The Way of the Brother Gods (6 page)

Fawbry said, "We heard all about your special room for peeing."

"There was one of those, yes," Cole said, glancing back with an amused wink. "Problem was I figured out how it all worked, what parts needed a magician's touch and what parts needed a mechanic's. It was fun and interesting but it didn't take long, and then I was bored. And my mind just kept turning back to the idea of a portal. All those worlds. I had come so close to doing it myself — I had done it really, just not in a way that could easily be repeated. Not without a roomful of musicians.

"I tried to forget about it, do other things. I want you to know that. I really tried everything I could to leave it alone. I even prayed, which is not something I've ever done seriously — once to Korstra and once to Kryssta. Still, my mind toyed with me. Worked on the math in my head without creating the physical portal. That kind of game where you see how close you can get to what you shouldn't, and see at what point you feel guilty. It's a terrible thing to play, because eventually, you get comfortable with that sharp edge you walk, and so you step farther and farther out.

"That's what happened to me. And one day, I walked too far. I just started up again. I knew you would be mad if you ever found out, but I also think you knew I'd do it. Maybe you even wanted me to do it. After all, you can't find your way home without a portal."

Fawbry closed his eyes and shook his head. "Did you even see what happened to the people in that town? What you did to them?"

Cole's mouth set into a thin line. "It was a horrible accident. It shouldn't have even come close to happening. We didn't realize that the power required to open a portal without magic was too great for the frame to hold. All my math suggested it would hold. It exploded so unexpectedly, and fire swept through the streets."

"Why weren't you injured?" Malja asked.

Cole lifted her chin as she drove on. "I ... I regret what I did. I admit that. Even though I underestimated how much power we would need, I still knew the power involved was immense, so I purposely set up our control station just outside the town. I should have warned people. I intended to do so when we tried a full run. That time, though, we were just checking some basic functions and running about half the power into the frame. I had no idea there was any danger that day."

"You did more than burn people. They mutated. As if it had been another Devastation," Fawbry said, but his voice held more compassion than anger.

A tear wet Cole's cheek and Fawbry placed a hand on her shoulder. "When the portal frame exploded," she said, "We searched for survivors. That's when I learned of the mutations. I'm sure you don't need to be told that the townspeople had not taken kindly with me. I was lucky to have this grounder or else they would have torn me to pieces. As it was, I drove off South and barely got away. I drove and, I admit it, I cried. Bawled like a little farm girl having to kill her favorite chicken because it got ill. I drove for hours. And I thought to myself that this had to be it. I had to stop messing with such powerful things. The Bluesmen were destroyed because my experiments attracted Jarik and Callib. An entire town was burned and deformed because of my experiments. And," she said, resting her hand atop Fawbry's, "I lost a man I loved because I wouldn't stop my experiments."

Malja expected Fawbry to pull away, maybe even protest. Instead, he let out a short, bashful giggle.

Cole went on, "That was it, right then. I was going to stop the whole project. Even thought about finding you all and offering my help in whatever you were doing. But then the brother gods blessed me with a sign. I knew they wanted me to continue because I had never driven this way before and yet, somehow, I ended up facing this —"

Cole stopped the grounder. Malja looked off to the left where Cole pointed. An enormous building could be seen in the distance — long and wide, it looked like a giant bowl sitting in a metallic grid-like structure.

"What is that?" Fawbry asked.

"We call it the Dish," Cole said, staring at the building with a seductive eye. "And it's going to make my portal frame work." She turned the grounder to the left and headed straight for the Dish.

Malja could not believe the size of it. "You could fit a whole town in there."

"We have. It takes a lot of people to operate the Dish, and the only town nearby is the one you came through to get here. So, anybody working on this project has to live here. We have all the facilities needed for such a large group of people."

"How did you find enough people?" Malja asked, her eyes never wavering from sight of the building.

"We put the word out and they found us. Lots of people out there are tired of fighting just to live. Here, they have safety and purpose. Most of them don't understand or even care what the overall project is. They've just been told that if we succeed, we can end the horror that is daily life in Corlin. That's all they need to hear. So, we have people who specialize in various things that need to be done in order to let the more scientifically gifted people do their work. We have cooks and farmers, of course. There's also many who are willing to do anything we ask. The Dish itself was not in good repair when I found it, and it's taken us many months just to clean it up so it's functional."

"What does it do?"

"Later. There's something far more important to you, Malja my dear." Cole stopped the grounder and turned it off.

They stepped onto a smoothly paved road. Malja and Fawbry gazed skyward at the enormous building towering over them. A few birds nested in the crooks of huge metal beams. Fawbry pointed to a piece of cloth tied to another beam — fluttering in the wind though the air on the ground was calm around them. Tommy slipped out of the car and hovered next to them. Cole, however, scurried to the main gate, said something to a guard, and then came back.

"Everything I've done here, back at the old town, and even much of what I did at the mansion, could not have been accomplished alone. I had help from a man I happened upon. I think he might seem a bit familiar, Malja, for he is from your world. I'd like you to meet Harskill."

From the main gate stepped a tall man with a slight frame. He wore an impossibly clean white shirt, tan pants without a single rip or stain, and peeking out from underneath, the same black assault suit as Malja wore. When he reached out his hand, she felt her pulse quicken. In a voice rich with experience, he said, "Hello, Malja."

Chapter 7

Malja couldn't move, could barely find the strength to breathe. She heard Cole Watts as if from far away. The woman mentioned something about Harskill and Malja spending a little time together, Fawbry mumbled some comment, and before Malja realized it, the two had taken Tommy into the building, leaving her alone with Harskill.

He was older than she had imagined, gray hair adding a note of wisdom to his short sideburns, and his mouth showed the hard cracks of age chasing down a man. "I'm sorry," he said, lowering his hand. "I thought it was customary here to shake hands when meeting."

Malja snapped out of her daze. "It is. Most places. I just was taken aback."

"I imagine so. Ms. Watts explained to me a little of your situation."

She looked toward the door they had taken Tommy through. "I have to make sure my boy is okay."

"Don't worry. They'll take excellent care of him. You have my word. Now, as I understand it, I'm the first Gate you've ever met."

"Gate?"

"Our people are called the Gate," he said, opening his arms in a warm welcome.

Part of Malja wanted to rush into his arms like a child taking in a parent's embrace. Another part of her, however, the part of her that had helped keep her alive this long, sparked up a note of caution. As well as Harskill presented himself, something itched at Malja.

She put out her hand. "I'm happy to meet you."

Harskill lowered his arms with a knowing grin. He shook her hand, firm but not attempting to crush her bones. And there was a tenderness, too — an intimacy in the way he gazed at her as their hands touched. "Let me show you the Dish," he said and headed into the building.

They climbed a series of metallic stairs before entering a huge, vaulted walkway that appeared to run the entire perimeter of the Dish. Like spokes on a wheel, corridors periodically shot inward, and Malja caught sight of focus booths lining the way. Long ago, those booths would have housed magicians paid to spend hours sitting in darkness, creating energy for this building. Everything around her was metal. Though there was some rust, a few twisted supports, and even a section blocked off with a mountain of debris, the majority of the building showed little damage from the Devastation.

"Is it true?" Harskill asked as he led her up another stairwell, "You were raised by magicians who accidentally pulled you through a portal?"

"It wasn't much of an accident. They didn't return me, after all. Stole me right from my mother's arms. I don't even know her name. Do you? Do you know about a woman whose child was stolen through a portal?"

"I'm sorry, but we are not like that. We don't know each other that way."

"What do you mean? Please, I don't know anything about the Gates."

"Just Gate. And it's a bit complicated. For one thing, you haven't been raised in the same way as the rest of us. You've never learned of our responsibilities. I'm not sure how much I should tell you. I could end up ruining your life here."

Malja let out a short chuckle. "My life was ruined the day Jarik and Callib stole me."

"But you have friends and a son."

"He's not my son. And when is friendship anything more than a matter of using each other to survive?"

"It's just that —"

Malja grabbed Harskill's arm and spun him around. She climbed two steps so her eyes were level with his. Just above a whisper, she said, "You need to understand a few important things, and if you repeat any of this, I'll kill you. I've traveled a long way to find Cole Watts because I knew she'd be the one who could open a portal. I've risked the lives of my friends to do so. I did this because I'm going through the portal, and I'm going to find my way home. Now I didn't learn about you until just a few days ago, but it seems to me that you can answer a lot of my questions, save me a lot of time and trouble, and maybe even help me avoid hurting my friends. So, you better start telling me about the Gate and who I am or you'll find out just how many of the rumors about me are true."

Harskill didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't show the slightest sign of fear. With a stoic face, he returned every ounce of the cold strength pouring out of Malja. A strong wind rattled metal on metal. But when Malja frowned and backed up a sliver of an inch, Harskill winked and said, "It seems Ms. Watts was accurate when she told me how tough you are and how you prefer to solve your problems by force."

"Tell me —"

Raising a hand that, to Malja's surprise, stopped her, Harskill said, "Give me a little of your trust and I promise that all your questions will be answered. Even though when I'm finished, you'll probably wish you hadn't asked."

Before Malja could say another word, Harskill continued up the stairs. At the top was another wide hall. Harskill led the way through a heavy door to the outside. The floor sloped upward, ending on the edge of the Dish.

Malja gasped. This high up, the air was cold and strong. It whipped around causing Malja's assault suit to heat up in an effort to maintain her body temperature.

"Look behind you," Harskill said.

When Malja turned around, she gasped again. From this vantage, the Dish laid out before her like an enormous, smooth crater. The light gray surface had been made out of endless tiles, each one the size of a large bed. Three crews of workers walked to various spots — patching or replacing damaged tiles. A platform had been erected at the bottom of the Dish in the center, and on that platform, a large portal frame sat.

"When this is complete," Harskill said, placing his hands wide apart on a chipped, metal railing, "the Dish will focus all the energy Ms. Watts can produce onto that single point in the center. From there she hopes to be able to crack open a portal inside the frame that will be controlled and sustainable. Unfortunately for her, she wishes to achieve this without the aid of magic. I've never seen such a thing successfully done. And I've seen many attempts."

Malja took a deep breath, trying to control her impatience. The best she could manage was to sound calm when she asked, "Who am I?"

"You are one of the Gate," he said, never taking his eyes from the Dish. "And if your goal is to find a way home, well, then you share the same goal as most of the Gate. I regret having to tell you this, but we have no home anymore. Ours has been gone for generations."

A sharp pain burned in the center of Malja's chest. "W-What?"

"Surely, you understand by now that, for most people on most worlds, playing with portals is more than just dangerous. It can be catastrophic. To the best of my knowledge, our people are the only ones to ever successfully reach a level of control over portals that we can travel through them without the physical consequences others have experienced. Like the Devastation that Ms. Watts told me about. But all things still have a price."

"Are you saying the Gate destroyed their world?"

Harskill patted the metal railing as if assuring himself of its sturdiness. "I never thought Ms. Watts would get this far, but then again, I've never quite seen a world like this one. Despite the horrible repercussions you've suffered from attempting to control portals, you all still keep trying. And, if what I understand is correct, you've had some limited success as well. But that won't last. If this Dish gets close to working, it'll make your Devastation look like a little bruise. Nothing will remain." He straightened and faced Malja. "We were lucky. We already knew how to operate a portal safely. But every time our people take a step forward, they want to take another step. We couldn't be satisfied with simply having the portals. And it was when we tried to take things even further that our world vanished. You won't be so lucky here. Everything on this world will be gone."