The Needs of the Many Read online

  Chapter 7

  Ellie pushed through the unadorned door and found herself in a small utility closet. Stepping carefully around the stacked boxes and shelves, she slipped out into the corridor, noting that she wasn’t far from her sleeping quarters. Her great grandfather had been correct. The path into the closet was easier to navigate than the puzzling trees, but as she walked to her room, she couldn’t shake the strange feeling that something was off. Nothing seemed amiss in her room, so she shrugged it off as an after effect of traveling between realms of existence and went to find the temple keeper.

  She felt a stab of guilt about leaving. Especially after promising the temple scholars she would allow them to record all of her anomalies for the archive. She’d simply have to come back to T’al Eidyn and fulfill her promise after the war. Surely the Eidyssic would understand that securing peace, true peace, was more important than recording some information about her unique link to the Kyroibi. Besides, she was pretty sure her father had already given them all they really needed to know and she certainly wasn’t going to arm them with the means to attempt the same in the future.

  Though as she thought about it, she really didn’t have much of a reason to object either way. After all, the whole point of the Kyroibi was to stop the battalion from destroying the world. Did it truly matter if it was a part of her or simply being hosted by her? Neither concept seemed less invasive or more convenient in her opinion.

  To Ellie’s great surprise, she sensed that Ag’iazza was still in the sky garden. Not that it was surprising for the temple keeper to spend time in the garden, but the fact that Ellie could now sense her presence as she could family was a new discovery. It made sense. The woman was as close to the Kyroibi as one could be without actually having possession of the power, but more so because Ellie’s fondness grew easily with each moment she spent talking to the elder keeper.

  But as she climbed the outer staircase of the inverse temple, the feeling that something was off grew in intensity. She looked out over the grounds below, thinking maybe it was simply the knowledge that what she saw with her eyes was only a small part of the whole. In fact, for all she knew, there might have been endless doorways to an endless number of realities surrounding her at that very moment.

  The concept was dizzying and if she were honest, a bit panic inducing in its unimaginable scope, so she pushed the thought aside, focusing on getting up to the garden without having an existential crisis. The weird feeling of imbalance wasn’t much help and she was grateful at last to reach the wide expanse of the sky garden.

  As she threaded through the landscape, it occurred to Ellie that perhaps it was a bit peculiar for Agi to still be in the garden. She typically used the early afternoon for meditative exercises, but after an hour or so, the temple keeper usually headed back to her office outside the archives. Midday meal was several hours earlier. Worrying that something was wrong, Ellie hastened her steps, shortcutting across the garden via pulse.

  But as she neared, Ellie pulled up short, noticing that Agi was speaking with someone. She hung back for a moment as snippets of conversation drifted over to her.

  “…I think I’d still like to do some exploring.”

  “By all means.”

  Ellie paused, heart in her throat. That sounded like her. Not only that, but it sounded like the last thing she said to Agi and Agi’s response. She rounded the corner, only to see the fluttering of the simple robes all temple residents wore as the mystery person disappeared in the direction of the maze.

  A coincidence, she told herself as she approached the temple keeper.

  “Back so soon?” Agi said as she looked up from assembling her flute, a light teasing in her tone, as if she suspected Ellie simply forgot something.

  “S-s-soon?” Ellie asked, still holding onto the hope that she was misinterpreting the whole situation, yet knowing in her heart something really big was at play. Ag’iazza frowned and set aside her instrument.

  “I must say, El’iadrylline, I don’t know what’s alarmed you, but in all my days, I’ve never seen anyone project as many conflicting emotions and messages as you are right now.” She smiled apologetically before adding, “If I may be honest, your diodal communication is indeed making me dizzy.”

  “Sorry,” Ellie said, taking a deep breath and sitting down. “I… I’m guessing to you, it seems I just left to go exploring a few moments ago.”

  “You’re guessing?”

  Ellie’s diodes flared in confusion, embarrassment, and no small measure of anxiety.

  “Uh, well, that is… I’m pretty sure I just heard myself telling you as much and if I’m not mistaken, it was me I saw heading in the direction of the garden maze. What happens next… Well… that ought to be interesting.”

  Ag’iazza pulled apart the flute she’d been assembling and put it back in its case.

  “Well now, this has piqued my curiosity,” she said as she too stood and placed her flute case on the hover-platform resting nearby. “I’ll admit to having more of an open mind than most in regards to transcendence, but I must admit I am skeptical of the possibility of traveling anywhere other than forward through time.”

  “And for that, I can’t really blame you,” Ellie said, still feeling awkward and embarrassed, yet completely confused. Certainly all that had happened in the previous hours couldn’t have been in her head. It was too real. “But not long after I left you, I went to the maze. I’m not sure why, but I just had this gut feeling there was something there. And, well, there was. I found a door. Inside the trees.”

  “What trees?”

  “The ring of trees that surround the center of the maze.”

  “The center of the maze is a reflecting pool,” Agi said, head tilted in confusion.

  “With an island, right?” Ellie asked, but her voice faltered as Agi’s confusion deepened. “Oh dear,” she said as she let out a deep sigh. “If we’re already at odds, I’m not sure how you’re going to take what I’ve got to tell you next.”

  “You’ve certainly got my attention. Perhaps we should take this discussion to the scholars?”

  Ellie cringed at the idea. Not just because she was certain they would be as incredulous as the keeper, but also because they would likely want to keep her at the temple and she was determined to follow up on her lead, no matter how unlikely or insubstantial.

  “Can we…not?”

  Agi frowned. “True Master, I am going forward with an open mind, despite my inability to comprehend what you’ve just told me. Please spare us the same courtesy. I am but the keeper. The scholars might have a reasonable explanation for what you have perceived.”

  “Very well,” Ellie replied, feeling a bit small for her secrecy, but also scared. Her gut instinct said this was a mistake. She grimaced as Ag’iazza stepped onto her transport platform and stepped to the side, allowing room for a passenger. With her nerves already on edge, the last thing she needed was a disorienting ride at low pulse.

  But to her surprise, the platform did not shoot out at breakneck speeds. Instead, it coasted gently to the edge of the garden and dropped, much like an elevator, along the outer walls of the inverse temple, bringing them inside at the summit and down to the offices and workspaces of the temple scholars.

  “Temple Keeper, True Master, it is a pleasure to have you,” a young scholar said in greeting. “How may we be of service?”

  “Master El’iadrylline has made a most curious discovery,” Agi replied. “I would like her to speak to Scholar Reyessan.”

  The scholar bowed his head, but not before Ellie noticed his diodes flashed with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

  “I believe he is just now finishing a class with the cadets. If you’d like to wait, I shall give him your message directly.”

  “Thank you,” Ag’iazza said and led Ellie to a quiet room with comfortable seating and large windows. A few moments later, an Eidyssic unlike any she’d met before rushed into the room, arms full of gadgetry and raw materials f
or various devices.

  “True Master,” he said with a slight bow as he dropped his armload onto a nearby table. “How delightful it is to have you in our midst. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”

  “We’ve only just arrived,” Ellie replied, hoping her confusion and curiosity were hidden.

  The Eidyssic people, by and large, had a fluid grace to their movements, with mannerisms suggestive of peace and placidity. Scholar Reyessan, on the other hand, reminded Ellie somewhat of a hummingbird or a squirrel. His diodal communication was not at all reserved. A myriad of unfettered thoughts and emotional responses crossed his face in a matter of moments. He also blinked frequently, like a nervous Earthling, but his presence was not one of a nervous person, rather, he seemed a lot like a child with too much energy and no productive outlet.

  “Good, good,” Reyessan said with a twinkling smile. “One can never be sure of another’s perception when it comes to the passage of time.”

  Ellie was taken aback by the words, said more as an aside to himself. There was no way Scholar Reyessan could have known the reason for their visit, yet it seemed a strange coincidence. Ellie kept silent as he turned his skittish attention to Ag’iazza and bowed respectfully.

  “Temple Keeper, I must admit when Horangius said you’d requested my presence specifically, I was most humbled, yet terribly intrigued.”

  Agi’s smile was tight, but showed a small hint of amusement. “Well, I will cast no judgement on that which I myself cannot comprehend, but I think you should listen to what the true master has to say.”

  “By all means,” Reyessan said, gliding over to a circle of low cushioned chairs. He gestured for the others to join him before collapsing into a lotus position. “I would be honored to listen to you, Eidyn Master.”

  With an awkward smile of acknowledgment, Ellie sat down and began to explain the differences between her experience and Ag’iazza’s declarations. As she spoke, she studied both Ag’iazza and Reyessan. Their expressions could not be more different. Where Agi listened with polite curiosity and a large dose of skepticism, Reyessan seemed to be hanging on her every word. The nervous mannerisms all but ceased as he sat, stock still and eyes as wide as a child first learning about Santa Claus, taking it all in.

  “If I understand this, inside the inverse temple, in another dimension, there is yet another temple?” he asked, diodes alit with the excitement of new discovery. “And what did you find there?”

  Ellie sighed. She knew that this would be the next question, but she wasn’t sure exactly how much of what she’d discovered she wanted to share.

  “My great grandfather, Androyo,” she said in a voice that didn’t sound at all confident. “He believes… that is, I think he believes he is Transcendent. Also…” she faltered again, knowing that with each word she was losing credibility among her people, true master or no true master. “…He seems to think I am as well.”

  Scholar Reyessan jumped up and scurried over to the table where he’d dropped his armload of gadgets. He pawed through them until he found what he was looking for: a small, wire-like device, lit from the inside, with shifting luminosity. He returned to his seat and placed the device aside.

  “I’d heard you used phase pulse on the planet Fhasmyr,” he said with barely restrained awe. “I’m sure you’ve discovered by now that most of our people are unwilling to accept that which they cannot quantify.”

  Ellie nodded, sliding a glance over to Agi, who sat motionless, listening to the conversation, and giving no indication one way or another as to how much, if anything, she believed.

  “I guess if I had any clue how any of this worked, I’d be skeptical as well,” she noted with a shrug. “All I know is that somehow, with the assistance of a luk, I was able to pulse safely across the Fhasmyrric landscape and the same luk brought Julian from his ship to the surface. I would say I believe because it happened to me, and I do, but on other matters… well…” She looked over at Agi again. “Some of what happened today I was present for, but I’m not sure what I believe in those regards. Scholar Reyessan, do you believe in time travel?”

  Reyessan smiled widely. “All of us, everywhere, are travelling through time,” he said with a hint of amusement. “I believe what you are asking is whether or not we can travel in any direction other than linear.”

  Ellie blushed, but felt an unexpected twinge of homesickness as her Terran mindset was again pointed out. “I spent what felt like hours in the other temple, but I returned to the garden just as I was leaving.”

  “Pulsing is a form of time manipulation and phase pulse even more so. If you indeed managed to find yourself in another plane of existence, there is likely a quantifiable reason for your return at a different time interval. Why, likely, you left that version of yourself and the you who has returned is a different person altogether.”

  Ellie sat stunned and disconcerted for a long moment by the oh-so-casual way Reyessan declared she might not be who she claimed to be.

  “I would think I’d know if I was a replication of myself,” she protested.

  “A replication yes, but Master El’iadrylline, a replication is far too simple an ideology for the event that likely took place. With your permission, I’d like to study this in depth. I’d like you to, if you can, take me to this portal. I believe your experiences may be that which may quantify the study of Transcendence.”

  Ellie grimaced. “I asked Master Androyo to explain it to me and he said Transcendence cannot be taught.”

  “Likely, he is correct, but if nothing else, I’d like to record your experience so that those who are open to the possibility can explore further and perhaps in time, discover that education is not simply the passing of facts from one to another.”

  “And I’d like to help, but I’m afraid I’ve got to get back to Korghetia.”

  “You have found the answers you came to T’al Eidyn to seek?”

  Ag’iazza’s voice and expression were full of doubt. Understandably, as from her perspective, only moments ago, Ellie was no closer to having the answers she sought than when she’d arrived.

  “In a way, yes, but what I’ve discovered is that the Kyroibi’s entire history is built on lies, deception, and a thin measure of justice that has held the universe together by a shoestring. In all honesty, I leave here with more questions than answers, but I have at least a path to not just finding the answers, but to make known the truth that has been hidden for so long.”

  “At least, Eidyn Master, allow me a chance to take an impression. I promise the procedure is quick, noninvasive, and may go far in explaining some of the unexplainable.”

  “And impression?” Ellie asked.

  “The Kyroibi is a part of you now. If you have transcended, so has the burden of knowledge. I, for one, would like to study the effect.”

  Ellie scanned the information known to her and agreed, allowing Reyessan to lead them into a small, but spacious laboratory. An impression was no more invasive than an x-ray, but it showed genetic makeup, not bones and tissue. This, she learned, was the method by which the Abstractive Root was discovered.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll wait outside,” Ag’iazza said with an uncomfortable frown.

  “Quite understandable,” Reyessan said with a sympathetic smile.

  Ellie was momentarily confused until she noticed a shelf on the far wall, where at least twenty grounding stones rested on soft pillows. At her age, Agi’s own root was too easily lured by the draw of an empty stone.

  “If you would just have a seat right here, Eidyn Master.”

  Ellie sat, noting the chair was almost as comfortable as those on her flagship. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open and not take a nap after the day she’d had.

  Reyessan pulled a device down from the ceiling and pointed the wide, curved panel at her. A low hum was heard, but other than that, there was no indication that the machine was even on. Finally, the humming stopped and Reyessan stared at the readout above the panel.
/>   His expression gave her pause, but Ellie was afraid to ask what it was he’d discovered. Instead, she held her breath as he fine-tuned his machinery. The frown deepened as he looked from the readout on his monitor to Ellie and back again, making even more adjustments as he went.

  “Uh… this isn’t exactly putting me at ease,” she said with what she hoped conveyed a bit of humor.

  “You’ve nothing to worry about,” he replied with a smile. “I expected anomalies and in that regard I was not disappointed. But I must admit, you are even more of a curiosity than I’d expected.”

  “I guess that’s not unfair, as I’m sort of an artificial construct,” she muttered.

  “You are not an artificial construct, Eidyn Master,” he said at last, turning to a wide display screen on the far wall, where swirling patterns held him enthralled for a long moment. To Ellie, they were beautiful, yet meaningless. “But neither can your existence be ascribed entirely to the natural order of procreation.”

  “Um…” Ellie felt a blush creep up across her cheeks. “I’m guessing you mean because my father wove the Kyroibi into my genetic pattern instead of waiting to do a traditional transfer in the temple.”

  “Yes, this was likely the catalyst, but Eidyn Master, your Abstractive Root, it’s… incomplete.”

  “It’s what?”

  Ellie paled, taken aback, not just by the doctor’s words, but the flippant fascination, as if he’d just discovered a new yet unimpressive plant. Not that he’d just revealed the very force that gave her life was in some way damaged.

  “Curious,” he said as he rushed over to another device, but stopped suddenly with a wide-eyed and erratic look about the laboratory. “You’re not at all uncomfortable in here?”

  “No, should I be?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but there are no less than twenty grounding stones in that cupboard to your right. Given that a significant portion of your root is missing, I would suspect you might feel a draw.”