Timeless (The Cartographer Book 3) (20 page)

My confusion was now mixed with surprise. I assumed Embeth would jump all over the chance to bolster his ranks. The lift slowed to a stop, interrupting my thoughts. Beyond the window outside, one of the Hydrophant cities stood directly below us. I say
one
because the Hydrophant kingdom actually comprised of many cities surrounded by see-through domes connected by a collection of interweaving tubes, similar to the Pelagic Lift. What I originally thought were enormous fish floating near some of the cities had actually been determined, upon closer inspection, to be underwater vessels, patrolling the waters in the area. One of them drifted close to the tube. Its resemblance to the ancient plesiosaur was uncanny. I would have sworn it was an aquatic mammal had it not been for its oversized eyes and a crew of Hydrophants looking back at us from inside.

“Uncanny,” I repeated out loud.

“I'm sorry?” Embeth stared with a quizzical expression etched on his face.

I dismissed him with a swift wave of my hand. “Never mind,” I grumbled. The ship vanished from view as the lift continued its descent. Briefly, the tops of cylindrical and square-shaped skyscrapers could be seen before we continued down a long narrow shaft. Once the cityscape vanished from view, I witnessed only the cold metallic steel of the inside of the shaft. Once the distraction of the magnificent ocean was gone, I focused on Embeth's previous statement. “What did you mean when you said you were hesitant to use them?”

“It's true; I want soldiers, defenders, and protectors,” replied Embeth. “What Mortem has is none of those. What he does have is bodies, and I hate to admit, it may not be what I want, but it's what I need.”

“Bodies?” Vigil scoffed just before the lift stopped and the door opened. “You do not know Mortem as I do. What he offers is an affront to nature and a slap in the face to everything we stand for.”

Embeth whirled on him angrily. “What would you have me do? We are bleeding men as well as resources. Would you have me battle the might of the Consortium with straw men and fairy dust?”

Vigil tightened his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “It's true we are not winning this war. Although, I do not agree with it, I stand by Ibune's decision. You will get Mortem's
bodies,
but let's hope we don't regret it.”

Ajox's hand fell on Vigil's shoulder. “Calm yourselves. All of us are united in our cause and that is to see that the Consortium is restored to its former glory. Let us move on, shall we?” He let go of Vigil's shoulder and motioned us through the open door.

I wasn't much of an ocean person and I spent very little time on a beach, much less in the water. When we stepped off of the Pelagic Lift, however, I instantly fell in love with the Hydrophant infrastructure. The hallway was short and surrounded by bare metal walls, but ahead stood an escalator, powered by clear hydraulic tubes on either side with endless seawater pumping furiously, powering the stairs in motion. On each side of the escalator, beyond the tubes, were clear windows which afforded us a view of the ocean landscape beyond. As we stepped onto the elevator, I couldn't help but feel like I was in some kind of giant aquarium. When we reached the top of the stairs, the claustrophobic hallway gave way to a sprawling city. Hydrophants walked passed us while others drove through the streets in oversized, clear balls that reminded me of the kind hamsters ran around in. Skyscrapers tickled the top of the dome all around us. I felt like I had just stepped onto a busy street in the middle of Manhattan.

Ajox removed a brown, circular object riddled with tiny black holes from his pants pocket. At first, I thought it was a chocolate chip cookie until he spoke into it. “This is Ajox, we are ready for transport.”

A gurgling sound came from the other end in a language I didn't understand and Ajox returned the object to his pocket. I removed the universal translator from my ear and tapped it against my leg, thinking it wasn't working. Ajox turned to me and smiled.

“Your translator will not pick up our coded messages,” he explained. “We keep all internal communications secure.”

I returned the translator to my ear and nodded. Several minutes later, a bus pulled up to the curb. I only recognized it as a bus because the many windows allowed me to see the rows of seats. Unlike a bus on Earth, this one had three rows of three seats extending toward the rear. The driver, a tall, lanky Hydrophant, actually steered the vehicle from the rear. Several video monitors allowed him a panoramic view of the city around the vehicle. The vehicle was so low to the ground that it appeared to simply glide along the streets. When it pulled up, it was so quiet I questioned whether it even had an engine. Six wheels, housed deep within silver wheel wells, guided the vehicle through the streets. When it came to a stop in front of us, my eyes drifted to an advertisement painted on the rear of the vehicle. It was a picture of a Hydrophant, although this one was curvy and had no tentacles extending from the chin. Instead, two sharp-angled lips, not unlike a beak, were wrapped around the edge of a can and that was when I realized that the Hydrophant was actually female. Written underneath her in bold font was the word: “
Nekra
.”

“Nekra,” I muttered before turning to Ajox. “What is it?”

Ajox glanced at the advertisement and chuckled. “Nekra is not an 'it', but a 'who'. She is Nekra.”

Vigil followed Ajox aboard the bus. Embeth laughed and clamped his arm over my shoulder. “You better slow down. I see the love in your eyes, but she seems like she would tear your scrawny butt to pieces rather than look at you.” His roars of laughter echoed off of the windows inside the bus. I grumbled a few choice words and slid into the closest seat.

The bus started moving again and I sat silently and watched the scenery outside. The ride itself lasted no more than fifteen minutes, but I took the time to admire the aerodynamics of our vehicle transport. Because of the large amount of windows, I felt like I was gliding along the streets all on my own. We traveled along the busy city streets with only a few curious glances tossed in our direction. Whether it was because of us or the giant Nekra poster, I could not say.

Ajox turned to me and interrupted my admiration of the view around us. “When we arrive at the Consulate, Vigil and Embeth will join The Timeless in the conference room, but you and I have another matter to attend to.”

I glanced sideways at Embeth, uneasily. His attention was focused on our surroundings so he didn't catch it. “Oh really? What matter would that be?”

“You will see,” he replied enigmatically.

Our transport stopped in front of a large building with several hundred tinted windows along its façade. Several hydraulic tubes were attached to the sides of the building and a large fountain in the front. It seemed the hydraulic tubes were providing power inside the building as well as recycling the water in the fountain. The entire underwater city of the Hydrophants seemed to be powered by the ocean around it.

We were greeted by two soldiers dressed in white uniforms adorned with a blue star pinned to the front. One of them slipped their rifle over their shoulder and opened the door. Vigil stepped out and entered the building, but Embeth turned back to us before entering.

“I guess we part ways once again.” He looked toward the building with unease in his eyes. “I will see you soon.” He followed the soldier into the building and vanished behind the door of tinted glass.

“Come,” said Ajox. “You need to see something.”

Instead of returning to the transport, we walked about a quarter mile to another building. It wasn't as glamorous as the Consulate or as big. Instead of windows, it had a beige brick exterior with an archway at the front. Above the arch hung a sign with a single word:
Sepulcris

The double doors seemed to have been constructed from a heavy wood like oak. Where the Hydrophants would get such a material to construct the door was a mystery. Ajox passed his hand over the flat door handle and the doors swung open. A screen next to them roared to life and a digital image of Hydrophant face peered back at them.

“
Access granted,
” the face said.

We stepped inside and the doors swung shut behind us, closing off the only light source in the building. We stood within complete blackness. Ajox began fumbling around next to me.

“Sorry about that, I shall have this room lit up as soon as I can,” he explained. “I didn't realize Cronis had left already.”

Suddenly, the room was awash in a pale yellow light. Ajox stood next to me with the palm of his hand on the wall. When he removed it, I didn't see any sort of light switch.

“How did you do that?” I asked, motioning toward where his hand had been.

A brief look of confusion came over him before he realized what I was talking about. “Oh, this?” He placed his hand on the wall and the lights switched off, leaving us in the dark once again. Seconds later, we were covered in light as he pressed the wall again. “It's a light wall panel. This is one of our oldest and most cherished buildings. In an effort to keep the architecture intact and maintain its historic roots, we decided to install as little wiring as possible when we upgraded the electrical output. These walls are nothing more than touch panels, designed to harvest our own inherent static electricity and channel that power into the light, emitting diodes embedded within the walls.”

“Hey, that's neat.” I strolled over to the wall and placed my palm (the real one, not the fake one) on the wall, but it did not light up as bright as before. “I hope I didn't break it.” I pulled my hand away as if it had just caught on fire.

Ajox chuckled. “No, it's just that humans do not generate the amount of static electricity we do.”

The room we were in formed a perfect circle. In the middle, surrounded by two golden pillars, was an L-shaped desk carved from what appeared to be solid marble. An oversized leather chair, mounted on four wheels, sat empty behind it. Several feet behind the desk stood a darkened hallway, blocked off by five metal bars that ran horizontally across the opening.

“This is the antechamber of the Sepulcris,” explained Ajox. He motioned toward the desk. “That is the desk of the city's Archivist, Cronis.”

“Archivist?” I immediately thought of the Archives on Caelum. “Just like the library on Caelum has?”

Ajox shook his head. “No. The Archivist on Caelum is best described as the keeper of knowledge, more like a librarian. Cronis is the keeper of history, our history, to be precise.” He pointed toward the barred walkway. “Beyond those bars house the greatest of Vaire's society, enshrined forever to educate, empower, and improve future generations.”

“Why are you showing me this?” I asked.

“Knowledge,” replied Ajox matter-of-factly. “The planet of Vaire is just a speck of dust among the countless stars of the universe. I don't need to tell you that there is so much more beyond the desert nomadic villages of the Shreen and the aquatic metropolis of the Hydrophants. Those of us who have been honored by being enshrined within these walls have been an enormous part of our growth as a society. Embeth told me you were eager to absorb and learn, so I thought it would be apt to bring you here.”

I nodded slowly. Vanth taught me much in the art of fighting. Grillick taught me much about technology and even Calypso had taught me much about history. Despite all of my newfound knowledge I had acquired since my initial contact with the Explorer's League, I always yearned to learn more. “He was right,” I responded. “I would like to see what you have to show me.”

He smiled before moving behind the desk. A flat purple disk was embedded within its surface and he placed the palm of his hand upon it. After several seconds had passed, a gritty metallic voice boomed from an overhead speaker.

“
Welcome Ajox, your digital signature has been accepted. You may pass.
”

The bars slid aside, allowing us passage into the hallway. I followed Ajox down a slender stone passage which broke off into several side passages. We continued along the hall until it veered left around a corner. Before the turn was a passage, which forked off to the right. Ajox turned down this passage. It widened incrementally for several feet before a chamber marked the end. The chamber was dimly lit, the flickering light from electronic torches casting random shadows across the room. The shadows led to a large, square object in the center of the room. About a foot above it, a ghostly holographic head rotated 360 degrees. As the Hydrophant face rotated towards me, I gasped. It looked just like Satou.

Ajox saw the look on my face and smiled. “Now you see why I brought you here. Satou would have wanted it this way.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Satou was Vaire's greatest biologic engineer. His medical science breakthroughs cured many diseases and saved countless lives. When he left for the Explorer's League, he left behind a void that no one would fill. His life was celebrated, and his death was mourned. He lived his life improving the quality of life for those he loved and he protected them until his dying breath. He told me you were like the son he had lost long ago. Go to him.”

With a deep breath, I moved closer to the tomb. Like the sarcophagi of ancient Egypt, the Hydrophants enshrined their dead in similar fashion. My legs shook so bad I might as well had been walking on rubber bands. By the time I reached the tomb, I had to prop myself up by one hand. A gold plaque sat just below Satou's holographic face. I craned my neck to read the words inscribed upon it.

“
The actions of many may sunder the universe, but the actions of one can rebuild it.
”

The words blurred as water filled my eyes. A single tear managed to escape and fall on one of the words:
Rebuild
.

“I will,” I whispered with a cracked voice. “The Consortium will be rebuilt stronger and better than it ever was.” I ran my hand over the plaque and wiped away the tear. For several moments I remained silent while watching Satou's head turn slowly. Ajox interrupted as I collected my thoughts.

“We are born from the ocean and it is believed that the soul returns there upon death,” he stated as he moved next to me. “Satou's heart belonged to Vaire and now his soul resides here as well.”