Chapter Ten: Cipher
Late Autumn, Cyran Prefecture
"Bill, I have bad news."
Bill looked up from the desk he'd set up in the alchemy lab in the Ruins, sighing as Dan stood in the entrance arch, looking, well, like Dan always did these days: tired and frustrated.
"What's new?" Bill grumbled. "What is it now?"
"We lost another one. Rylan Prefecture. It's under martial law. The cell there's gone quiet. I'm sorry."
"Rylan?" Bill closed his eye, rubbing it. "That was fast."
"Yeah, too fast. The info coming out of Pantocyclus is just as bad. I don't know for sure but I think they may be getting closer to the Hughs."
"Shit." He took a deep breath. "We need to extract them."
"Alistair's already way ahead of you. He's forming a rescue mission right now."
"Alistair?" A horrible feeling surged through him.
"I think he's gonna head up the team. He was talking like it."
Bill shook his apex. "No, no, no... he can't..." He got up and headed towards the door. "I have to stop him."
"That's why I thought you should know..."
Bill pushed past Dan and ran up the stairs, looking for the Rhomboid. "Where is he?"
"The gardens, with the team," Dan said, hurrying behind him.
"Alistair!" The horrible feeling was getting worse, deepening into a gnawing fear.
Bill rushed into the center of the Ruins, heading towards the ancient garden that was now pretty much part of the forest.
"Alistair!" If Alistair went, Bill was certain, he wouldn't be coming back!
The Rhomboid was talking to several Shapes. He turned at Bill's voice. "Bill? Aw dammit."
"You can't do this!"
"I know the city. Besides you, I'm th' only one who can," Alistair said firmly, "an' you certainly are not going."
"These people are smart, give them detailed directions, a map, just don't go!"
Bill stood in the garden ruins. Alistair stared back at him. "Bill, this is not the time to be selfish."
"I'm not, it's just-" He looked around at the other Shapes, who were all staring as well. "Alistair, I need to talk to you. Alone."
"This isn't th' time-"
"ALISTAIR!" his voice pitched up sharply and he winced. "N-now!"
"Fine."
The Rhomboid walked over to him, taking him by the arm and pulled him off into a more secluded grove.
"Alistair, just, please, don't go. I-I don't know why, but I just have a horrible feeling about this."
"What do you mean, Bill?"
"What if it's a trap? I wouldn't put it past Cerchio to pull somethin' like that, just to drive us out into the open."
"We can't leave the Hughs there alone."
"I know that, but send a team, don't go yourself."
"Bill...?" Alistair softened, gazing into the Triangle's eye. "You, you're really worried about this, aren't you?"
Why would he say something like that? "Of course, Alistair," he said softly, "I love you. I-I don't want to lose you."
"You're terrified."
Bill swallowed hard. "Yes," he admitted, looking down. "You don't know that man. This... it just seems like the perfect opportunity for him to get to you."
"He doesn't know we're involved with the resistance, Bill. We've checked and double-checked. Nobody knows."
"I-I don't know," Bill said. "I just have this feeling. It's a trap, I know it with every fiber in my angles."
"I can't sacrifice the Hughs or risk our people on something I'm not willing to face myself. You feel the same way."
"I know that," Bill growled. "I'm just worried. It's possible that Cerchio already has the Hughs and he's using them as bait, to flush us into the open. You know as well as I do that Creon won't hold up under interrogation... or torture. He'll break."
Alistair looked at him a long, silent minute. Everything Bill said was true, Bill knew that Alistair knew that.
"Flourish would fight back."
"Until they break her too. Literally."
"She'd take a few of them with her."
Well yes. As a Line, Flourish was a natural weapon. It was a primary reasons Lines were suppressed in Flatland society as much as they were.
"I... I can't lose you, Alistair."
Alistair took a deep breath. "Bill, look. I'm not stupid. I'm not weak, either."
"Alistair, I'm not sayin' that-"
"Yeah, I know, I know. But what I'm sayin' is that, I-I've got abilities you don't know about. I can keep everyone safe and get the Hughs out if they're in trouble. I won't get caught. I won't get killed." He took in a deep breath. "Remember, you trus' me, right? I got you out of Pantocyclus intact, didn't I? I got me Da and our servants out safe. I can get these people in and out and I won't get hurt. Please, Bill. Y-y' gotta trust me on this. No matter what, even if it goes south, I'll get out an' I'll bring Creon an' Flourish an anyone else that's left with me."
He offered a thin smile.
"Don't worry, Bill, Cerchio won't touch me."
Bill looked at him. He was strong, sturdy, firm and handsome. He wasn't the boy Bill had first fallen in love with anymore. Alistair Kendrick was a fully-grown Shape. A Rhomboid of considerable stature and reliability. He was a man, a man Bill loved with all his heart.
"Trust me."
Despite his misgivings, despite his fears and terror at losing him, Bill nodded. He trusted Alistair. He'd already trusted Alistair with his life. He trusted Alistair. Perhaps more than he had anyone else in his life, even his father.
"Alright Alistair," he said softly. "I trust you."
Bill paced.
"Bill..."
He continued to pace. Agitation radiated from him as he continued to walk restlessly from one side of Dan's living room, to the other.
"Bill..."
He continued.
"Bill, c'mon," Nan said finally, "you'll wear a path in the carpet. At least sit down and have a cup of coffee."
"I can't."
Dan sighed and looked at Nancy. "You trust him, right? He knows what he's doing. Please, at least sit down a moment."
Bill paused.
"I need to know what's going on there."
"They'll call. We'll hear on the news if anything goes sideways."
"Yeah, so far it's just the same old thing: crazies running around and yelling 'upwards not northwards'. I doubt they even know what that means."
"Not 'free for all'?"
"Only the rebellion does that now. I think it's been declared illegal to say that in the Capitol now."
"Makes sense," Bill said with a deep sigh. He looked over at her, exhaustion overtaking him so suddenly he wobbled on his feet.
Dan caught him and helped him to the sofa.
"You said coffee?" Bill muttered.
"Yeah, just a sec, I'll get you a fresh cup," Nan said and headed into the kitchen.
"Dan, the short wave," Dan's father called from the study. "Message."
Bill nearly bolted to his feet before Dan's hand firmly pushed him back down into the sofa. "It's a check-in. That's all."
Nan brought him a cup of hot coffee and sat down next to him as Dan went to join his father in the study.
Cosine, Dan's father, was a Square named Theus. He was now retired from the publishing company, living on his pension with his son. Dan worked at their Secondary school himself now, as an assistant instructor while he worked on his teaching degree. He taught a few classes on his own, including History of all things.
He lived with and cared for his elderly father with the help of Nancy, who'd they'd arranged to be their housekeeper. It kept the two together, kept Theus and his real work safe and both of the young Figures out of the eye of the Ministry of Social Unions, since they were both employed in positions serving the community. They'd had to Register but they had yet to be Paired, due to the delays and protests against it in their senior year and the continued efforts of the old History club and their friends to peacefully protest Pairing. Many young Shapes refused to be Paired now and with unrest rising throughout the country, the Village decided to pick their battles.
Which they had, when the eye of the Capitol turned to fix on their small Prefecture. Tveir Cyclonus, the Prefect, who had a deep dislike of Cerchio personally, decided he didn't care for the Chief's attempts at ferreting out dissent in his Prefecture. He handled things himself and for him that meant allowing the bare minimum of Capitol Militia in the province, and those who were there answered to him and him alone.
While this kept Cyran a bit freer, it also meant Cyclonus was watching all of them personally, including Trikampis Village. If they slipped up and his men saw it, they were sunk.
"Okay," Dan said, coming back into the living room. "Alistair's okay. The team is okay. They're holed up in the base, but Orbits is compromised."
"And the Hughs?" Bill asked shakily.
"Flourish is with them. But the others from the Orbits base are dead."
Bill blinked. "How? Why?"
"Alistair says there was an ambush. You were right, it was a trap. There was a fight and people got truncated." Dan swallowed hard. "Flourish is hurt. She was leading the fighting. Alistair says it's not good." He drew in a deep breath. "He says he's gonna get everyone he can out through the underground tonight. There's more, Bill, but he wants to talk to you."
Bill got to his feet, slowly, stiffly, shaking.
"Alright," he said in a firm tone he didn't feel. "Let me talk to him."
Dan led the way into the study. Theus stood up and let Bill take his seat behind the desk where the short wave was set up.
"Cipher here."
"Cipher, this is Laurynas." 'Laurynas' was Alistair's codename. Bill had no idea what it meant to Alistair but it certainly was uncommon enough and it wasn't anything anyone would connect to Alistair.
"Free for all," Alistair said. That meant the line was probably untapped but it was best to stay in code. "Cipher, they got the scientist."
Bill felt the world come crashing down around him.
"And Scroll?"
"Truncated. I don't think she's going to survive the night."
"Bring them home, Laury."
"On my way."
Bill was screaming. He was standing in the middle of their alchemy lab, screaming his apex off.
Nobody was here. They'd made a point of letting him go as soon as they'd heard Alistair's report.
He'd closed the call, walked quietly into the living room, drank his coffee and left the house. As soon as he was away from the center of town, he ran. Using paths only he and Alistair knew, not even the resistance, he ran into the forest, through his beloved trees: pines and birches, weaving in and out until he'd finally reached the secret entrance to the Ruins. He was furious, scared and nearly insane but he wasn't an idiot. There was no way, even as crazy as he felt, he was going to give away his secret routes, or compromise the Ruins.
He stood in the lab, screaming incoherently for a long time, until his voice was hoarse and he dropped to his knees, panting.
The only way he could have felt worse than he did at this moment, was if Alistair had been caught.
No, he didn't know Creon Hugh well but he liked him. Even so, that wasn't why he was screaming.
Hugh was no freedom fighter, not really. Flourish was.
Hugh was a good man. A man who loved science. A gentle, brilliant scientist who was horrified at what his job had become, at the things they'd made him do. He wanted to change things, the only way he could think of. He'd hated bringing his daughter into his fight.
Flourish was dying and Creon was already dead, or would be, soon.
And Bill knew, as certainly as he knew he was sixty degrees exactly on all angles, that before Creon died, Cerchio would know who Cipher was.
And when he did, Bill's life wouldn't be worth a penny coin.
And neither would Alistair's. Or Varien's.
And eventually, Dan's, Nancy's and everyone else in Cyran Province.
Sixty degrees that come in threes;
Watches within birch trees
It cannot be allowed.
You have broken the Laws of the Multiverse, by sending him.
~I do what I want. He is clever. He is the best. If he does his job well, I care not.
You have created a rift that will not be sealed, should he be allowed to continue. He has broken many rules, gotten involved in ways he shouldn't have. He has fallen in love.
~I care not for his attachments. He is the best and I desire this creature he has found to serve Me. He uses the ways he has used for eternity. I care not for this minion, only for his catch.
You will be stopped. You should never have attempted to collect such a one. These beings have created their own destruction, as many others of their kind have done before this. By sending Your agent, You have forever altered the fate of the Multiverse.
I see beyond You.
Your callousness towards Your minions will be Your undoing.
The Great Entropic Void does not Forgive. It does not Forget. It will eventually take what You have denied it, by any means necessary. Even You cannot force the Void to change Its course. You are NOT the Empress of the Multiverse. Only the Atae. You have overstepped your boundaries and You will reap the rewards of Your folly.
~I AM THE ATAE.
No. You are only its' Empress. You are a small god. You and Your kind serve a Purpose but even You are not All Powerful.
Your own Children and Their devotees are turning from Your service, are seeing You as You Truly Are. Even they are growing beyond their need for Gods like You.
~Silence. You are only the True Neutral. You cannot stop Me.
That is true. I cannot stop You. I may only watch and observe and help those who Call My Name. I can however see those who may be able to stop You. I see them. I watch. If they Call Me, I will help them.
~I AM ALL POWERFUL. I am God. The Goddess. I AM the Empress of the Atae and I may do what I wish, TAKE what I wish, from ANYTHING I wish. INCLUDING the Great Void.
That is Your sin, Your folly. You will create chaos and destruction by allowing this to continue. Already there have been ripples in the Multiverse that are creating tears in the fabric of reality. These are irreparable and have increased the process of interdimensional entropy.
You cannot be allowed to continue Your interference in the mortal realm.
~You cannot stop me.
Already You are being stopped. Not by Me. I only came to warn You. Cease Your interference, lest you find Yourself consumed by the Chaos.
~I WILL DEVOUR THE VOID.
The Great Neutral sighed in the no-space, no-time of Its eternal existence.
No. You will not. The Void will devour You.
The Ruins, two days later.
Bill cried. Softly in the garden of birches and pines where he'd last seen Alistair.
He sat, curled into as much of a ball as his Shape allowed, rocking back and forth, crying. Not sobbing, just crying like the tiny Triangle he once was.
The rescue mission had returned, quietly bearing the now lifeless body of Flourish, whom they'd buried with honors in the tiny Village cemetery, hundreds of miles from where she'd been born, grown up, fought and eventually, been killed.
They'd returned but Alistair had not been with them.
Nobody knew what had happened to him. He'd gotten them nearly to the borders of Cyran, when they'd lost him. On the way out of Pantocyclus there'd been a number of surprise attacks by the Circle Militia, ambushes and fights that Alistair had led them through, managing to keep most of their little group intact, while picking up innocents and refugees along the way. The attacks had begun almost as soon as they'd made a run for it, indicating that those rebels the Circles had captured had either talked or been made to, which only increased Alistair's urgency to get everyone out safe.
People were sketchy on the rest of it, though. Several said there were times when everything had fallen into darkness and confusion and when things cleared, they seemed to be miles away from where they'd begun, sometimes in small groups, sometimes all of them. Once, during a particularly bad fight with the Circle's elite, the entire group lost vision and everyone passed out. The common conclusion was that the Circles were using some kind of chemical agent to try and poison them.
The last time he'd been seen was when they got to the borders of Cyran and were ambushed again by the Circle Militia. By that time, they were all exhausted but Alistair even more so. He was lost in the fighting. It wasn't that he'd been hurt or taken captive, it was simply that, one moment he was there, fighting and the next, he just wasn't.
Bill was inconsolable.
He did what he had to do, of course, he'd taken charge of the stunned and battered mission, ordered rest and respite for the refugees, honored the fallen, made plans, secured things that must be secured.
He did his job, he helped, directed, commanded. He had to. They'd all been looking to him as their real leader for months now and he had to show them their loyalty and trust was well-founded.
Then, once he was certain things were alright for the time being, Bill went to tell Alistair's father, Varien, that Alistair had been lost.
Alone, in the great house he shared with Alistair and his father, Varien sat in his study, quiet, sorrowing, as though he already knew his son was gone.
Varien's reaction, Bill had reasoned, was due to the shock.
When Bill told him, the Square looked at him with an empty, haunted eye. He inclined his top slope, just barely and turned back to his desk, staring at the surface in front of him, unseeing, like an automaton.
"Varien? Sir?"
"Thank you, William," Varien said in a lifeless tone.
That was the last thing the gentleman said that night.
Leaving the nearly comatose man with the one servant they had left, the one servant Varien loved and trusted, the little Line, Risa, Bill stumbled out of the house. It was only then, that Bill ran to the forest, to the ruined garden, crumpled to the ground and began to cry.