Sufficiently Advanced Technology (Inverse Shadows) (20 page)

Elyria concealed her private amusement. They’d have a chance to gather information while pretending to be star-struck tourists from a very different city. Besides, no one from this culture would expect teenage girls to know anything useful. It was stupid and senseless, but it seemed to be the way things worked. Shaking her head, ignoring the odd glance the innkeeper’s wife gave her, she finished her eggs and headed back up to their room. Adana would stay behind for half an hour, enough time for Elyria to draw away any watchers – if there
were
watchers. The AIs hadn’t identified anyone apart from the ones peering through the peepholes, and
they’d
been more focused on Adam. Clearly, money talked louder than sex.

They’d fabricated long cloaks to wear over their dresses, so Elyria donned hers and walked down the rear stairs, out into the courtyard. The sun was only just rising in the sky, but the city was already coming to life. Hundreds of workers were strolling through the streets, while carts piled high with fruit and vegetables headed to market. At least the locals knew to keep meat cold to preserve it as long as possible, including using bags of ice from icehouses, or they would have had a far worse disease problem. Angry flies buzzed around the road, attracted by the droppings horses had left as they moved through the streets. Although a handful of slaves seemed to be cleaning up the mess, there was always more. But then, back on Old Earth, horses had been a major cause of pollution until they’d been replaced by automobiles.

And they produced pollution too
, Elyria thought dryly, as she walked onwards, through the market. Her outfit made her conspicuous; the sellers called out offers, inviting her to bargain for their wares. She declined the offers, knowing that they were deliberately starting high because she was a stranger in town. Apples and oranges were cheaper than one bronze coin for five. It was interesting that they hadn’t produced anything smaller than bronze coins; the concept of paper money had never occurred to them. Or maybe they just considered it too easy to forge.

A travelling bookseller had set up his cart at one end of the street, inviting the crowds to step into a whole new world. Elyria glanced inside and was instantly charmed by the interior, where hundreds of bookshelves were crammed into the tiny cart. It took her a long moment to realise that the cart was literally bigger on the inside than the outside, something the Confederation had always considered impossible for Fifth Age civilisations. The AIs had expanded into hyperspace, but it wasn’t quite the same thing. Elyria felt her head spinning as she realised that she could walk
into
the cart and pull books off the shelves.

She tried to activate the transmitter, only to discover that it didn’t work. Whatever force had created the bookseller’s cart had disrupted all modern technology, even something so primitive that it shouldn’t have been affected at all. Shaking, half in shock, Elyria stepped back and shook her head. She would have to deal with it, somehow.

“Don’t worry,” the salesman said, completely misunderstanding her shock. “The dimension won’t collapse while you’re inside.”

“Thank you,” Elyria stammered. She forced herself to remain calm and looked down at the wizened man. “What sort of books do you sell?”

“All sorts,” he assured her. “I have stories of exciting adventure – very popular with the young men. I have stories of romance – very popular with the young women.” He winked. “I even have a rare copy of
The Perfect Marriage
, banned in a dozen bailiwicks. And I have a handful of manuals for those intent on learning a skilled trade.”

Elyria nodded. “Do you have manuals on magic?”

“Of course not,” he said, shocked. Elyria realised that she should have known that – and would have, if she’d been born on Darius. “What do you take me for? The Pillar would have shut me down if I’d sold those to Minors.”

He snorted, loudly. “The very idea,” he added. “I have books on craftsmanship, metalworking and farming, with a small textbook on accounting, for the boring people. And a couple of books of history. But those are expensive. Three gold coins each.”

Elyria hesitated. Spending so much might well attract attention. “Don’t worry,” the seller said, misinterpreting again. “I can have the books shipped to you at the inn, if you wish. No one else will have to see what you read.”

“Good,” Elyria said. She counted out ten gold coins and passed them over to him. His eyes didn’t show any sign of surprise, but his hand seemed to be shaking slightly. “I’d like both books on history and a selection of fiction books, some of all kinds. Have them sent to the Golden Arch Inn, under my name.”

She walked away, hoping she could get far enough away that her communicator would start to work again. It came back to life after she’d walked ten metres from the bookstall, although the QCC link in her neural implants refused to work. Elyria had expected as much – she’d turned it down prior to landing because of it – but it was still distressing. Even a power absorption field shouldn’t have been able to drain it without killing her.

“We thought your equipment had failed completely,” the XO said. “What happened?”

Elyria hesitated. “Did you get a live feed from the snoops?”

“Only at a distance,” the XO confirmed. “Why?”

“Listen,” Elyria said, and outlined what she’d seen. “They managed to create something dimensionally transcendent.”

She had to smile at the shock in the XO’s voice. “That’s freaking impossible!”

“That’s not the first time we’ve said that about this world,” Elyria reminded her. “I’m going to head to the library. When the books arrive at the inn, they can be read and then shipped back to the base. We can have them transferred to the ship later.”

“Right now, I’d be worried about bringing
anything
onto the ship,” the XO said. “You do know that the library is off-limits to the snoops?”

“I think that tech fails near their magic,” Elyria said. It wasn’t a new theory, but it seemed to have been proven. “Which leaves us with another question. What happens in the Dead Zones?”

“Take care of yourself,” the XO ordered, and signed off.

Elyria felt sweat trickling down her spine as she headed down the street towards the library, a solid stone structure that appeared to have been inspired by Grecian buildings from Old Earth. That might be useful in tracking down Darius’s original colony ship, if there had been a colony ship, but it meant nothing. It was quite possible that the style had simply been reengineered on Darius and it was nothing more than a coincidence. The name of the planet suggested a different ethnic origin. Or maybe someone had just thought that it was a cool name. Several planets settled in the First Expansion Era had had funny names before various interstellar powers had banned the practice.

She half-expected guards to stop her before she walked inside, but the door opened without incident. The interior of the building was cool, almost as if they were using a cooling field to keep the temperature precisely under control, presumably to protect the books. She glanced around and saw no sign of any fans, so it was probably another example of magic. A quick check revealed that none of her technology worked any longer.

There was no librarian, only a written warning that attempting to remove the books from the library would result in punishment. The first time she read it, she thought she’d translated it poorly without her implants; it warned of pain of pain. It took several moments before she decided that she’d actually translated it properly, suggesting that it meant something to the locals. Or maybe someone was just trying to look pretentious. The library itself seemed a perfectly normal building, without being larger inside than it was on the outside, crammed with books. Elyria took a moment to read the first set of titles, before deciding that she was looking at a set of manuals. It took several minutes to find a book detailing the history of Warlock’s Bane. There didn’t seem to be anything on the entire planet. Taking a seat, she started to parse through the text. Frustratingly, the writer seemed to have spoken mainly in elliptical statements rather than anything definite.

She looked up as a young man entered the library. He wore a grey robe, with a silver star hanging down from a chain around his neck. Without the implants, it took her several moments to recognise him as Master Faye’s apprentice, the one who had stood in judgement over court cases weeks ago. Elyria saw him looking at her and wondered, grimly, if the meeting was a coincidence. And then he walked over to her desk.

“Hello,” he said, rather nervously. “May I talk with you?”

Elyria studied him for a long moment. It was always difficult to tell how old someone was in the Confederation, but on Darius people aged quickly. He probably was as young as he looked, barely sixteen – and nowhere near as subtle as he thought he was. Elyria didn’t miss the quick glance he shot at her chest, or the way he couldn’t quite look at her face. How long had it been since she’d been that young, and awkward?

But the Confederation forbade little and encouraged its youngsters to grow and develop. Almost any taste or fetish could be catered for, simply by finding someone else who enjoyed it. A more repressive society, on the other hand, would often criminalise sexual acts, simply because they wanted to maintain control. It was quite possible that many of its young men would find the Confederation to be a paradise, at least until they matured. The same could be said for the girls.

“You may,” Elyria said, calmly. They weren’t sure of the exact social niceties surrounding the Pillar’s apprentice, but as an outsider she wouldn’t be expected to know them. Or would she? There were other Pillars all over the world. “My name is Elyria.”

She held out a hand, which he bent to kiss, his lips smacking just above her bare skin. “My name is Joshua,” he said. “Apprentice to Pillar Faye.”

He sounded rather nervous, despite his social position. “Pleased to meet you,” Elyria said. She looked down at the book in her hand and then back up at him. “What actually happened to this city?”

Joshua gave her an odd look, and then smiled when he saw the book. “That’s Tobias’s work,” he said. “The man lived through five Pillars and he did that by keeping his head down. He criticises the last Pillar quite savagely, but you have to be able to read between the lines to tell. Pillar Spark was not known for listening calmly when someone disagreed with him.”

“I see,” Elyria said. The Confederation didn’t have any limits on what one could write and publish, ensuring that there was always a torrent of nonsense from the population, often burying serious works in the deluge. “So... what actually did happen?”

Joshua grinned, clearly seeing a chance to impress her. “Master Spark took over the city seventy years ago, but he rapidly went mad and unleashed a reign of terror and oppression. That’s when they built the wall; Master Sparks was so scared that someone else would overthrow him that he enslaved half the city long enough to put up a basic and useless defence. In his last days, he was killing people at random before Master Faye arrived to remove him from power.”

His grin widened. “My master is a much better ruler.”

Elyria didn’t doubt it. Warlock’s Bane was definitely among the more prosperous cities on Darius. “How did Master Faye take over?”

Joshua gave her another odd look. “They fought, of course,” he said. “Eventually, Master Faye overcame Master Spark and ended his life, becoming ruler of the city.”

Elyria nodded. They’d worked that much out, but it was nice to have it confirmed. Clearly, Darius followed the Kahn pattern; those with an advantage over the rest of the population held power. There had to be something about Master Faye’s powers that prevented discontented citizens from overthrowing him, maybe a magical force field. Given access to the quantum foam, it would be relatively simple to render oneself immortal, or at least immune to harm. Or so the theory stated. No one had ever actually tested it. The theory also suggested that a single mistake might have disastrous consequences.

“But never mind that,” Joshua said. “How did you end up travelling with your family?”

What is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this
? Elyria translated, mentally.

She smiled, keeping her thoughts to herself. “My father was a trader since before I was born,” she said. They knew enough about how trader families worked to put a convincing story together. “I just stayed with him and mom as I grew up. When I got old enough, father put me to work figuring out the accounts and suchlike. He said I had to earn my keep.”

“Master Faye says that too,” Joshua said. There was something odd about his expression, something that bothered Elyria even though she wasn’t sure why. “Apprentices like us – and you are one, even if they don’t admit it – have to do as we’re told.”

He smiled back at her. “How many places have you seen?”

Elyria shrugged. “Too many to speak of,” she said, perfectly truthfully. Of course, Joshua wouldn’t believe her if she spoke of the Confederation, or the Sphere, or the Many-Starred World. Come to think of it, was there a link between Darius and the mysterious Sphere-Builders? “Athol is a pretty boring place. I go there and then I want to go away.”

His eyes narrowed, just for a second, as if he’d caught her in a lie. Elyria kept her own face calm, trying desperately to figure out how he knew she’d been lying. They didn’t have lie detectors... or did they? If they had truth spells, could they have spells that detected lies?

“I used to want to leave Warlock’s Bane,” Joshua said, finally. It was quite understandable. “And now I don’t really want to leave.”

“Some people are like that,” Elyria said, neutrally. Something had definitely gone wrong. “Why can’t you take books out of the library?”

Joshua smiled, perhaps glad of the change in subject. “Because these books are rare,” he said. “Take one out of the library and the librarian will insist that you be enslaved for the rest of your life. They’re priceless.”

“Oh,” Elyria said. That wasn’t uncommon in pre-industrial societies, but Darius did have the printing press. “What if...”