Victernus - Chapter 18
Namara sat at the square, wooden table in the dining room, running his fingers across the smooth wood. He had already eaten and was now watching Mahalia on the other side of the table eat an apple with one leg over her other knee. She was telling him, between bites, more about how New Selania came to be and how the original city failed the first time. She told him that the people who managed to escape the collapse of society couldn't really agree on anything, including who would be their leader, and then there was chaos again. Order returned with the first Great Demonstrator, but they had to rebuild their city elsewhere. When she was done, Namara put both of his arms on the table and asked, "So, what's the plan, now that I'm here?" Mahalia threw the remains of her apple towards a square hole in the wall. When it reached the hole, it disintegrated. She smiled and answered, "Well, we have three options. The first is to stay and keep tabs on what is going on here, and I don't think anyone here is up for that at this point. The second is just to leave, and the last is to find out what their power source is - and disable it - before doing so." He tilted his head, "Why would we do that?" She sighed and then traced a square on the table with her finger. A thin floating screen of light appeared, subject to her command. She typed something on it and then tapped it once more, causing it to expand to the size of the whole table. On it was a model of the whole cavern - including both the lab and the city. Pointing to the space under the city, she continued, "For some reason, our scans of this cavern cannot reach down there. It's really the only place where their power generator could be located, and I think it is shielded somehow." Namara supplied, "Perhaps that's just to protect it from earthquakes? The city is raised too, which would kind of help with that." Mahalia shook her head, "That doesn't cut it for me. I can't think of a conventional power source that would take up that much space... not to mention the fact that there is no way to get a normal one down here. There is no wind, no water, no sun..." "Can't they just use geothermal energy this far down?" She zoomed in on the undercity with her hands and countered, "There's no way that that could power a city like this in that small of an area. We've scanned below it, and there is no sign of drilling or other hidden tunnels." He nodded, "I see. So, why haven't you found out what it is? How long have you been here for?" She rolled her eyes and shut the screen off, "As you saw earlier, we've been using a sort of stealth technology that runs off of the city's power grid. Theo found a way to hack in and make sure that the power usage was undetected. But, we can't go outside of the city, or else it'll stop working for us. We can't go down there without being found out." He crossed his arms, "So you want me to go down there?" Mahalia nodded and stood up, heading to the stairs. She called, "Hey boys, get down here! We need to discuss some things." Namara laughed and put his hand to his forehead. "Do you always do that?" She shrugged, "Hey, you've gotta have some fun sometimes." Theo descended the stairs a few seconds later and greeted Mahalia before taking a seat at the table. He smiled at Namara and said, "Hey, how's it going?" Namara pointed to Mahalia and responded, "Mahalia was just telling me about the city and stuff." Theo nodded and then turned to the stairs when he heard Kyon trailing down slowly. Mahalia rolled her eyes and scolded, "Hurry up already! We don't have all day." When Kyon walked around Mahalia into the living room, he saw his old wolf friend sitting at the table. He shouted, "Namara?!" Energy instantly returned to his body and he ran to meet him. Namara responded by standing up and taking him into a big hug. He smiled and reassured, "It's me. I'm here now, Kyon." He could sense the happiness exploding inside of his friend. Kyon muffled into Namara's fur, "I thought you'd never come back..." He smiled, "I'll always come back." When Kyon let go, Mahalia entered the kitchen and urged, "Alright guys, let's talk now." Namara returned to his seat and Kyon sat down beside him eagerly. The tone of the room lifted greatly, as everyone could no longer help but smile. When Mahalia saw that they were all ready, she addressed Theo and Kyon, "So, while you guys were asleep, I ran Namara through what's been going on lately. We think that the best course of action is to find out what's powering the city and then leave." She focused on Theo, "I'm assuming that your project is done?" He nodded, "It's ready. The Selanians won't be able to find us again if we use it. We will have to destroy the city's power first though - and not just shut it off." Mahalia agreed. "Namara, if it's alright with you, could you go down under the city and do that for us?" Namara shrugged, "That's fine with me. I just have a couple requests." "Go on." He sat back in his chair, "On the way here, I met someone who might be interested in coming with us. While it may seem good to leave now, I want to give him and the other Selanians a chance to come too." Theo frowned, "That could compromise our operation, to a certain extent... but I can try to work around it." Namara smiled, "Good. I wouldn't be able to live with myself very well if we just left them for dead." Mahalia sighed at his remark, "The elevator would still work - they can still leave to the surface. We wouldn't do that to them." He nodded, "I know," and then looked down at the table dreamily when he felt Kyon's hand on his arm. Mahalia glared at Kyon playfully and then continued, "Namara, why don't you go find him while we discuss the plan amongst ourselves... Just bring him here when you find him. We'll know what you can do next once you get back." Namara shook his head to get out of the daydream that was forming and then said, "Sure... Where should I look?" She drew another square on the table and picked up the resulting light screen. "Take this - there's a map of the city on it. I suggest checking the school first. If he's not there, just walk around for a bit. I'm sure he'll show up." Namara agreed and then took the screen. It was weightless, and yet he could still feel its thin, smooth surface with his fingers. He stood up when Kyon let go of his arm and then smiled down at his
three friends, "I'll be back soon, hopefully. Good luck."
When Mahalia closed the door behind Namara, she rested against it for a moment. Looking up from it, she asked her friends, "What do you think?" Theo sighed and shook his head, "I don't know, Mahalia. You saw the scans?" She nodded, "At some point, we're going to have to find a way to make his implants isolated... Otherwise, we're going to have to remove them, and I just can't bear to think of Namara being crippled for the rest of his life." Kyon finally spoke up and asked, "Well, he wouldn't be. You can remake his hand and foot, can't you Theo?" Theo scratched his head, "That's really complicated." Mahalia came to the kitchen slowly and then stood at the edge of it, "Theo, you know you're going to have to weaponize his implants if he's ever going to destroy the power source, right?" He nodded, "Yes, and that's what creates the problem. Unless I can create an override for the receptors, he's going to be very dangerous. He already is. He was dangerous when I first injected him, and he's even more dangerous now." Mahalia felt a twinge of hope. She ordered, "Kyon, why don't you get working on a way to actively jam the signal to his implants? Theo, you can start on the override and those weapons. He may be more dangerous, but we need this." She paused and waited. Because they didn't budge, she continued urgently, "I don't think we have much time before whoever built them comes knocking, so..." Kyon stared at her. "What're you gonna do?" She rolled her eyes again, "If it makes you feel better, I'll keep track of Namara's location and make sure he doesn't do anything out of the ordinary - hopefully he stays on task. You guys are good at what you do - I'll handle what I'm good at. Just don't sit there all day acting like idiots. Not when we're this close." Turning around, she headed upstairs to her room. Disapproving internally, she thought, They're always perfectly fine until I give them work to do. Some things will never change.