CHAPTER 46 - ETHERIA AND THE SPECTRUM MIND WAVE

Current Time

Across the breadth of a spacious factory an agar plate flew, passing autonomous units that labored on in idiosyncrasy. Trees of robotic arms extended out from the wall. Claws daintily bent the ribbons of protein molecules. To evade them, four hover disks at the base of the platform altered their intensity. Etheria bent over the side, just shy of a geyser of sparks from the lower levels, searching for any sign of an entrance. Undoubtedly such an exploit garnered risk. None but the chosen few knew the way to the locality of the spectrum mind wave, even among the Vecktan elite. Tom Belltower had hidden away the survivors. She was sure they were here somewhere. Communities birthed by diaspora littered the SOTA. Perhaps by making contacts on the inside links could be formed ... gentle ones beneath the notice of the Scilyst. A lofty hope, given the prospect of speciation in such an option-dense atmosphere. Wearied from the brisk run, the platform docked with a much larger agar plate. The medium was soft as padding. As a result, her feet were quite clumsy, due in part to the pace of the stride. Humdrum orderlies used flashlights of different colors to produce new growth patterns. Lumps of fractal elegance. They paid her no heed, as it was late in the shift. Drifting robots dipped objects in the growth, some geometrical, allowing the surface area to be subsumed and carrying them off to who knows where. Etheria wore a black cloak over much of her body. To her amusement, a group of napping men snored in their gas masks by a tool station. Leather suits pretzel twisted around each other by arms and legs, wholesome as rabbits dozing in a prairie. "I can't be a quarter of the way" the pedestrian measured. Looking back, one of the orderlies had made use of her agar plate. "Not so fast!" boomed a voice from above. A plate cruised by, and from it jumped off an enforcer. "This is a shortcut to home. I don't normally do this" the sleuth fibbed, hoping to throw her off scent. Black gloves were the main visual point of reference, given a body brimming with the life and death of every species, genus, family, order, class and phylum through moving scenes. Lifecycle came closer, doubtful of the lone traveler, "Let me see your full face, mam. The doors for this level were closed hours ago". Etheria was pinned, and there was no way acting could save her. To be civil, the patron lowered the hood. Making the air blur, the enforcer rushed. "Echoian! Do not move" she barked, outstretching the grisly black gloves. Fast in reply, each hand clenched against the other, locking. Sparks flourished from between the spaces of their fingers, rich as a saw grinding against pure steel. "Aah!" Etheria bayed. Dynamic pain shot through every circuit in her hand. The Vecktan eyed the loner, fear slowly welling up as the grip tipped in balance. Lifecycle couldn't accept it, until by force she was pushed away, back to the distance of their encounter. "Tom Belltower. I know you work with him, Lifecycle. If he thinks he can keep the refugees here forever, than he is sorely mistaken. Just tell me where the portal is, and I will make this easy for you" Etheria offered as the orderlies fled in panic. "Don't be silly. Ambassador, I have to take you into custody" the guard promised as tails of mist unwove from her palms. "You and I both know that's not happening. The battle of dumb groceries was child's play compared to me" she countered brusquely. "Come back to the boundary. This doesn't have to be a problem. I can pay the orderlies to keep quiet" Lifecycle bargained, changing her stance to defend from forward magic. "Nah … don't think so. If you be so kind as to turn around now, I can be very quiet" Etheria replied, fusing a bit of raw humor into audacity. The patron reined in any but calm, skillful breathes. It was not lost to her that she was alone in the deep heart of Veckta. Circumventing the boundaries had been a hassle. Soon the entire defense mechanism would be weighing down upon her. A bluffing smirk ratted the enforcer. "Giving you one chance" she called. Beneath their feet the culture fanned out. To the untrained eye a garden variety colony of light blue and white blotches. Etheria thought it a tad kawaii. But then she noticed something else. The way the enforcer's eyes were drawn to the proliferation, a silent tell. In the distance, teams of robots tended to plain cylinders, the form belying what echelon of tech rested within. Each seemed to correspond to the sizes of the agar plates. "Lifecycle, your eyes are wandering. The plate looks fine from here. Maybe you want to scrape me off. Sorry, I don't play nice" she jested. Releasing magic, her body surged wild as a tesla coil, electricity dancing from her hands down to the colonies at her feet. Remarkable changes in pattern supervened. Feeding on the charge, the life frolicked beyond reason, transforming in endless cycles. Actual, tangible, bioluminescent. Etheria fell across the film between the realities, headlong into the gulf. Fresh whiteness overcame the landscape. Etheria managed to regain her balance in flight. By much roaming, she encountered feathery dill budding at exact intervals. "Perfect, this has to be the right way" the patron registered, with arms to her side like a torpedo. A viridescent lattice soon encompassed the traveler. Instead of stems ending in a jumble of roots, they extending out, becoming the axon of green neurons. Their hybrid nature was not obvious a moment ago. Following their path of signals, she found, up ahead, a square patch of garden. Breaking from a willowy bed of soft dill, the length of a river became visible, tracing directly to the hub of the city. "Oh, there it is. Am I on the outskirts? That's fine, I'll just levitate" Etheria thought. With attempts at walking and flying, she learned space could only be moved through in certain inflexible ways. "Ha! It's only a few miles away, but I would need a machete to get there" she whined. Poking closer to the bank, a haze of uncertainty lifted. Then it dawned on the patron. It was less like a river and more like a highway. "First time guest? Don't worry, you don't have to tell me your business. I have room enough for two" an umbrella mermaid proposed, skootching to the other side of the canopy. Etheria noted the funny way in which the woman studied her face, then ignored it, for etiquette sake. "Actually, I didn't expect such a beautiful city in a place like this. Do you have the time show me around?" the sleuth asked in such a coy way as to be emphatically indisputable. Trying to blend in was the first step. Crytania's security forces couldn't be far behind. Her host aligned her arms so the guest wouldn't fall as she pressed into the tight space, then slid the folded newspaper away for more space, "No problem. My name's Von. If we're lucky we can get there before the afternoon shower". Beforehand, on diplomatic tours she had observed these folks among the locals, people with a fishy lower half, in a fabric dish, holding the pole sometimes with one hand. Veckta has broad fountains built into the larger districts where the umbrella mermaids have their offices and markets. "Being in the spectrum must come with a lot of hassle. Did it take long to get used to the environment?" the patron wondered while getting comfortable. More umbrella ships steered by, following the current. The vast majority of which were tropically colored, but Von's was common black. "At times different forms of energy want to become thought … like if you're moving a chair, the motion wants to become a thought. It can get really loud and noisy, so we needed people to organize them. By then we had them do all the work and we got really lazy. After they went on strike, we had to learn ourselves" Von gossiped, every so often eyeing the patron once more. "Fine by me, as long as I can tell the difference. The rest of the station is still rebuilding. Do you ever miss any of it?" the loner asked, as if the conservation of energy was a silly, trifling matter. "A long time ago I was Vona Larp, but now I'm just Von. Life is actually easier here … for the time being. We are cut off you know, except for the newspapers. If you're immigrating, this isn't as annoying. Most people get tired of all the game after a while. I'm one of them" the indigene shared, offering a bit of cheese and buttery cracker. Browsing through the paper, the patron saw it was so minimal, it couldn't possibly describe the entanglements of the outside world. Not surprising that the little backwater was given such scraps. It wasn't ready. Maybe it never would be. Etheria laughed as umbrellas passed by, waving at them. Von smiled back. A beautiful one, like the death of Mars. Etheria's stomached the pain, filtering it through the lens of history, through endless escapades and wars. Later, after the current case, she had visited the other immigrant communities, and Hio Bissile. A few musty pirates in uniform brought her to Friedrich's grave. Plain stone, encircled by fruiting bodies, red mushrooms like the planet that died in one dazzling blow. Who else could have thought up a red planet? Funny that it had just been a figment of a dream. Echo's imagination at work. The guest evaded by asking more questions. Ultimately, they came to the canal and disembarked. Von led the way across the bridge of a quaint canal. With a right turn around a corner they stood as a group walked out of a Mom and Pop store with bags of goodies. Etheria noted the Martian shoppers with a sigh of relief. The scientist's desire for knowledge knew no bounds, and she had been insufferable in battle. At least here, reason prevailed over fury. Ahead, in the little city people were eager to bustle about for samples of merchandise. A few seniors wore uniforms dirtied with home-made yellow dust as a badge of honor. Buyers in front of a market booth wedged a flash drive into a holographic spell, while someone behind the counter dismantled computer mice for their trackballs, placing each carefully in a cubic lattice where they collapsed, became points of energy. Thought-ripples occasionally quivered through the anatomy of the city, ushering in sights from far away. Etheria followed her guide but was mostly just giddy to see everyone in such sound condition. Passing by a café they watched a waiter cut a long log of celery with peanut butter smeared through into equal portions. Sprinkling them with regular and golden raisins, he passed them through the glass, into the realm where ice skaters swept by and grabbed the easy snacks, circulating about a rink. "Those are a few of my students" Von admitted as the patron chuckled at how they had not been recognized in the least. Garment stores abreast of the park drew most of the traffic. To the left, earthy flora masked a brick wall. Dainty flies whizzed about a grapevine, slowly teasing away the vestments of the purple grape to get the pure morsels. For some reason the patron began to have a funny sense of déjà vu. Murmurs separated the droves as Von elbowed Etheria to get her to look where a pint-sized cloud floated from the gates of the park. Hopping onto a table that it passed by, a couple frogs shot out their tongues to catch the individual droplets of rain. "Told you it was coming. Let's find shelter before the real stuff comes" the guide obliged. Ripples of thought belted through the ether. At its heels, the storm arrived. "It feels like I've seen a city like this before" the patron wondered as potent rain touched down on both shoulders. The character of everything. Peerless, captivating. "Maybe it's dulling my senses", she thought. Souvenirs from youth poured back in … weak memories. Etheria felt the eclipse of the mind wave rendering the plain, low towers into true focus. It came upon her at once, the realization that the moment of capture was fast approaching. Time stopped the rain. "I know which one it will be" Etheria whispered as a single drop burgeoned into the seed of a sphere of time. In the flesh of her eyes the patron felt the anomaly, glimmering bright. Varieties of all the people and places in long eons returned, flashes of familiar faces, making cold ice within her chest, like mint flooding her lungs in humble cycles. The patron turned to Von, who sat upright on her scaly fishtail, "my parents raised me to do one thing, but I failed. Ever since I've tried to be perfect". Von looked back stoically through the curtain, "Don't be so hard on yourself". Folded up neatly, she carried the umbrella in her right hand. "May I borrow that for a second?" Etheria asked the mermaid. She was passed the implement as the seed revolved about its axis, relinquishing fair light in continuation. Atmospheric time kept to a standstill. Then with one easy motion she let the canopy burst. Unfolding, the fabric seemed to whistle. As she raised it overhead the water's multiplicity became motion once again, and the orb lessened … smaller and smaller … until it too was one of its peers. Etheria smiled as she heard the pitter-pat on canopy. Von slithered beside and didn't budge while it ran its course. Apathetically the city struggled to become dry. Warmth lit the thoroughfare and the bridges over the canals. "Priya, I was your friend and taught you how to ice-skate, but you probably don't remember me" the guide mentioned soberly. Etheria was in such a state that she mostly just took in the words, "What … are you talking about". "Honey, everyone's got a story" the local finalized as the patron lost grip, dropping the implement. Footsteps approached. With a twist in the right direction, she knew she was in trouble. "There they are!" Lifecycle shouted, marching forth with the security regiment. At their helm, Frederica Utoya looked dead ahead at the intruder. After a brief diplomatic rampage, the newcomer's eyes looked amiss, as she turned from the intruder. Something had caught her eye. "Patron … the thing about an umbrella … is the fabric is water resistant" the high enforcer noted while bending over. Since the metallic contraptions in the umbrella had fused to become a baby, they gave it to Von to bring to the foster home. Etheria was escorted back to the boundary where Vecktan security boarded a hexadome destroyer along with Utoya's personal ship. Apparently, there would be a lot of explaining to do.