The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the bright full moon. Wispy clouds passed over it, but did not weaken its strong light.
The next thing that struck her was how clear the view was. There were no bars blocking the way. What had happened to the linking cage that Atrus had built?
She didn't wonder long. All around her was the rubble and remains of what had once been the barred linking chamber. Well, now she knew where the explosion had come from.
She felt a rush of wind as Trace appeared beside her. "What the…?"
"Yeah that's what I thought too."
Trace looked about him at the rubble and what remained of the bars. "So Sirrus was the one responsible for the explosion. We can assume he is not here."
Melody nodded. "It's kind of a surprise. I mean, explosions seem more like Achenar's style. Sirrus is more quiet about things and more dangerous because of it."
"Confinement can change a man."
"And in Sirrus' case, I can't believe it was for the better."
A glass case inside what was left of the cage held a linking book to Tomahna, but far enough away so that when the cage was intact you couldn't reach it. There was a bench and also a kind of drop box to transfer things from one side of the cage to the other. Melody saw a lever on the wall and pulled it. A low horn echoed.
"This must be how Atrus and Catherine called Sirrus when they came to visit him," Melody noted.
"And if he is here after all, you have just alerted him to our presence."
Melody glared at him. "Don't start with me."
A locked book sat on the bench on the other side of the bars, where Sirrus likely sat during visits with his parents. The necklace glowed at Melody picked it up.
Yeesha's voice. "Dad told me you never wanted to learn D'ni when you were little. That's why he never taught you."
Another voice, a man's, responded. "I guess I didn't back then. I was having too much fun learning other stuff. I was… pretty stupid back then."
The sound of the drop box being turned came along with Yeesha's voice. "Here. Maybe you should try learning now, with me."
"Really?" Sirrus' stunned voice asked. "You'll teach me D'ni?"
"Why not?" Yeesha asked, all innocence. "Somebody should."
"Oh Yeesha," Melody murmured as the memory faded.
"What is it?" Trace asked. "What did you hear?"
"She was trying to teach him the Art. She wanted so badly to have something to share with him that she was going to teach him the Art as Atrus taught her. She didn't understand. Poor Yeesha."
Trace examined the book. "It's locked. I wonder if he locked it, or if she never got around to teaching him D'ni."
"I guess we'll find out."
The staircase outside the linking chamber led downward. It was so narrow that they had to go one at a time, Trace taking the lead just in case Sirrus had returned. They passed an elevator shaft on the way down, but the elevator itself was missing. Trace tried pushing the button next to it, but nothing happened.
"It seems like there's no power."
Melody rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
After descending a few more flights, they reached a landing. Across the way, Melody saw the life-size crystal carving of Atrus, Catherine and Sirrus and Achenar that she had seen in the viewer. As she approached it, the necklace glowed.
The sound of carving and Sirrus talking to himself. "Come on! You must have seen it a million times growing up. What was it like?! Father was writing. Mother was… left of him. Who had the boat? I had the boat? Yes… Yes, I had the boat."
Trace waited for her to turn to him. "Sirrus, talking about carving this."
"Did you hear a reason?"
Melody shook her head. "Maybe if we can find a journal or something we'll find out the reason."
To the right of the carving was a small alcove with the remains of a fire and a few old sheets. The necklace glowed once again as Melody approached. This time, she could actually see Sirrus.
He was huddled next to a fire that was barely burning. He shivered until the thin layer of protection the old sheets provided.
"I thought I was the only devious one in our family," he said, through gritted teeth. "but this… oh this is classic. No book father? No linking book home?!"
As the memory faded, Melody actually felt a twinge of sorrow for Sirrus. He'd looked like he'd been about to cry. This Age was a very harsh climate to be in all by yourself with no shelter and no way home. That didn't excuse everything he'd done, but still…
"What was it?" Trace asked.
Melody described what she had seen. "It must have been very hard for him."
Trace glared. "Hard? With everything he did, he deserved much worse."
Melody stared at Trace evenly, holding her ground. "He's still a human being Trace. There's only so much the human mind can take. Atrus said something about Sirrus harnessing electricity. This memory must have been from when he first arrived here after the trap books were burned. Let's explore some more and see what Sirrus was able to accomplish in ten years."
To the right of the fire was a corridor in the rock that led to another elevator shaft, but it also didn't work. The archways looked too smooth to be natural. Trace remarked on this.
"Even if there were no people here when Sirrus was trapped, there had to have been people here before that to have built all of these archways and ruins."
Melody nodded. "I wonder if that's why Atrus made it into a trap Age, because it is so harsh that it would be a struggle for anyone to survive. But then again, Atrus isn't cruel. There must be a food and water source here somewhere and shelter for Sirrus to survive as long as he has."
As the elevators were not working, they realized they would have to find another way down. Not too far away from the sculpture was a large crystal cylinder leading downward. It reminded Melody of the ice slides from the movie Ice Age. She looked up at Trace and grinned.
He frowned at her. "No."
"It could lead down to the lower level."
"And it could be our way to death in the fire-y planet below."
"I hear negative." Melody said and stepped toward it. The necklace glowed. She heard Sirrus' voice.
"Double passed… through the second loop… strong knot. Let's just hope the linking book is down there."
"Sirrus went down there," she told Trace as the memory faded.
"Oh well in that case it's perfectly safe."
She eyed him. "Now I am detecting sarcasm."
"Nothing gets passed you."
Melody snorted and turned away from him, throwing a leg over the rim of the slide. Trace grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Your actions are not inspiring confidence in your sanity."
"Alright Atrus," Melody said pointedly. "I'm going down there whether you like it or not. You're not the boss of me."
"How have you managed to stay alive this long?"
"Just lucky I guess," she answered. "You forget Trace that I have been through situations like this before : stranded on a deserted Age, chasing after the bad guy, not knowing what lay ahead. Exploring has always worked out for me. I realize this is a hard concept for you, but you're just going to have to start trusting me."
He opened his mouth, then recalled Catherine's words. It is in her nature to give to others, even at great cost to herself. It was true, Melody never did think of herself when it came to the safety of someone she loved.
It wasn't easy, but he forced the words out. "Lead the way."
He expected her to grin triumphantly or make some cutting remark about his attitude, but she surprised him. She reached down, took his hand and said. "Thank you."
He stared at her until she swung her other leg over and disappeared down the chute.
It was a long ride and not a pleasant one. Ridges and cracks in the chute caused her skirt to ride up to her knees and microscopic sharp pieces of crystal to cut her legs. By the time she reached the bottom of the chute, her legs were bruised and bleeding slightly. It served her right for not borrowing a pair of Atrus' pants before coming to Spire.
She heard the sound of Trace coming after her and moved so he wouldn't smack into her. His hands had been cut a few times on the pieces of crystal as he'd tried to slow his descent.
"Are you alright?" he asked when he noticed her studying the cuts on her legs.
"Fine," she answered dismissively. "Just scratches. Where are we?"
Rock pillars held up the upper level that had come from. Through the large gaps between the pillars, they could see a cloud bank above them and many floating chucks of rock. Large, mechanical structures with green crystals atop them floated in a line leading away from a platform to another rock tower in the distance.
Trace and Melody looked at each other. "I save all weird things and buttons until after I explore everything," she told him.
He nodded in agreement and they continued on. Below the floating machines was another cloud layer with more floating rocks. They reminded Melody of Voltaic and Amateria. Sirrus must have figured out a way to manipulate the magnetic properties of the rocks. To what end was the question. Ten years was a long time and with someone that had Atrus' brains there was no telling what Sirrus had
managed to do.
They went to inspect the platform in front of the floating machines. A mechanical device was built into the rock beside the platform with a cable leading to a console, but it had no power.
Trace frowned at this, frustrated at finding so many things without power.
"Yeah you get used to it," Melody informed him.
As she stepped close to the edge of the platform to get a closer look at the floating mechanical devices, the necklace glowed and she heard Sirrus' voice once again.
"Yes! I knew it would work! I knew there was enough static electricity in the air to be gathered by my conductors! Now to stop wasting it in a useless display of light and actually channel it somewhere."
"They're conductors," she informed Trace. "Sirrus was using them to gather static electricity from the clouds and channel it."
Trace shook his head. "He really did inherit his father's brain didn't he? Too bad he didn't inherit his personality too."
A circuit board nearby caused the necklace to glow again.
"Looks like those circuit lessons you drilled into me in Voltaic is finally paying off father. Of course, figuring out how to complete this electrical network was ten times more difficult, seeing how I had to build everything from scratch."
"Did he spend his entire imprisonment talking to himself?" Trace asked when she relayed what she had heard.
Melody shrugged. "There was no one here. He talked out loud to himself to fill in the silence. I've done it before, when I had to search and explore the Ages by myself," she turned and smiled at him. "Which is why I'm glad you're with me this time. It will be less lonely."
He smiled back, but his eyes were serious.
She laughed. "You know Trace, it isn't really a smile if it doesn't encompass your whole face."
"I'll work on that."
Since the circuit board had no power, they ignored it for the moment. As she passed the console, the necklace glowed again.
"Okay, no slip-ups this time. I really do not want to lose another ship. Garden magnet is on. Docking station conductors are charged and ready. Here goes…"
Melody frowned thoughtfully, then studied the floating conductors. "Sirrus was building some kind of ship."
"A ship?" Trace asked doubtfully.
Melody nodded. "I think he figured out a way to reach the other rock tower. If we can find his journal, we'll find out if he made it."
"What makes you think he kept a journal all these years?"
"He's Atrus' son. He kept a journal," she insisted.
Trace arched an eyebrow, then turned to the console. To their surprise, unlike everything else in the Age, the console had power. It seemed to be a kind of conduit for the conductors. It sorted out the static electricity they collected and distributed it to certain things. After forbidding Melody to touch it, Trace set to work on getting all the indicator lights on the console lit.
When he'd gotten several lit, Melody looked up to see something lowering to their level but it stopped before she could tell what it was. Looking underneath it, she realized something.
"Whatever is up there is being held in the air by this magnet," she observed, pointing. "The console is connected to the magnet and is giving it too much power. That's why nothing else works. There must be another console on the floor above us that controls the upper magnet. If we can get to it and reset it, we'll lower that thing where it needs to be and we'll get power to the rest of the Age."
"Once again, how are you so sure?"
"It's called experience Trace and like it or not I have more than you when it comes to exploring Ages."
"I think you're wrong this time. I don't think there is another console. Why would Sirrus need another? Building this one must have been hard enough."
"It's never that easy," she told him.
"Just sit down and let me work on this some more. If I'm wrong, we do things your way."
"Fine, have at it. I'll look for…"
"No," he told her firmly. "You're not going anywhere in this Age alone."
Melody folded her arms. "If you think I'm going to sit like a weak little woman and wait for the big strong man to finish..."
"You've never been weak," he interrupted her. "We don't know if Sirrus is really gone or if he's still here in hiding. He has proven in the past to be very dangerous."
"I've confronted madmen by myself before," she pointed out.
"Don't remind me," he said sternly. "I can't concentrate on this if I have to worry about you."
"You don't have to worry about me," Melody snapped. "I never asked you to."
"No, you didn't," he said, giving her a look that made her pause. "But I do. So sit down, shut up and let me work."
Melody stuck her tongue out at him, but she sat. It was no use arguing with him. The man was as stubborn as a mule. It was a very annoying personality trait.
Haha, I'm pretty sure Melody has met her match in Trace. Don't you agree?
More adventures in Spire coming soon.