Vanya's Journals, Chapter 57You've taken a "coffee" break from reading, and find yourself again at the little table in Vanya's tomb, hidden deep in the stone beneath Parasol's cities. You feel you've waited more than long enough, and press the button to record your voice as you begin to translate from Vanya's elven script. If your memory serves you, you left off shortly after Vanya had rarely escaped being used in an experiment, just before she saw Joseph's face traced in laserlight upon the floor. You're uncertain of the date, but you believe it to be partway through Splint's third reign at Spearbreakers. My mind was awhirl.
He knew where I was. He
always knew where I was. It didn't seem to matter whether I was in a fortress, a trench, or under the oceans of an artificial world, he always knew. As his blue-lined face flickered on the white-tiled floor, I began to realize just how far his reach extended into Parasol. I knew he could've killed me at any point - he could've destroyed my shuttlecar himself, or forced an elevator to fall... but something kept him back.
I was forced to wonder: Why does Joseph even want me? Why did he bother keeping me around? I wasn't powerful, and I couldn't do anything to help him. I knew things about him that most people didn't... wouldn't he want to
kill me? Eventually I thought I figured it out. He didn't want me for
me. He wanted me because of my connections to Mr Frog and Spearbreakers. I was a bargaining chip... he knew that the Mr Frog of Spearbreakers was starting to change, and he wanted to make sure he had something against it.
Joseph had said Parasol was "devoid of any sense of morality"... and he was right. I was starting to see Parasol as cruel and uncaring... they allowed their employees to snatch innocent people from their home to serve as guinea pigs in the name of science. Still, I didn't
want to believe he was right. Every fiber of my being told me that Joseph was a bad person. After all, he'd tried to kill me once... but was Parasol even worse than him?
It was Ballpoint's fault that the Holistic Spawn could infect dwarves and evolve, but Parasol was just as bad... I'd always thought I was fighting on the "good side", but what do you do when every side is revealed to be wrong?
At the time, I tried to console myself with the fact that Parasol wasn't proud of what they did, if I'd never heard of these experiments before... I thought that maybe it was just a fluke, or a few rogue researchers taking things into their own hands. Whether that was true or not, my thoughts were in a wild disarray as the face abruptly scattered, rearranging the laser points into a blue line of light, pulsing towards the door.
"That was bizarre... Never seen that happen before," Golchek whispered, fingering his beard. Louder, he called, "Did you see that, Daneerah?"
I was still too stunned to turn around, but heard her say in disinterest, "See what, Golchek..."
The dwarf said nothing, only staring at the floor in puzzlement. "He had a kind face..." Without warning, he spun towards me so quickly that I was startled. "Do you know him? Who was he?"
"I don't know," I lied. "I don't know who he is."
"Hmm... Strange," he muttered, gazing at the pulsating lasers. A moment later, he spun back to face me. "All right, it's probably safe out there now. Just follow the line to wherever you're going. Solnay, was it?"
I nodded silently, staring blankly at the line.
"Get going then," he urged. "Don't talk to anyone, and don't put your ear to any more doors."
And so I left, headed towards my destination as the doors to Golchek's lab hissed shut behind me. It wasn't until later that I realized I'd forgotten to thank him.
"Aw, I'm so happy to see you, sweetie!" Solnay's warm, clammy hands grasped mine as she greeted me in the doorway, her blonde hair tied up under a hairnet. She was wearing safety goggles and a labcoat just like the one she'd been wearing when I'd first seen her. "I don't usually get visitors," she added as I studied her. Somehow, that didn't surprise me too much.
Feeling a little awkward, I gently pulled my hands away from her, peering past her chubby form and into her laboratory. "It's good to see you again," I said politely, and asked, "What do you do here?"
She laughed nasally. "Come inside and see!"
It looked a lot different from Golchek's laboratory... instead of vials and test tubes, the walls were lined with different types of robotic machinery. Glass display cases stood in neat array at one side of the room, each containing strange gadgetry... It didn't look overly interesting at first glance, until I noticed the ceiling. There was a loose black netting twenty feet up in the air, stretched between all four walls, and the room above that seemed to extend all the way to the roof of the building. I didn't know how to ask about it without making myself seem stupid, though, so I thought it might be best that I stay quiet and wait until she told me about everything.
"You have a nice laboratory..." I ventured carefully.
"It's better than the one I had at the university by a
lot," she laughed, putting extra emphasis on her words as she hurried past me towards the countertops in the middle of the room. "You have
no idea. Let me show you what I'm working on right now!"
Stepping farther into the room, I heard the door shut softly behind me with a swish. "Do you work here alone?" I asked curiously.
"No, but you caught me during their lunch break. I know Salamar would
love to meet you, sweetie. He looks about your age!
Just[ out of college." She seemed rather pleased with herself for making the comparison, but quickly diverted her thoughts towards her work.
Though I
really didn't like the idea of her acting as a matchmaker, I didn't have long to think about it.
"Here!" Solnay said, using a pair of electric tongs to slide a dull, yellowish glob about the size of a frog out of a jar. "Catch this!"
She tossed it so quickly I barely had time to react as it flew forwards, but she'd aimed it well, and I caught it in my hands. "What is this?" I asked curiously, looking it over. It acted like putty; it was thick and pliable without being moist, which was something I found intriguing.
Solnay said with a pleased smile, "Experiment with it. What do you think?"
Unfortunately, I found that once I'd starting tugging at it, it wouldn't come undone. The more I tried to pull it off my fingers, the more it seemed to gum them up, until my hands were hopelessly lost in a sticky mess that quickly became harder and harder to manipulate until finally, I was trapped as firmly as if I'd been handcuffed. Worse, I'd somehow gotten it attached to my skirt, and I stopped moving for fear it might rip the fabric. "What is this?? Help me get it off!" I cried out, my voice raising in pitch as I started to panic. It seemed inescapbable, and my fingers were starting to pop.
"Oh, calm down, sweetie," Solnay cooed, walking over to me calmly with her tongs. "It's not going to kill you." When she started to pry it away, I felt a little buzz of electricity crawl across my skin, and the sticky substance released itself, dangling loosely as she held it in the air and used her hand to wrap it into a loose wad. It wasn't sticky anymore at all.
"What is it?" I asked, turning my hands over as I looked at them, still a bit shaken by the experiment.
She smiled and started to walk back towards the counter with it, explaining, "It's 'EDAP.' That's 'Electrically Deactivated Adhesive Putty.' I've been designing it for military use. It's a lot of fun, isn't it?"
"Not really..." I admitted apologetically.
She only laughed, shoving it back into its jar a bit forcefully. "Aw, I don't hold it against you. Though, Vanya, you really shouldn't go sticking it to your skirt." She smirked a little, and then picked a couple more things, bringing them to me. "These are my
favorites. Look at them closely, sweetie, but don't squeeze them!" she warned. "You'll get hurt if you do."
I didn't want to be unprepared this time. "What do they do?" I asked as she placed them in my palms.
"Well,
look at them," she urged. "They're like little portals you can hold on your hand, see?"
They were, in a way... little black, solid-backed portals, attached to straps that looked very much like they could be adjusted to fit on your hand. Their sides apparently weren't finished, and looked kind of hobbled-together, with exposed metal wiring and thin transparent plastic covering loose metal strips. "What do they do?"
It was obvious she'd been hoping I would ask that very question. "Come and see!" Solnay said, beaming.
We walked over to a ladder at one corner of the room, that led up to the net draped above us. When we got there, she motioned for me to give them to her as she made what Mr Frog would probably call meaningless chatter. "Salamar and I keep arguing over the name. He's such a dear. I want to call them VPTs, for Variable Portal Thrusters." She strapped one of the bulky devices over the back of her right hand, and then started with the other on her left. "Doesn't 'VPT' sound a lot better than 'FPT?'" she laughed nasally, watching me for approval.
I just nodded. I didn't feel either one was better, really.
"The more you squeeze them, the wider the portals open, and on the other side there's an eternal motion thruster," she explained eagerly as she hauled her chubby frame up the ladder. "It sounds easy, you know, but it's all
rocket science!" With a little effort, she climbed out onto a little platform just above the netting. Peering through it, I saw her flick her wrists, and the tiny portals seemed to flip to the other side of her hand. Then, there was a hiss of air and fire, and a flash of light. I blinked instinctively, and when I looked back, Solnay was hovering at least thirty feet above the net, far, far above me.
"Isn't it amazing, Vanya?" Solnay cried out blissfully. "I can't imagine why more people don't visit me more often!"
The rest of the day was interesting. Solnay wanted me to test out the VPTs myself, but when I told her I didn't want to, she settled on showing me practically everything else, all amidst a never-ending stream of grating, nasally chatter. Even despite that last, it was fun... what stuck with me most was the fact that she didn't use test subjects, and yet she was still able to invent so many useful things. You don't have to sacrifice people in order to make great things in the name of science, and Solnay's work was proof of it.
I eventually got up the courage to ask about her relationship with Jonah... and though she seemed somewhat pained, she told me the story. They'd met in the military during a war that had taken place twenty years before I was born. After their duty was over, they got married, but Solnay was drafted back a decade later as part of a reserve crew. Before long, Ballpoint had captured her squad, and though she didn't want to talk about it, I could tell it'd been a mortifying ordeal. By the time she managed to break out, Jonah had joined the military himself in hopes of finding her again... and she found out too late.
It's strange, sometimes, the pain a smile can mask. I never quite thought of Solnay the same way again, and we became friends that day, each sharing the loss of one dearly loved. It bothered me, though... The night of 48D's battle, Jonah had said he'd wanted to tell me something... but he never got the chance to tell me.
~~~
It was late evening of the same day, and I felt exhausted, but peaceful. I'd taken the shuttlecar from Solnay's laboratory to Rubywood Apartments; I'd looked in awe at the great Parasol city stretching out before me, the city lights shining brightly under an all-black, starless sky. It was artificial, yes... but that didn't make it any less amazing. I realized then why I'd never really guessed that the Mr Frog at Spearbreakers was "just a clone"... It's because he
wasn't "just a clone". He was
every bit as real as the "real" one. It was just like that night he'd tried to calm me down by showing me the stars, and I'd seen all the beauty of Spearbreakers' towers, bastions, and courtyards... Something doesn't have to be natural, or even naturally created, for it to be beautiful. Hewn stone is every bit as beautiful as trees, and with care, it can be made to look even better. The same can be said of people... or even entire planets. Despite its evils, Parasol had a sort of magic all its own.
Outside the door of Mr. Kenzon's apartment, I stopped, hesitantly eyeing the two guards he'd hired as a group of people brushed behind me on their way into the elevator. I didn't
want to go back inside. I knew it was late, and that I'd probably miss supper, but that feeling of freedom just felt too precious to give up so soon. I wanted to go see the world. There was a fire in my heart, a thirst that couldn't be quenched... a desire for adventure. I'd had adventures all my life, even if I hadn't wanted them... and today had been another. The fact was, that now, I simply never wanted it to end.
Unfortunately, as imaginative and adventurous as I might be, I'm not very impulsive. Sighing with disappointment, I stepped forwards, and after unlocking the apartment door with Katie's keycard, I went inside.
"So you made it back in one piece," Kenzon's voice called out as I entered the room. "I'm mildly impressed." He was sitting where he always did after work - in his green chair, reading a PEA screen with the televiewer turned on, flashing images in front of us.
I closed the door and locked it. "I went to visit someone," I explained, remembering only too late that I was holding a keycard I wasn't exactly supposed to have. Without thinking, I tried to hide it.
He noticed immediately. "Nope, what's that you have? Bring it here," he ordered. When I hesitated, he added a firm, "Now."
Swallowing nervously, I complied, glancing away from his oddly triumphant grin as I held it out.
"It's Katie's keycard, isn't it? Why would she give it to you?" he asked. He didn't seem angry, which surprised me. It felt like a trap.
"She wanted me to be able to get back inside," I said cautiously. About thirty seconds passed, as he flipped it over in his fingers, staring at it in deep thought. "Are you upset?" I asked, biting my lip with worry.
He raised an eyebrow and handed it back to me with an easy air. "Not at all. I'll get you one of your own made tomorrow, so you don't have to use my daughter's," he replied smoothly, and then turned back to his televiewer program.
Really, I felt a little ridiculous... I'd been so worried he'd get angry or something like he did towards Katie so often. I felt sure if it had been her, instead of me, he would've started a yelling match, so it didn't seem right that he would let me off the hook... But at the same time, I didn't want to tempt fate or push my luck. I left him, heading towards the kitchen, as I could smell Katie's cooking coming from within.
She was standing at the countertop, shuffling a frying pan of meat and vegetables with a pancake flipper. There were three other steaming pots sitting beside it, too.
"Katie?" I asked, frowning with discomfort. It seemed a bad subject to bring up, somehow. "Is everything okay with your dad?"
She quickly turned her head towards me, asking worriedly, "Wrong? What's he doing?"
"Nothing!" I hurried to clarify. The worried look on her face quickly disappeared, but not before I realized she was worried about his safety. "He's just... not angry. He found out about the keycard."
Nodding absently, Katie turned back to the food she was cooking and sprinkled some black pepper onto it. "I figured he would. I thought he might be angry, but I wasn't sure..."
"He offered to make me a card of my own," I said, narrowing my eyes pointedly. "Something isn't right."
To my surprise, she actually laughed. "He just
trusts you. He has a tendency to trust girls more than he does guys for some reason. I don't know what it is. Besides, you're a special case, like I told you before." With a happy smile, she twirled about on her way to the nearest cabinets, opening them and pulling out a few plates. "C'mon, let's eat! I've been experimenting with the seasonings!"
I got an uneasy feeling, despite her reassurances. Something didn't add up. I felt
sure Kenzon should've gotten angry about the keycard, and that Katie should've been more worried than she was... I decided to try to figure it all out myself.
"Did you enjoy Trebor being over here today?" I asked, trying to work my way into asking a more serious question.
Her reaction was unprecedented: she blushed. Not only did she blush, but she blushed deeply. She stopped dishing out the food and covered her face with her hands in embarassment, looking at me through the corner of her eye. After an uncomfortable pause, she hissed defensively, "It's not what you think!"
"You
like him!!" I gasped, dumbfounded. I hadn't expected it at all. Her eyes widened and she shook her hands about to try to silence me, mouthing to be quiet. I went on anyway. "Katie, he's six years older than you!"
"I do
not like him!" she protested in a whisper, putting a frantic finger to my lips and glancing towards the living room, where Kenzon was still sitting. "And he's only
five years older! I turn 18 in a month."
"So
that's why you wanted to let me leave... so you'd have more time alone with him..." I whispered, matching her volume. It all seemed so clear.
She blushed again, even as the color was just beginning to fade from her cheeks. "It's not like that!" she said quietly. "He's just... he's so much happier when you're not around, Vanya, I..." At my downcast expression, she hastened to add, "I didn't mean it that way!"
"He hates me," I said softly, mulling it over. "I already knew he didn't like me, but I didn't realize he hated me that much."
Her pretty face wrung itself into a sorrowful expression. "I'm sorry, Vanya... But really, it's all right, isn't it? You don't like him anyway, right? You like Urist."
Urist's name pushed everything else from my mind, and I rolled my eyes. "I don't know..." I muttered, and then changed the subject. "So, do you think he likes you back?
A smile broke across her face, and she laughed quietly. "I don't know yet, but I think he might," she whispered.
"Excuse me?" Kenzon's loud, unamused voice interrupted us from the doorway, and we spun around, shock apparent on our faces. "What are you two talking about in here? You're giggling like a couple of schoolgirls."
"Girl stuff," Katie said quickly, as if it was a practiced response.
Her father nodded, either satisfied or not simply caring to know. "Are we eating, or are we just going to stand around talking?"
I suppose it was something I could've expected, really... if you survive a dangerous situation with someone, and then go on to spend a lot of time with them, a wayward heart is bound to fall in love. After all, that's what happened with Urist and me... and though I was fighting it, it was starting to happen with Reudh.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2273241 times)