CHAPTER 15

Rebus

If Luke had recognized Maija, which she knew he had, he hid it well. His face was solemn and emotionless. He wore New Unity garb with a yellow cloth hanging from his breast pocket bearing his rank. Maija didn't know what each color meant but she assumed he had been placed lower than a captain in New Unity's hierarchy.

He smiled, glanced at Erik and then back at Maija, his eyes lingering on her. Luke's expression immediately changed from one of business to one of friendliness, as if the three of them were long lost friends, meeting to catch up. Maija's grip tightened until her knuckles hurt. What was he doing here?

"Hey guys, welcome to New Unity and let me be the first to congratulate you on being so quickly assigned your first mission!" His voice was far too excited. He was acting of course, Maija knew he had infiltrated New Unity- he had broken her out- but why pretend when only Maija and Erik were present? "Please, if you'd follow me, we'll board our ship and be underway."

Luke turned and left, Erik moving to follow. Maija couldn't move, her feet glued to the floor. Erik noticed quickly and stopped, stooping lower so Maija could whisper in his ear. "I know him."

Erik frowned, "From where?"

"I can't explain now," Maija whispered, finding her feet, slowly following Luke who either hadn't noticed they weren't following, or had chosen to ignore it. "Just know he's not on Kaius's side and he's certainly not on ours."

Luke led them down corridors, up stairways, and to the back of the ship where a smaller ship was docked, latched to the flagship's rear by thick rope. It was made from bronze giving the metal a dull greyish green color. Maija was surprised how long it took her to notice that it was her own. The realization sent a feeling like butterflies fluttering up her chest, making her gasp softly. They were taking her ship. Maija couldn't help but feel some small sense of hope bloom inside her at its sight.

"Please step aboard," Luke said, motioning his arm out towards Maija's ship. "Thankfully, you did quite the job making sure she's fueled and ready." He pulled one of the knots from the thick rope out and tossed it overboard. "We can leave immediately."

Neither Maija nor Erik replied. They both stood, feet away from their ship's deck, not knowing whether to move forward or stay behind. Maija moved first, jumping over the small gap between the ships and moving below deck. Erik hurried after her.

She turned and quickly dropped past the stairs and stopped, backing away nearly tripping over the first step when Maija saw a woman leaning against the skycore hanging from the ceiling. She was dark skinned with black hair. She was dressed like everyone else on this ship but with a dark red leather jacket rather than the normal brown. Just like Lidia, the woman towered over Maija, her arms doubling Maija's in thickness. What was with the women of this world and being so much bigger than her?

"Who are you?" Maija asked, scowling, standing taller, broadening her shoulders, showing herself off. It came naturally to Maija, and instincts told her to "buck up" before she could stop herself.

The woman stood, standing half a foot taller than Maija and stepped towards her. Her voice was smooth but deep. "Naisha."

Maija's scowl turned to a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the woman said. She spoke in quick, segmented sentences. Maija immediately hated her. "Kaius doesn't trust you. That's why we're here."

On cue, Luke stepped down the stairs. He separated them with his arms, a huge smile on his face. Maija made a fist with her hand, fighting everything to resist punching him. Someone grabbed her wrist, firmly. She jumped, violently yanking her arm back until she realized it was Erik.

Luke continued as if he hadn't noticed anything, playing a character so unlike himself Maija almost cringed. "Naisha, Maija. Maija, Naisha. Alright, guys, let's get this ship on the road. We don't have any time to waste."

He had clearly delegated himself as the person in charge as he began handing out orders. Erik was to bring the ship to the southernmost sandwall, Naisha was to watch the sails in case a flock of mantas attacked. Apparently, mantas- which Maija had had very little contact with- were blind but very sensitive to light and sound. The sound of ship engines irritated them, and they responded aggressively. Naisha was to unfurl the sails if any mantas came too close to the ship. Luke, was to debrief Maija, explaining all of the mission at hand. She was encouraged to tell Erik what she learns later. Time was of the essence, Luke had said, and they needed to get moving immediately. It wasn't until Maija had a chance to look around the room that she realized the bottom deck had been totally rearranged.

The fuel tank had been pushed entirely underneath the stairway, its left side up against the back of the room. The six lockers had been moved into two rows of three in the corner of the room, in a small square at the end of the fuel tank. The rearrangement left enough room for a small table to sit in the center, four chairs bordering it.

Naisha left first, without any question. Erik didn't. He stood with his arms crossed at the base of the stairs, glaring at Luke.

Luke had grown a bit of a beard since the last time Maija had seen him. He moved towards Erik, pulling a similar position with crossed arms as he tilted his chin up, them both performing the same ritual Maija had just with Naisha. "Don't worry big guy, I won't hurt your… friend here. We both know well enough she can take care of herself."

Erik didn't back down, keeping his arms firmly across his chest, not moving to push Luke either. Maija rolled her eyes, putting her weight to one leg, "He's telling the truth Erik. I'll be fine."

Erik's expression softened just enough as he glanced up at her. He dropped his arms and slowly climbed the stairs. Luke stood still, looking up at the ceiling until the engines kicked on and the ship started moving. While New Unity had taken care of the ship's drift, they had also made the lower deck far quieter while the engines were in use, somehow padding the hull with an invisible lining.

"Care to take a seat?" Luke started finally.

"Tell me why you're here." Maija demanded it. She would not let him leave until she knew. "How?"

"You know how, Maija, you're not stupid," Luke snapped, sitting on a chair himself, leaning his elbows against the tabletop, brushing his hands through his hair. "Kaius let me leave just for a week, to hunt you down. I succeeded of course, here you are, but he doesn't suspect I'm from Cliffside and neither does Naisha."

"Naisha's not from Cliffside?" Maija asked, trying to hide the surprise from her voice but not enough.

Luke shook his head. "No, she's one of Kaius's."

"So, you're telling me," Maija started, taking her turn to cross her arms, "You're telling me, I could walk right up there and rat you out right now?"

"You could, yes. But you won't. She wouldn't believe you and it would be… beneficial to both of us if you didn't."

"How?"

"Because you aren't exactly in Kaius's good graces either now, are you?" He stood and came around the table. Maija backing away, dropping her hands to her sides. "Listen to me Maija you are making a big mistake. You cannot do what you plan, you cannot save this world by yourself."

"I'm not by myself anymore."

Luke's eyes lit up momentarily as he laughed, "What, you mean Erik? Please, he's a year younger than you and couldn't hurt a thuntomite in an egg. He can't protect you."

Maija slammed her fist down, willingly letting herself go. "Tell me why you're here. Tell me what you want!"

"I'm here for you, Maija," he said. "Cliffside wanted to side with you- we did, we really did. But now, if left unkept, you could turn just as dangerous as Kaius. We can't allow that."

Maija clenched her fist tighter, her knuckles turning white. "What are you going to do to me?"

"To you? Hopefully nothing." He stepped away, waving back to the table. "Please, take… a… seat."

Maija stared at him reluctantly for several moments before she slowly took a seat, sliding the chair back giving her enough room to the prop her legs up on the table. Her feet took up most of the table space given its size. She may not actually own this ship, but she could at least act like it.

Luke clearly wasn't thrilled. He sat, pulling the chair far from the table. "Listen Maija, we don't want to hurt you. Cliffside wanted to join you in taking down Kaius. We aren't your enemies in this. If you aren't going to let Cliffside help, just let me."

"No."

Luke scoffed. "What about Erik? Huh? What's so different about him? You met him like, what, yesterday? What has he done that I haven't?"

Maija kept silent, moving one leg to cross it over the other. "Just tell me what we're doing here. What does Kaius want all this pure atlas for?"

Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose before leaning forward. "Kaius is trying to build a weapon with it, a superweapon. You're smart enough to figure out how it works but if Kaius gets his hands on this much pure atlas, he will have the power to singlehandedly remove atlas power from everything using it throughout all of Foundation. All islands and all ships. There will be no survivors."

"Why?" Maija asked, the question fierce in her tone. For the moment, Maija had put away her annoyance at Luke because she was genuinely curious. "Why would he do all this? What's the point?"

"The answer is in the name." Luke smirked, just a little as the pieces locked together.

New Unity. Maija didn't know what she had thought it meant, it had never struck her to mean anything. Now it made sense. All of Kaius's talk of peace. Global peace. He was planning a unification of Foundation. War had torn this planet apart, Maija had known that. Disunification and greed had ruined everything and now Maija lived in their ruins, a constant reminder of what those people had caused. Could Kaius have lived through that? Could he be fighting so hard to avoid a similar fate because he had lived though one?

"But why build a weapon if he only wants peace?" Maija asked the question just before she answered it herself. "Forced unity. He wants to back everyone into a corner with a threat. The threat being the end of the world again, for good this time. How could he think that would work?"

Luke sat back, "I don't know." He rose his arms up and let his hands clap back down against his legs. "Maybe he's gone mad, we don't know. He's got no ties in this world. No family, no parents. For all we know, Kaius could have survived the cataclysm and he's hellbent on making sure it never happens again."

Maija scoffed, "Huh, well, we've got nothing to worry about then, do we?"

Luke laughed, stroking the shadow of a beard on his face, "We both know that isn't true. Not only should that kind of technology never fall into the wrong hands, but it should also never exist in the first place. No person on Foundation is worthy of wielding it.

Maija moved on. She'd heard enough to make her own conclusions. Even though, she may never figure it all out. Not until she got to Kaius, and she was determined to do so. Not only to understand Kaius's motives, but to understand herself as well.

"Tell me where we're going," Maija asked, working a conversational tone in her voice. She crossed her arms. "Kaius called it 'Rebus', whatever that's supposed to mean."

Maija could see the light flicker in Luke's eyes as a smile broadened. "That's where this story gets fun." He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, gesturing with open hands. "Rebus is a place named by the people of Gal. Kaius believes he has found its remains- well, a part of it. The Vaults of Uruk to be exact. Gal was madly ingenious, creating a half of the technology we use today, everything relying on atlas power. Our ships, the shipyards we use to build them, and of course, our grappling hooks. Once the war broke out, they built these vaults, hiding their technology knowing full well what destruction it could bring. Only the… tamer forms of their tech survived." He rose his arm, grappling hook strapped to it. "Everything was either lost or locked away. It isn't a surprise that a part of Rebus would still house pure atlas, which Gal had plenty of."

He paused. Maija just watching him, mind feeling numb and full of information she never asked for. Well, she had asked for it, just didn't expect it to be so detaile. It was a sharp realization for Maija, that the people before her had just as deep and detailed lives as her own. There had been a whole war. She wondered if any of it had been documented.

Maija felt a curiosity rise from nowhere within her. She wanted to ask. She wanted to learn more about this ghost of a world she now lived in. Who were these people? The Gal? What were they like? They were smart for sure, but what were they like? How did they act? What did they look like? What were their dealings like with other civilizations? Were there others? Maija vaguely remembered hearing the name "Kioki" in her life at some point, was that another civilization? Another country? Kaius had once called it a unity.

But she chose her next question carefully, trying to stay on topic. "How… long ago… did these people live? This vault may not even exist anymore, destroyed by time."

Luke shook his head. "No, they were far too advanced to let their technology rust away. These vaults are still around, I'm sure of it."

"So," Maija looked up at the ceiling, feeling a pop as she craned her neck back. "If, say, hypothetically, if I were to agree to work with you, what's the plan here? What are we doing? Step by step."

Luke locked eyes with her, his face still. She could tell he was deciding whether to take her on her word or be skeptical. The way he looked at her told he had chosen to remain unconvinced. "We find Rebus- what's left of it, the Vaults of Uruk- and we get this atlas. Until then, Naisha won't suspect me and once we have it, we can ditch her and leave, we would be long gone before Kaius even knows we're missing."

"Would you bring the atlas back to Cliffside?"

"Of course," Luke responded immediately. "No one should possess it. We'll keep it safe. After that, we can take the rest and you'll be free to leave."

Sounded simple enough. Too bad Maija wouldn't be following it. She hadn't developed the most bulletproof plan just yet, but it didn't include handing pure atlas to either Kaius or Cliffside. She planned on destroying it, but she didn't know how, or when.

"Have any idea what other technology we may run into?" Maija asked, getting everything she could think of out now that she had the chance. "What dangers are we expecting- I'm sure we won't be fighting just mantas."

"Marauders mostly," Luke said. "Raiders. No one of any intelligent value. Most will just be passing by, not knowing what may lay just beneath them. The knowledge, the understanding. And most importantly, a piece of rock about the size of your wingspan, holding enough power to destroy the entire world."

"And if they find out, we'll have yet another enemy against us." Maija couldn't imagine the damage that would be caused if marauders got their hands on Galish technology. People like that, with no moral compass, no conscience, the results would be disastrous.

Luke nodded. Maija just looked at him, then she pulled her feet from the table and sat upright. "Don't read into what I'm about to say. A lot about this is going to change and given my luck, it's going to go south. But I'll work with you for now. At least until Kaius is no longer in the picture."

He sighed one of relief and stood, "Thank you." Luke's voice was genuine but as soon as he was done, he turned and left for the stairs.

Before he started climbing, Luke stopped and turned back to Maija. "Maija, just know this: This world is mine. I will not let it be destroyed, even if it means I have to go through you. I can't."

Then he disappeared above deck. Maija sat in silence, nerves making her heart pound. This was going to be the greatest thing Maija ever did. Her next few decisions could affect the world drastically either positively or negatively. All of her wished she was back on her ship, her ship, hers and Makhai's. Back when nothing mattered. When she didn't matter. But she wasn't there, and she never will be again. The only thing she could do was move forward into whatever fate had been assigned to her.

Maija stepped up the stairs and turned around to the front of the ship. She was met by nothing but brown. A sandwall stretched endlessly upwards in front of her, she craned her neck all the way back just to see the top of the wall. The ship had been anchored right in front of it.

Everyone was gathered around the helm looking up at the wall. Maija found Erik at the back and joined him, standing next to him, making her presence known with a slight squeeze to his wrist and a glance into his eyes. Maija only noticed how tense he looked until he relaxed, his shoulders slouching comfortably and the clench in his jaw easing. He squeezed her hand back hard before letting go entirely.

"So, what are we doing here?" Erik asked, his confidence clearly returning. "Just standing around gawking at the thing?"

Maija smiled. Then his question hit her. What were they doing? "Where's this island? I'm assuming that Uruk needed to be built on something."

Luke spoke up. "It had been built on ground initially but now," he turned to face them, "I wouldn't be surprised if all that rock had corroded away, leaving just the structure."

"How can a building float?" Erik asked but immediately took his words back. "Actually, never mind."

"So?" Maija asked impatiently. "Where is it? On the other side of this wall?"

Luke shook his head, "Not on the other side, but inside."

"What?" Erik stepped up. "An island inside a wall? There's no way, this sandwall would have torn it up. And besides, how would we keep the ship afloat long enough to look around for the thing?"

Luke turned from the wall to face Maija and Erik. Naisha did as well, she had remained silent the whole conversation, two bulky arms crossed over just as thick a chest. She stared at her and Maija fought everything to stop herself from squirming.

"Why don't we wait until midday," Luke suggested, clapping his hands together cheerfully. "Maija you can bring Erik up to speed."

So Maija did just that, explaining everything Luke had indulged her with, focusing on the little details long enough to bore Luke and Naisha of the same redundant information they had probably heard hundreds of times before, leaving just Maija and Erik alone. She finished quickly then, emphasizing the Galish people's advanced technology. Technology that could have the power to push back weather walls.

Once Maija had finished, she was breathless and irritated the sound of her voice. Erik asked a question. "Do you plan on working with Luke? You said he was dangerous."

She shook her head immediately, poking out around the corner of the ship's cabin. For the moment, they were alone. "I don't. He's part of a group called Cliffside. They're working to bring down Kaius just like us."

Erik frowned, "Then why are we fighting him? I mean, believe me, I trust your judgement but still, it doesn't make sense."

"They're just like him Erik," Maija said looked up at him, she had leaned back against the cabin, propping one foot up against it, holding her arms crossed tightly to her chest. "Luke wants to steal this pure atlas from Kaius and bring it back to Cliffside. No one in this world wouldn't take that opportunity to exploit it. Not even them."

Erik kept silent for a few seconds before taking a deep breath in, blowing it out slowly. "What- what makes you think we'll be any different."

"We're not. But I intend to destroy it."

Erik blinked and looked over at her, eyes wide. "What? How?"

"I don't know, maybe throw it in the void," Maija said. She had little to no contact with pure atlas, she only really knew about its existence. But everything she knew about the void told her pure atlas would crumble in the void's pressure just like everything else.

Erik looked away, clearly nervous. She was too but his was different, Maija could feel it radiating off him. His posture, the tone he used when he spoke to her.

"We'll do this," Maija said. "I will not allow anything to happen to us. I'll make sure we do this."

He finally looked back at her, his eyes shimmering and lips taut, "I hope you do. I really hope you do Maija."

They all gathered, once again, in front of the helm, looking up at the wall.

"How the hell are we going to make it through there?" Erik asked. "Mind filling us in on that little detail?"

"Your ship has been reinforced," Luke explained, turning to face them. Naisha turned with him, remaining ever ominous. "We practically took the insides of a jet engine and stuck 'em inside yours. The engines are faster, stronger, and everything's been plated with tungsten, the toughest metal around. Plus, look, no drift. She'll make it through."

"But how are we going to find the island?" Maija took her turn to ask a question. "We'll be flying blind in there."

Naisha finally spoke up. "That's exactly what we'll be doing."

"Are you serious?" Maija said plainly. The stupidity of this whole plan hit Maija so hard she couldn't exclaim strongly enough to convey her thoughts. She didn't even try.

"Yes," Luke answered. "I have faith in this ship, after all, we built it, didn't we? Kaius wouldn't have made it this far without tough ships."

"Well, since it doesn't seem like I have any choice," Maija said. She put one hand on her hip, and the other motioned towards the wall. "Take us in."

"Woah, woah, woah, not so fast," Erik said raising his hands out in front of himself. "We can't just fly in there with no plan, right? What if we run out of fuel? How long do we expect be in there for? There's got to be hundreds of miles worth of sandwall to search through."

Luke pulled a compass from his pocket, made of gold. He flipped the top open revealing a white face with a glowing green hand that pointed deep into the sandwall. "Just follow this."

"What is it?" Maija asked, although she knew it had something to do with atlas. Nothing glowed that brightly green without the help of atlas power.

"A compass of course," Luke said, setting it down on the helm where it snapped magnetically to its top. "One recovered from Galish technology. Only the most prominent of the Gal had one, it always pointed towards deposits of pure atlas which they used in many of their creations. This compass will lead us straight to Uruk."

Luke stepped aside, waving his hand out to the helm. Erik swallowed. "Um, okay."

"Everyone else watch the engines, if one goes down, we need to get to repairing it immediately. Erik, try to keep level as best you can and before we go in, mask up, sand's so thick you'll barely be able to breathe without it." Luke grabbed several strips of cloth from his back pocket and tossed them to Naisha, Erik, and Maija. Maija let hers fall to the ground as she took her own from her pocket and wrapped it tightly around her face.

Once Naisha and Erik had secured their masks, Erik pushed the throttle forward and the ship lurched forwards, powered by engines stronger than those Maija had ever felt before. Within seconds, the ship gained remarkable speed, the wind pulling at Maija's hair and had her swaying on her feet.

The whole ship buckled as it hit the sandwall, immediately dipping downwards. Erik swore and pulled the controls up, the ship counteracting the wall's wind instantly, tossing Maija and everyone else off their feet.

Sand filled Maija's vision and quickly her eyes. She squeezed them shut instinctively as stinging pain jabbed through them. The ship rocked back and forth, hurling Maija left and right. She tripped on her feet and slammed hard against the deck. She yelped, tried to stand before feeling her body weight being pulled towards the front of the ship, it had flipped and was now pointing down to the void.

Maija forced her eyes open, salty tears pooling out of them, catching sand and dust making them solidify in her eyes. She slid forwards, gravity pulling her body along the top of the ship as it soared faster and faster towards the void. She grabbed to Erik's waist who still hung onto the helm, fighting against the wind to pull the ship back up.

She grappled the wall of the cabin above her and stood against the wall, still clinging to Erik's side. "You need to get the ship level!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do!" Erik shouted, his voice muffled by his mask. He roared from the effort as he pulled the controls farther back, leaning down with it. Maija's grip on him faulted and the wind whipped her away, swinging her around on her hook's rope.

Everything was covered in brown. Erik had managed to pull the ship back into a semi horizontal position but by that time, Maija had flown straight off its deck out into open air. She screamed, seeing the ship fade away into the wall's thick dust but it quickly came back into view as her body was flung back towards it.

She braced. Her feet slammed hard against the ship's back hole, dents forming in the bronzish metal. It felt as if cracks had broken through her femur and tibia like glass, but it hadn't. Maija let go of her grappling hook and fell, immediately reconnecting at the top of the ship's cabin. She climbed back aboard, the ship somewhat stable for the moment.

Luke was there, struggling to climb down to the side of the ship. Maija shouted at him.

"The top left engines completely bust!" he yelled back, his words whisked away by the wind just before Maija had the chance to hear them. "Get Erik to favor his right side!"

Great. Now Maija needed to work her away back around to the front of the ship. She jumped forwards, running but falling and stumbling left and right with the movement of the ship as it started to swing to its left as its right engines overpowered the left. Somehow, Maija trudged forwards, fighting now against the wind pushing her back, and grabbed the helm, Erik fighting for his life to keep the ship straight. The compass attached to its front stayed steady, straight forwards.

"Keep going straight!" Maija shouted. She could barely hear herself. Sand was everywhere, filling her ears, stinging her eyes, even managing to fill her mask with dirt. "The left engines are completely down. We're imbalanced!"

"Maija," Erik managed to say calmly, completely conversationally. "I love you but, you're really not helping right now!"

His words would have confused the hell out of Maija if it hadn't been for the roaring sandstorm around her that completely vanished right after Erik had finished speaking.

The wind slowly faded away, the thunderous rumble of the wall receding into the distance again. The sand wisped and twirled around in circles as the ship cut through it and disappeared, revealing a spherical pocket of clear air around an island sitting perfectly in its center. All around was brown wind, up down, left right. There was no sky above and no void below, just their ship and the island miles in front of them.

The compass was steady, pointing at the island with its glowing hand. The island was much like any else but covered in an orange sand that seemed to glow, lit up from a sun invisible. Green palm trees and large stones scattered around the island's surface giving it a life that seemed impossible with nothing but sandwall surrounding it. But the most important detail, the thing standing out instantly over the rest, two buildings sat on opposite sides of a shallow canyon, a wrecked stone bridge linking them together. They were blocky, made from the same white stone every other old-world ruin had been constructed from, a green bronze holding everything together with long and tall metal pillars and thick metal bindings.

In the sky above it and all around its surface, flocks of manta glided through the air, their bodies and leathery skin a pale-yellow color. How could life exist here? It was a wasteland all around, nothing but sand and dust and wind. Nothing got through the wall, and nothing entered from it. Only Maija and her unlikely companions.

Naisha joined Maija, Erik, and Luke in staring at the island in front of them, saying nothing but her mask hanging from her left ear, dust, grease, and oil staining her face and hands. She remained silent as usual.

"Take us down," Luke said quietly, his voice sounding miles away after the noise that boomed from the wall had destroyed Maija's ears.

Erik pushed the throttle, the engines sputtering on, even those on the left side, Naisha apparently having repaired them. The ship sloped downwards just barely, Maija having an urge to anchor herself to the deck with her grappling hook but suppressing it. Moments passed as the island and its huge, monstrous buildings got closer, no one daring to speak as if the vaults themselves would hear them.

Erik pulled back the throttle just in time for the ship to slowly drift over the edge of the island, just a few feet from the sandy ground. Maija pulled the mask from her face and breathed. The air was stiff, unmoving despite the raging wall that covered every area of the sky. Each of her senses contradicted the next. The island was lit with a hot light, warming the air Maija breathed, but the sky was dark. Life bloomed along the open land that formed the island, miles of open air around it but the smell that filled her nose was stagnant and musty- old and decayed as if it had been sealed off from the world for centuries. A buried tomb, because really, that was exactly what it was.

"Alright people," Luke said in his new, too hyped, unnatural tone of voice. "Let's get out there and find this atlas. We don't have much more time."

"We were given a whole week," Erik mumbled to himself. "We've only used one day."

"It's always good to be early," Luke said, overhearing him. "Wouldn't want to keep the boss waiting."

He hopped off the ship, landing in the sand. Naisha silently followed him, leaving Maija and Erik behind. Maija gripped to one of her bow's limbs, looking for the comfort its presence provided. She didn't find much.

"Are you ready?" Erik asked, adjusting his own weapons, preparing for anything.

Maija nodded, then they both followed Luke off the ship and into the Vaults of Uruk.