to the large tower ahead. Standing on a hill, it seems even more imposing now than it did a few hours ago. Its lower walls of stone hug the black granite-like formation on which it is built. The individual square stones look polished, giving the black patina depth and texture. There are almost no visible lines where one carefully chiseled square meets the next. The deep green vines have made the tower their home a long time ago and left only a few patches of stone bare. To the right of the tower, the ruins extend along the edge of the crater behind it. Aries can now see the light illuminating what's left of the ancient structures.

I think I've found a way down,
she hears Born-of-Night think.
But it's getting more and more difficult to stay undetected.

I hope to see you soon,
Aries replies. Once in a while she’s managed to close her eyes long enough to get a fleeting image from Born-of-Night. But it has mainly been tunnels and other unidentifiable places.

We have come so far that I want to see it through to the end,
Aries thinks.
But right now I would rather not have started this.

We do what we must do, Aries Free-Born,
she hears.
That's how it has always been. That's how it will always be.

Why do you call me Free-Born?
Aries asks.

Because you are born free,
the hawk answers.

But I am not free.

Yes, you are. You have not claimed your freedom yet. And once you do, you will make it possible for others to free themselves as well.

Born-of-Night's thoughts echo through her mind. For a moment, the fear in her eases, making room for something else to take hold—something ancient and powerful, waiting at the threshold of her mind. But as much as she wants to welcome it, the dread that returns doesn't allow her to open the door. She realizes at this moment that the terror of whatever fate awaits them here deep inside the mountain, the terror of facing an enemy of overwhelming proportions, is nothing compared to the fear of what sleeps inside her and is about to awaken.

"Look at this!" Sam interrupts her thoughts.

He stands in front of a door that is half-buried in the ground. A small mound behind it suggests a passageway of sorts, leading toward the tower about two hundred feet away. When Sam and Seth move the vines out of the way they realize that the door is halfway open, leaving a narrow space to crawl through.

"I've had enough of tunnels for a while," C.J. says.

Aries can't help but laugh out loud, as this is exactly what she’s been thinking too.

"There doesn't seem to be an entrance in the walls of the tower," Kiire says. "At least none that I can see."

Seth and Sam hold the vines apart, waiting for everyone to climb through. When Aries enters the inside of the passageway she is surprised by its size. The light coming through the gap left by the open door illuminates the first twenty feet. The polished black floor is clean, as if the dust of the centuries hasn't settled on it. Her feet tingle slightly and when she touches her palms to the floor, the fine hairs on her hands stand up.

"Oh, it tickles," she hears C.J. say behind her.

"Some kind of force field, maybe?" Kiire asks.

"It's magnetic," Ty says, while moving his hands over the smooth surface. "And pretty powerful."

On an impulse, Aries takes out the small stone scythe from her coveralls pocket and lays it on the floor. It feels as if it attaches to it and, once on the ground, Aries has to use a good amount of force to pull it back up.

"The stone must have metal in it," Kiire says.

"And a pretty high percentage," Ty adds.

"This is strange," Amber says.

"What is?" Jeremiah asks.

"I don't know what makes me think that but I'm certain the light source outside has something to do with it."

"It's not that far ahead," Sam says.

They begin to walk toward the light that spills down from an opening in the ceiling on the other side of the passageway. When they reach the other end, they stop at the foot of a long stone stairway leading to a landing far above. A narrow opening in the tower wall allows the light to come in, immersing the steps in golden light. Aries counts one hundred ninety-two steps until they reach the landing. From there, another set of stairs similar to this one continues in a ninety-degree angle to their left. The openings in the tower wall are too high for them to be able to see the outside.