Jayesh kept on with his training, but he had lost heart for it.
Instead, he spent his free time refining a plan to borrow a fighter aircraft, hover it beneath the Traveler long enough to board it, then send the ship home on autopilot. He told no one, and tried to hide it from his Ghost, too. But Ghost watched the vid screens where Jayesh was charting rental ships and watching tutorials on autopilot settings.
"I know what you're planning," Ghost said late one night.
Jayesh was in his dormitory room, the only light coming from his tablet screen. He glanced at Ghost's glowing blue eye. "You do, huh?"
"It is forbidden," Ghost said slowly and clearly, as if speaking to a child. "Do you know what might happen to you? To both of us, if you're caught?"
Jayesh laughed mirthlessly. "They're already going to kick me out of the Tower. A little more exile won't hurt."
Ghost made a sound like a sigh. "Must you go through with this?"
"Yes." Jayesh was firm.
"Then ..." Ghost hesitated. "I can program the autopilot. And a huge storm is forecast for tomorrow. It will give us the cover we need to approach the Traveler without being seen."
Jayesh looked up, a delighted smile spreading across his face. "Really? You'd do that?"
Ghost twirled his four segments. "I'm in this whether I like it or not. I might as well make sure we don't fail. But don't blame me if the Traveler smites you."
Jayesh chartered a small ship, which was regular enough. New Guardians flew often as part of their training.
"Watch the storm," air traffic control told him over the radio. "Visibility is negligible tonight."
"Acknowledged," Jayesh replied. "Flight path is filed."
"Acknowledged."
His proposed path took him around the city in a figure-8 pattern, passing beneath the Traveler twice. Nobody had questioned it. So far, so good.
Jayesh lifted off in the old, clunky ship and set off across the city, gaining altitude as he went. Lightning flashed across the sky. Rain clouded his cockpit canopy.
He completed the first loop of the figure-8, gently gaining altitude all the time. As he turned back for the second pass, Ghost said, "Radio communications are experiencing high levels of interference. I don't like this."
"Probably just the storm," Jayesh replied, lightning crackling across the sky and dazzling him.
He slowed the ship and engaged the hover thrusters. The ship coasted up beneath the Traveler, aiming for the gap missing from its bottom hemisphere. The rain cut off as they entered the lee side.
"Training Guardian," air traffic control said, "you are too close to the Traveler. Watch your altitude."
"Correcting," Jayesh replied. He flipped the radio off and murmured, "Ghost, how close can you get us?"
"As close as necessary," the robot replied, taking wireless control of the ship. "Get out there and I'll boost you in. Don't fall."
Jayesh's mouth went dry. Don't fall - like when he had fallen off the cliff, cartwheeling in midair, striking the stone and bouncing off with broken limbs ...
No, he couldn't think about it. Focus on climbing into the Traveler. There might be force fields at work to keep out intruders, and he'd have to deal with that. Beyond that, he had no idea what to expect inside.
He opened the hatch on top of the ship and climbed out into the chilly, windy night. Even here, on the sheltered side of the Traveler, wind swirled and gusted, carrying snatches of rain. The damaged underbelly of the Traveler loomed close by, all jagged metal struts and twisted cross-bracing. Jayesh crouched on top of the wet, slippery ship. "Closer, Ghost!"
The ship rose a little closer to the spiky, dangerous metal. Jayesh forced himself to stand and reach for the nearest beam, without looking at the surrounding City, so far below him. He caught hold of the metal and pulled himself up. He rolled across the exposed cross-bracing and clambered into the solid portion of the Traveler, stumbling over rough shapes he couldn't see in the dimness. "Ghost, I'm in!"
The training ship sank away from the Traveler, rotating itself to return back to the airbase. Ghost materialized beside Jayesh in a sparkle of blue light motes. "It's done. But Jay, something's happening out there. Look."
Jayesh peered out the hole in the Traveler. At first he saw nothing but the city, bathed in golden streetlights beneath the rain. His stomach swooped giddily. Then lightning flashed through the clouds, illuminating a fleet of alien ships hidden inside them. They were barely a mile away and closing fast.
"What are those?" Jayesh whispered.
The first missiles erupted on the City wall, engulfing the Tower in orange flame.
"No!" Jayesh and Ghost screamed at the same time.
Their home, the other Guardians, the defenders of the city-all vanished in one huge fireball.
"Could you heal a Guardian from that?" Jayesh breathed.
"Yes," Ghost said, "if I hadn't been incinerated, too. But surely the Commander saw it coming. Surely they were able to get out. Surely ..."
They watched as the ships emerged from the storm, an entire armada, and began bombing the City. But largest and most unnerving was a huge claw-like thing that unfolded and advanced on the Traveler itself.
"They mean to take the Traveler," Ghost whispered, his voice trembling. "Jayesh, get further inside! As far as you can! Now!"
What should have been a slow, rapt exploration of wonder became a mad rush and scramble. Ghost flicked on his headlamp and helped Jayesh climb through the outer broken layers of metal, where the Light had been torn from the Traveler's side and dumped on the earth to rot. Fine, sharp metal edges scored his armor and cut into the soft suit beneath. By the time he reached the intact areas that still glowed with blue Light, his hands and the sides of his legs were scored and bleeding.
Ghost traced him with a healing scan, mending the cuts. "The quality of Light here means my abilities are far enhanced. But I don't know what we may find further inside."
Jayesh stood still, panting, allowing himself to gaze upon the inside of the Traveler, which no mortal or Guardian had ever seen.
The structure of it reminded him of the beautiful architecture he had seen in history books of Old Earth. Concentric rings supported by arches climbed higher and higher above him. It was all metal, some unknown alloy that was thin as paper and stronger than steel. No wonder it had cut him up. It was arranged in spheres within spheres. He was only in the outer shell, the inner sphere smooth and yet detailed with nameless markings, like runic circuitry.
Every inch of the architecture swirled with Light. It flickered along arches and swirled in the rings, obscuring his view. It was like mist, or lightning, or water, yet nothing like any of them. It was simply Light, living and going about its incomprehensible business.
"It's like the neurons in a brain," Ghost murmured, watching the Light play through the Traveler. "We caught it in theta state. Dream time."
"What might it look like if it was awake?" Jayesh said in a low voice. Suddenly he was afraid of awakening this great, mechanical being. "They say it's been comatose since before the City was built."
"So they say," Ghost replied, watching the Light swirl. "Just because a being is deaf and blind doesn't mean they're comatose."
A wisp of light broke free from the rest and curled around Jayesh, wrapping around his torso and limbs like an exploring tendril before vanishing back into the rest of the Traveler.
"What was that?" Jayesh breathed.
"I think," Ghost said, "I think it knows we're here."
At that moment, a boom echoed through the Traveler like the clang of a bell. The Light went crazy, speeding up into flashes and firework explosions. The metal trembled underfoot.
"The invaders attached their machine," Ghost whispered. "This is bad, Jay. If they drill into the Traveler, we're right here."
"Time to go further up," Jayesh replied. He crawled through the grating and began to climb the supports, careful not to look down. Ghost flew alongside him, keeping watch for any threat. Of course, here inside the Traveler, it was hard to know what a threat might look like. Would the Light, itself, attack them? Would it create a form for itself, the way a Ghost could reassemble a human body? There was really no limit to what the Traveler could do.
The Guardian and Ghost worked their way deeper and deeper into the Traveler. The whole structure resonated with terrifying booms and crashes as something happened to the outside. Then, after an hour of this, everything went silent.
The Light that illuminated the structure began to calm down. In fact, it calmed too much, dimming to an ember-like glow. But every so often, another wisp would appear, explore Jayesh, and vanish.
"It's keeping tabs on me," he observed. "What do you think it might do?"
"I don't know," Ghost replied. "We're inside a super-sentient being. We must not underestimate it."
Jayesh climbed until he reached a new level among the arches and rings. He was nowhere near the center, but he was beginning to see the way the whole structure coiled in upon itself, protecting the inner sphere. The rings were closer together, tighter, the gaps too small to crawl through.
He sat on a support beam and studied the structure. "I think this is as far as I can go."
Ghost scanned their surroundings. "Yes. This place was never designed for living beings. I suppose, if you wanted to commune with the Light, this is as good a spot as any."
Jayesh was ready. He rested in the spot where two beams joined together, and closed his eyes. Inside his head, he reached for the Light.
Here I am.
At once, more wisps of Light appeared and encircled him, investigating. Jayesh kept his eyes closed. He relaxed, opening himself to the being who had resurrected him.
Please agree to speak with me. I have questions.
Light danced before his eyelids, bright enough to see with his eyes closed. The Light inside him responded, flickering and burning. For the first time, he sensed his own spark, the source of his own life, his spirit that formed the core of his being.
A wisp of light swirled through him, warm, powerful, electrical. Jayesh jumped and opened his eyes. The Light was no longer investigating his outside - it was inside him, too, testing his personal Light.
Guardian.
It was the faintest of whispers in his mind, rather like Ghost's voice. But Ghost floated beside him, watching the Light in worried silence.
Here I am, Jayesh thought.
The Light encircling him grew brighter, more intense, rippling over his skin in veins of lightning.
Why have you come, Guardian?
Jayesh thought, Many have communed with the Darkness. I wish to commune with the Light.
Is that so. The Light changed its focus, brightening and lancing through him until it was almost painful. Then you must come to me.