Ch 4
The four people stood around another table, studying the device once again. Vera examined it carefully for damages while Darleena demanded to see the data crystal for it. After a moment of hesitation, Caleb brought it forth and set it down on the table beside the ancient reader. The dwarf looked taken aback at it.
"Aye, that's a big one! Where would ye be findin' a crystal that size?" she declared, eyes turning so large and round the doll swore they would fall out of her head. Wren and Caleb looked at each other, then swallowed.
"Uh... Moria..." Caleb answered cautiously. Darleena looked stunned, then seemed to grant them more respect as she took another look at the crystal.
"Aye... So this is the Moria Gallery. I thought it'd been lost so many millennia ago." she murmured, "I thank ye for bringing it to the light."
"You knew about this?" Wren asked in suspicion.
"Every dwarf who can hold a hammer in his hand as a babe knows about the Moria Gallery, boy!" Darleena lectured, "It's the single greatest treasure the dwarves have! Our entire history and culture, as well as all our lost arts, are contained in that crystal!"
"That's great, but we need to read it!" Caleb exclaimed, "I'm on a quest to gather the world's knowledge and I must read everything in that crystal to save it!"
"And I need to get some dwarven recipes to help the Wonder Organization stand up against the Dark Chef Alliance!" Wren blurted out alongside him. Darleena lit up.
"Ha ha! That explains it! Ye be the current Wonder Chef, eh, boy?" she laughed knowingly, "I shoulda known by the Wonder Fork on yer back. I'm glad to see that it's survived these hellish times before the Heroes of Union set things right. A dwarf crafted that, y'know. Fine piece of work... for a fork."
"It's been damaged and needs new parts." Vera suddenly said, drawing attention back to her and the reader. "I can design the missing components and where to repair the damaged ones. Also, this unit is capable of reading and writing to an artificial attendant unit."
"Which is what?" Wren asked blankly.
"It is an automated doll capable of interacting with the data crystal at its basest level. The designs were used by the dwarves in Cruxis to try building vessels for the Goddess Martel." the half-elf explained.
"I've got that covered. I'm an automated doll built by Altessa. I can try to connect to it and download its information." Caleb told them brightly.
"There be no need for that. Ye won't be able to hold all the information held in that crystal." Darleena pointed out, "Even if yer the doll built to use magic, as the rumors in Exire go, ye don't have the capacity to hold everything." She turned to her companion. "Design the components, Vera. I'll craft the parts to fix the data crystal reader."
"I'll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me." Wren remarked, getting up from the table, "This is something that is far beyond me."
Long into the hours of the night, the half-elf, the dwarf, and the automatic doll worked together to repair and rebuild the reader/writer device. Wren cooked up several recipes, trying to decipher what it was that was wrong with how he cooked. Pepper happily became his guinea pig and wolfed down every plateful of food brought to her. Unfortunately, she could not quite understand what Wren wanted from her as he watched her intensely, so she would sit up and nuzzle him with every ounce of affection she had, often to the point of flinging him across the room.
The time dragged on as metals were forged into conduits and wire for console boards, designs to improve the device were drawn up, and Caleb tested each new configuration of hardware and software until, just as dawn approached, they were finished.
"Aye. Now, plug in the crystal and see what it does." Darleena murmured tiredly. Pepper sat near them in vague interest as Caleb set the crystal into the space beside the screen and turned a dial that shone a light into the gem. A projector flickered to life just on the other side of the blank screen, and the image of an old dwarf with a pipe in his mouth appeared.
"This is th' core AI of th' Moria Gallery. Whaddya want?" it demanded to know in a gruff tone. Caleb blinked at it in shock. "Eh, I haven't got all friggin' day, y'know! Make yer choice or git on wit' ya!"
"Place your palm on that panel there and open your mind to the artificial intelligence in the crystal." Vera whispered to Caleb. He nodded and did as told, closing his eyes as the AI ran a quick check on him.
"It's been a while since I had an attendant access this level of my core AI." a soft voice seemed to echo into Caleb's mind.
"Who are you?" Caleb questioned in the same space.
"Let me run a brief scan on you for security." the voice went on and was silent. "Hmm. You seem safe enough. You have a lot of data in cold storage, most of it is redundant though. Did you wish to write this data to the Moria Gallery storage system or delete it?"
"I don't really know, I just want a way to store Sybak's library of information." Caleb answered vaguely.
"Oh. Well, then I will write the data and clear your system so you may carry additional information." the voice went on. After a few minutes, the voice returned. "The data has been stored and you are cleared for duty. Is there anything else?"
"Um, can you bring up how to find or make more data crystals?" Caleb asked.
"All right. It's on display for the other living beings. Anything else?"
"How about dwarven recipes? Can I download your library of dwarven recipes into my memory?"
"Ah, you don't have the capacity for that. I can give you the recipe for Dwarven Pot-Luck Surprise and that's about it." the voice reported, "I suggest getting another data crystal so I can copy the data over for you." Caleb thanked the second AI and retreated from the strange conversation, returning to reality just in time to see the female dwarf yank on the end of Wren's cape and pull him down into his seat.
"Git down and stop threatenin' the hologram! It can't do a damn thing to ye!" Darleena scolded.
"What's going on?" Caleb asked Vera in confusion. The half-elf seemed to force a smile and a nervous chuckle.
"Difference of opinion." she explained briefly and returned to studying the screen, writing down information, "This is some very useful information you found, Caleb. Data crystals are just mana crystals that have been processed differently. If we can mine for the mana crystals, then we can have as much storage space as we could ever need!"
"There be th' data ye bothered me search engine's AI fer!" the holographic dwarf grumbled, "That all ye be wantin' or have ye not had enough fun disturbin' an old man's peace?"
"Agh! This thing is such a jerk! Can't we change it to something more helpful with less backtalk?" Wren snapped at it.
"Ye could if ye weren't a cook, Chef-Boy!"
"I could just dump hot soup all over your circuits! Let's see you survive that, you... you...!" Wren shook his hands angrily at the projected dwarf, slipping into a strange muttering of words that no one understood.
"Wren, leave the AI alone. And knock that off; it's playing havoc with my language modules." Caleb reprimanded in annoyance and turned to the hologram himself, "So, do you really have a library of dwarven recipes or not?"
"'Course we do! But I ain't displaying it all right now! It'd take th' living beings a fortnight to read it all straight!" the dwarf answered gruffly, "Git another crystal and I'll git ye the recipes!"
"Finally! Something that I actually want from this old piece of junk!" the chef declared, "Let's get another data crystal and copy that library over! I have to keep my position as Wonder Chef!"
"It'll take time to make another data crystal. We don't really have any of the basic mana crystals needed to create one." Vera told him with a sigh. Caleb looked back at Pepper, who was laughing at the antics she saw before her.
"Pepper is a mana beast, she can make mana crystals if she needs to when mine break or crack. I can ask her to make a small one. How big does a data crystal have to be to hold the library of recipes?" he asked.
"Th' size a yer fist will do fer transport of data." the hologram answered. Caleb smiled and turned to the mana beast.
"Hear that, Pepper? Can you make a mana crystal this big?" he asked and showed her his fist, "Just like that. We need it to help Wren." Pepper sat up and sniffed at his hand, then smiled back with a clack. "Okay, she'll get on it."
"How's the integrity on the data in the Moria Gallery?" Darleena questioned the holographic dwarf.
"All clear and good. I'm no slacker!" the dwarf answered and Wren jumped up again.
"If that's an underhanded attempt to insult me, then knock it off! I'm onto you!" he yelled as the dwarf seemed to grin behind its huge bushy beard. "Make yourself useful and tell me what you've got about this thing!" Wren pulled out the Wonder Fork and showed it to the hologram.
"What thing? Are ye mad? Do I look like I 'ave eyes?" the hologram snapped as a small device whirred to life beneath its projector and blinked open like a small mechanical eye. A beam of light shot out and traced the outline of the Wonder Fork in Wren's hand, drawing through it as if it wasn't there to make a perfect tracing of the utensil. "Okay, so mebbe I do 'ave one eye, but that be no excuse for whipping yer tools out in front of me, boy!" the dwarf grumbled sourly.
"I can't believe we're using the vast knowledge and data of the Moria Gallery to find out something about a giant fork." Vera muttered in exasperation, her hand resting against her cheek as she rolled her eyes heavenward, "I never knew how strange the world could be once it was reunited."
"Aye, but tis a special giant fork, lass." Darleena agreed, "And a very strange world indeed."
The eye on the device finished its scan of the fork and popped back out of view as the screen cleared itself and projected new data. The hologram cleared its throat gruffly.
"There! That be th' data concernin' the Wonder Fork, from its first designs down to th' forgin' process used to make th' damned thing!" he announced. Caleb leaned forward to study the screen and blinked.
"That's a lot of work that went into it." he commented. Wren looked exasperated, shaking his head.
"Well? What does it say? It's dwarven-crafted, so those notes should tell us about the limits of the Wonder Fork!" he exclaimed.
"Calm down, laddie, unless you be wantin' a heart attack here and now." Darleena warned, "You named a successor in case something like that happened, eh?"
"Not officially, no." Wren muttered, "Though a majority of the Wonder Organization is crossing its fingers that Regal will take over for me if I louse this up."
"I'm about to read the data. Please listen." Caleb announced and studied the screen carefully, "'Designed and forged by the dwarven hero, Morius Alterra, for his friend, the human hero known as Eru Tanreht, Wonder Chef. The Wonder Fork is the product of the revolutionary new system of combining the steadfast, lasting art of dwarven craftsmanship with the versatility and power of half-elven magitechnology.'"
"Magitechnology went into that?" Vera murmured in disbelief, staring over at the fork that Wren had placed on the table for further inspection.
"'The metal used in its forging is dark aionite, mined from the thirtieth level of a long-forgotten cave system, and is capable of aiding in the magitechnology's Dual Crystal System within the handle of the Wonder Fork. Protected by the wood of the Kharlan Tree, the two crystals work in concert to provide the safety and transportation the Wonder Chef may need in future ventures.'" Caleb went on, "'The Dual Crystal System was developed to power the Wonder Fork's many abilities. The first crystal is a mana crystal carved with four sides and fitted into the primary slot of the interior handle. The second crystal is a newly discovered amplifier stone from the mine connected to the dark aionite mines, placed in conjunction with the mana crystal to increase the natural powers of the metal.'"
"That sounds awfully familiar." Darleena grumbled.
"'The amplifier draws its power from the mana crystal, which in turn is recharged by drawing additional mana from the environment the Wonder Chef is currently residing in, thus ensuring a near limitless source of power for the Wonder Fork. As the primary crystal is based on the mana of fire and earth, the tool contains a single spell that was developed by the half-elven heroine, Kartha Leonaris, who aided Eru and Morius in their battle against the Bane of Abundance with her spells of flame and healing. Incineration's power is far too great to be used more often than necessary, thus the charms engraved upon the interior of the Wonder Fork prohibits its usability unless all other options of escape or combat has been rendered unavailable.'"
"Who is Kartha?" Wren murmured, brows furrowed in confusion, "And why is she in the legend of the battle against the Famine Lord? Is that a different variation of the story?"
"'By attracting and repelling magic and mana, the Wonder Fork can pull its wielder and others through spaces and long distances. It also grants the utensil the ability to cloak the Wonder Chef using illusions built by mana surrounding the chef in any location, or mana stored within the crystal itself. This allows the Wonder Chef to disguise himself in the open should a need arise for him to go into hiding.
"The secondary stone's unique ability to grant unusual new powers has been controlled and modified by use of specifically engraved charms to convert the Wonder Chef and any companions into mana dust that is then carried to predetermined locations by the attraction of the Wonder Fork to another point of mana as known by the wielder's memory. By this charm set, the stone is also able to make contact with the wielder's mental state, thus channeling and enhancing the natural strength and skills of the Wonder Chef. Only those with the skill level of the Wonder Chef class may make the contact with the Dual Crystal System.
"Plans to build additional Wonder Forks for use by the Royal Order of Master Chefs' Wonder Chef class cooks are currently being negotiated by Eru, Morius, and Kartha in conjunction with the commands of His Highness, King Tethe'alla II...'" Caleb finished and shook his head, "The rest of it explains in detail how to build a Wonder Fork and where to find dark aionite and the stones for the Dual Crystal System. I'm pretty sure no one's gonna sit through all that..."
"That's an Exsphere! The amplifier stone is an Exsphere!" Vera suddenly cried, backing away from the fork in a hurry. Wren looked more confused as Darleena glared at the tool and Caleb jumped up upon realizing what he just read. "There's an Exsphere inside that thing!"
"An Exsphere? Inside the Wonder Fork?" Wren exclaimed and shook his head, "This is too much for me! First I learn the Wonder Fork is a product of magitechnology, then it's running off of mana crystals and Exspheres, then that the story I've always known since I was a child completely omits a third hero... I can't take it!"
"But this explains so much about the Wonder Fork! Why it is that DuGorge could use it and I couldn't, why it can use Incineration and how you can use those disguises and teleport using it, and even what the limits of its power are!" Caleb told him, alternately fascinated and repulsed by the new-found knowledge he had acquired about the fork.
"I heard!" Wren yelled angrily, "Then let DuGorge take the stupid thing! I don't care! I'm not using anything that is part of this lie I'm living! The Wonder Chef is supposed to be the figure of culinary salvation, not another slave to the power of some stupid soul-sucking rock!" He turned and fled the room. Caleb started after him, but found himself held back by the coattails of his jacket. Darleena had a tight grip on the cloth and shook her head.
"Leave him be for a bit, son. He's had quite a shock." the dwarf told him softly, "Anyone who realizes that the very symbol of their livelihood, the symbol that represents their desire to preserve the world, is being powered by the very thing that destroyed more lives than were saved is bound to need time to think long and hard about who and what they really are." Caleb looked as if he was about to counter that, then sighed and sat back down.
"I guess so. But that doesn't stop me from worrying about him." he muttered, "He's still just a kid, not much older than Lloyd was three years ago."
"Here's something to consider. If the data on the Wonder Fork is accurate..." Vera began.
"Tis accurate, Vera! The dwarves are known for their accuracy!" Darleena sputtered in irritation.
"...then the Wonder Fork's Exsphere has been used for nearly seven thousand years, and exposed to a steady supply of mana for that long as well." Vera went on as if she never heard her companion's words, "It takes only a few years of constantly drawing mana from a living body for an Exsphere to become a Cruxis Crystal. Therefore, the Exsphere in the Wonder Fork must be a Cruxis Crystal now, and has been since even before Mithos was born!"
"Then it's not really a Cruxis Crystal. Those are made under the eyes and power of Cruxis. The Crystal in the Wonder Fork was created under the power of the Royal Order of Master Chefs, but mainly under the power of Eru, the very first Wonder Chef." Caleb argued, "This isn't a Cruxis Crystal; it's an Eru Crystal." He looked glum. "But the both of you are right; poor Wren. I can't imagine what he's going through right now."
Pepper trotted past the cooing girls vying for her attention and made her way to the outside of the Renegade base. She sniffed around for a bit and wandered around the dome. After a few minutes of poking around with her nose and her psychic senses, Pepper came upon the blonde chef as he sat on a piece of sandstone, staring out at the desert. She whistled softly to catch his attention as she walked up and sat down beside him. He only glanced aside at her, glum expression unchanged.
"Hey, Pepper." Wren murmured, "Ah, I'm not in the mood to play." The mana beast shook herself off and cocked her head, still looking at him. The chef gave her a wary look. "You're not going to try to probe me, are you?" he muttered. Pepper shook her head. "Thanks."
The two were silent for a while. The mana beast looked up at the stars that were beginning to fade with the coming of dawn. Wren glanced at her again, then followed her gaze up, blinking at sky.
"Pepper, what's it like to travel the world with Caleb and know that not only are you truly free of all ties to anyone, but that what you are doing is really saving the world? That you are completely and totally pure in your actions and even in your abilities and tools?" he finally asked. Pepper whistled in a low tone, projecting to the chef an image of himself wrapped in the downy white feathers that were often associated with angels. "Thanks, but I don't think that works out. I'm using an Exsphere; something that only works if it takes a human life first."
Pepper whistled again as she thought about that, then cocked her head as she brought up the image of the Wonder Fork.
"Yes, that... thing." Wren muttered with a sigh. "I'm starting to wonder if I'm really doing any good for anyone by being the Wonder Chef. Is this what it was like for the Heroes of Union? Is this what it means to doubt oneself?"
Pepper pawed at him and projected the image of a small cauldron filled with fruits and vegetables. Wren couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head at her antics.
"You really want me to cook something up for you, huh?" he murmured, "Well, you can't really complain about my cooking, so I guess I will." He stood and began to follow the now happy Pepper back into the base. After a moment, Wren paused and looked back at the rising sun, worried, "But can I really keep calling myself the Wonder Chef, now that I know what it is I hold in my hands...?"
Vera and Darleena were already asleep in rooms of their own when Wren returned to the lab. Pepper finished her snack of fruit cocktail and went off to lap up the attention of the half dozen or so women that cooed over her cute appearance. Caleb sat alone at the table, surrounded by the remains of several tools and pieces of material. The doll himself had his eyes closed, one hand on the flat panel just below the keyboard. Wren studied the forgotten items on the table, then noticed that some of the pieces were the scraps of red cloth that had been bandaging Caleb's acid-burned hands.
"He must have gotten them repaired." he murmured and looked for the fork. It was leaning against the wall near the automatic doll. He reached out and collected it, trying not to gag at the idea of an Exsphere holding some poor person's soul inside the handle.
"It's not what you think." Caleb's voice suddenly called out. Wren jumped and spun around, startled. The doll stood behind him, a small data crystal in his hand and a saddened expression on his face. "It's not like that at all. Exspheres drain the mana from a living being out of loneliness, and in draining that mana, it also pulls that person's soul to it and awakens its power. The Exsphere in the Wonder Fork has been pulling mana from the mana crystal for seven millennia. There is no soul in that stone, only the raw power of the mana it has collected over those many thousands of years."
"So no one died to make the Exsphere that runs this?" Wren asked hopefully. Caleb nodded his affirmation. "But I still feel like it's not enough to justify my using an Exsphere."
"Then think of it this way. Exspheres become Cruxis Crystals by evolving when they've collected enough mana. After seven thousand years of sapping mana from the crystal, the Exsphere in the Wonder Fork has evolved." Caleb offered, "But it's not a Cruxis Crystal. Cruxis had nothing to do with it. And it's not a Wonder Crystal or some other nonsense; the Wonder Organization didn't exist at the time the Wonder Fork was forged. It's an Eru Crystal."
"Eru Crystal?"
"I named it that because it was Eru, the First Wonder Chef, who used his own innate strength to make the Wonder Fork the symbol of the future Wonder Organization." Caleb went on and smiled, "In fact, I believe that, no matter what you think or say, the Wonder Fork itself was never the symbol of the Wonder Organization. It is the one who wields it, the Wonder Chef, that is the true power behind it. Your strength, your skill, your love for what you do, that's what makes the Wonder Fork powerful; that's what protects those in the culinary world." Wren blinked at him, then looked down at the fork again.
"And if I no longer have that strength? That skill?" he murmured softly, "What then?"
"As long as you have the love for cooking, that is all the power you will ever need." the doll told him and held out the data crystal, "Here. This is a copy of all the dwarven recipes I found in the Moria Gallery. Take it back to the Wonder Organization. Be the Wonder Chef even as you are Wren or Adam Voraci. As long as you know who and what you are, and possess that love for cooking, you will forever be Wonder Chef to those who see that love in you."
"It's when you say things like that that I wonder if maybe you are reading my soul the way Pepper reads my mind." Wren muttered as he took the crystal, "But thanks... I needed something like that to help me figure out what to do next. I'll take it back to headquarters but what are you gonna do?" Caleb grinned.
"What else? This time I'm going with you! I told you that once I had the Moria Gallery accessible I was going to absorb the data from the Wonder Organization's archive!" the doll told him brightly.
"What about the Moria Gallery? Are you going to leave that here? What about keeping it safe?" Wren asked in confusion. Caleb waved the questions away.
"Darleena and Vera will be taking it back to Exire with them when they wake up. Yuan knows where Dirk and Altessa are in their own journey, and the crystal and reader will be of more use to them now than to me. Also, once you upload the recipes from that crystal to the Wonder Archive, I'm gonna need it back." he answered, "The girls made a smaller version of the reader/writer device for me to have, and that data crystal can hold a lot of information. I can use it to store extra data when I find it."
"All right. Let's find Pepper and go to the Wonder Organization. Let's go to the secret headquarters where I've lived all my life." Wren sighed and looked at the crystal. "I hope I pass the test this time."