Foreword:
If chapter 8 was the 'Star Trek' chapter, then chapter 12 is the 'Indiana Jones' chapter. :P Despite the fact that it contains some very important development, to me this chapter feels a bit random and disjointed from the rest of the story. *-* Hopefully it's just in my head... But whatever the verdict, I get props for trying, because this chapter was tough to write, and probably required more research than any of the chapters before it. DX Enjoy! :)
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
— Matthew 7:7
« ... »
Kaden sat pretzel-legged on the nose of his ship, thumping his tail rhythmically against the metal and trying his best to ignore the unreadable glances that flitted his way. Despite his thrill-loving nature, he had never been particularly impatient. Even so, it was difficult to sit still and wait when you knew you were being looked at. Kaden almost longed for the days when he blended right into a crowd and only his reckless teenage antics would cause him to be noticed.
Finally he saw the person he was waiting for rushing towards him from across the huge shipyard. He waved back, smiling excitedly and hopping to the ground. The man arrived out of breath, like he'd run all the way here from across the entire Center. He was a husky Markazian with a head of thick brown hair and a matching beard, and stood nearly a head taller than Kaden. He was wearing traditional safari garb as well as a huge backpack, its contents practically spilling out of the various rips and pockets that were visible. Kaden smiled at the sight of him, reminded of himself in a different profession.
"You must be my guide," he observed.
"Yes, sir!" the Markazian affirmed with a nod, gripping at the shoulder straps of his heavy load. "Guide, explorer, and historical collector, at your service!"
"Relax," Kaden chuckled. "There's no need to be so formal."
"My apologies—I'm just a little nervous... It's such an honor to be working with the Keeper of the Dimensionator."
Kaden gave an awkward smile. Even after six months living on Fastoon with his impressive new title, he still wasn't used to the celebrity status.
"Well," he muttered, "it's an honor to be held in such high regard, Mister—?"
"Apogee," the Markazian stated. "Max Apogee... but you can call me Max."
"All right then, Max, you can call me Kaden. I assume you already read my briefing about this trip?"
"Yes, sir! You're intrigued by the history of the Fongoids, so you want to explore some of the ruins on Planet Quantos to see if you can figure out—"
"You don't have to recite the briefing, Max."
"Yes, sir... sorry."
"It's Kaden."
"Yes, sir... I mean—"
Kaden rolled his eyes and said with a chuckle, "Let's get going, shall we?"
"Right."
Kaden knocked on Aphelion's wing and her hatch popped open. Then he climbed into the pilot's seat and glanced over at his partner. Max looked a little surprised, but held his tongue and took his seat beside Kaden, who promptly pushed a few buttons, saying, "All right, Feel... you know the course."
"Affirmative," the ship responded. "Preparing for takeoff."
The hatch closed and seconds later the ship was airborne. As they left the Center behind and approached orbit, Max turned to Kaden and said, "I've never heard of a ship that could interact with its pilot like that."
"That's 'cause she's one-of-a-kind," Kaden replied proudly. "Aphelion is of a common series, but I designed and installed her AI myself."
Max whistled. "So, she's completely sentient, then?"
"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here," the ship pouted.
Kaden laughed and muttered, "That answer your question?"
"Incredible!" Max marveled.
"Yup," he said, affectionately patting the console in front of him, "she's my little girl."
"Yeah, I have one of my own—not a ship, I mean! An actual little girl—not that there's anything wrong with being a ship, Aphelion!"
Kaden chuckled at Max's awkwardness, but was glad that he'd managed to steer the conversation in a more personal direction. He didn't want to be the superior on this venture—even though he technically was the one in charge. He wanted this Apogee fellow to feel relaxed in his presence. To think of him as a colleague, or even a friend.
"Oh, really?" he interjected before his ship could comment. "How old is she?"
"Who? My daughter?"
Kaden nodded.
"Three months this week. I can already tell she's going to take after her mother, though." He cringed when he said that, like he was worried.
Kaden smirked and said, "Is that a problem?"
"No, not a problem," Max replied uncertainly. "My wife is just very... independent."
Kaden found that ironic. After observing Max's timid, awkward nature, it was almost comical to imagine he was married to a headstrong woman. It made him think of another seemingly mismatched marriage he knew of.
"I guess it's true that opposites attract," he muttered with a shrug.
"You sound like you're speaking from your own experience."
"Well... let's just say I married my opposite, too... I only hope that if we have children they take after their mother, because I doubt they'll live very long if they take after me."
"You're still around," Max offered in jest, at last completely relaxed and unreserved.
Kaden laughed and joked back, "Yeah, but it's not too late for me to die young."
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When they arrived on Quantos, Kaden was immediately struck by the vast difference in environment from what he was used to. Lumos was a desert planet, and even Fastoon had a fairly dry overall climate, but Quantos was like one big jungle. There was water, and all manner of colorful foliage every way he turned. He hadn't seen so much green since since the Gelatonium incident that happened in his workshop when he was thirteen years old.
Max noticed the awed look on his face as he swiveled around to take in the view, and smilingly said, "Breathtaking, isn't it? There aren't many planets left with this kind of unspoiled natural beauty."
"Ain't that the truth," Kaden agreed.
The only structures present that weren't naturally-occurring were in ruins. Toppled pillars and crumbling stairs littered the area in which they now stood, with moss and vines climbing all over them. Here and there symbols could be vaguely distinguished on some surfaces, though most of them were too broken or decayed to be properly made out. Kaden walked over to a dilapidated wall and held out a small device. He then proceeded to scan the symbols present and watched the tiny screen as it computed the data.
"So, just out of curiosity," Max asked, "what made you so interested in the Fongoid ruins to begin with?"
"Well," Kaden replied. "Fongoids are the only known race that absolutely refuses to have anything to do with technology—which, to someone like me just seems stupid at first—but then I got to wondering... why? So I started looking at their planets and civilization a little more closely, and I discovered that even though the Fongoids are opposed to technology, there are signs in their ancient ruins that they were once a technological race."
"Really?"
"Yes, and when you think about it, they must've had space-faring capability at some point in history, otherwise they wouldn't be scattered across the galaxy on several different planets."
"Wow, you're right!"
"So now that I know they once had technology, my new question is, 'why did they abandon it?' Being a Lombax, I'm curious what would make any race do such a thing."
"Yeah, I can see what you mean... But, why did you pick this place? Why aren't we going into the Temple of Zahn or something?"
"The Temple of Zahn is in a Fongoid settlement. I doubt they would welcome us to snoop around in there, and I don't want to cause any trouble if I don't have to... But this place..." He paused to look around at the ruins, scrutinizing them as though looking for something invisible. "Even though there's not a Fongoid within miles of these ruins, I picked up some very strange energy emanating from them. I have a hunch that means something... Here!"
He rushed over to the edge of a crumbling structure and said, "There's something... mechanical under this ruin... If we could figure out how to trigger it..."
As he said all this he started running his hands over the surface of the structure, looking for a latch or a hidden lever, and suddenly one of the stones he touched gave under the light pressure.
The ground shook, and not ten paces away a huge section of earth began to recede slowly, like it was being sucked underground. Kaden and Max both gasped in fear and scrambled away, heading for the ship. Before they went far, however, Kaden turned back and saw that the square of moving earth had lowered into a ramp that led into a pitch-black cavern. A burst of excitement seized Kaden's heart, and he rushed forward without thinking twice.
"Kaden, wait!" Max shouted after him, but his warning went unheeded.
The Lombax stopped at the edge of the walkway leading down to a staircase that descended into the dark, unexplored recesses of the underground. He stared in fascination for a few seconds, then turned around and called out, "Come on, Max!"
He waited the few seconds that it took for Max to gingerly venture forth and join him by the ramp, and then the two of them stared down into the shadows for a long, silent moment.
"We have no idea what's down there, do we?" Max said.
"Nope," Kaden confirmed. "But you're an explorer and I'm a daredevil. I think we can handle it."
"Yeah..." Max agreed, not quite as solid as his younger companion. The two of them pulled out their lights, and took a deep breath before boldly setting forth into the unknown.
"Be careful," Max suggested once they'd passed the ramp and set foot on the staircase. "There could be—"
An unfortunate footfall of Kaden's depressed something that clicked, and they spun around to see the ramp ascend back into place, cutting off their exit and sealing out all light.
"—traps," Max finished morosely.
The stairs underfoot turned on their heads, and screams filled the air as the two tumbled down what was now a steep slide. A few seconds later the slide ended without warning, and they fell through the air only to be deposited on what felt like solid stone.
Kaden groaned, pressing his hand to his throbbing head. "You all right, Max?" he asked.
The Markazian let loose a similar grunt of pain and said, "Yeah, I think I'm okay... No broken bones, anyway."
Kaden was just about to flash his light around to see where they had ended up, when a ring of fire blazed up from the floor, surrounding them. Kaden gasped, and immediately snapped his eyes to the ground to make sure there was no kindling underneath them. The sight of nothing but flat, hard rock brought a split-second's relief, and then he turned to Max, who was glancing fearfully all around.
"Don't move," Kaden instructed. "Let's just wait and see what happens."
"Sounds like a plan," Max agreed.
Suddenly the fire in one narrow part of the ring died out, leaving a clear doorway outside.
"There!" Kaden shouted.
"Wait!" Max grabbed him before he could make a run for it. Sure enough, the fire returned and completed the ring once more just as Kaden would've been standing above the spitter. Before Kaden could register what had happened enough to thank Max, another piece of the ring disappeared, leaving an opening on the other side. That one, too, filled back up before they would have had time to get through.
"What's this?" Kaden wondered aloud.
"I think it's a pattern," said Max. We have to figure out where it disappears long enough for us to escape, and be right there when it happens."
"Got it."
The two adventurers sat back-to-back, watching the flames. Several more times a path opened up, only to close too fast to be useful. Kaden felt sweat collecting under his fur, and coiled his hands resting on the warm floor into fists. If nothing happened soon, they would have to chance dashing through the blaze.
"Now! Max shouted out of nowhere, and he grabbed Kaden's wrist and practically lifted him into the air as he raced to the ring's edge. The patch of flame before them dissipated just as they flew through it, and tumbled to the ground on the other side. Kaden stood to his feet breathing hard, and smiled down at his guide wearing an impressed grin.
"Nice work!" he complimented, offering him his hand.
"Thanks," Max gasped. He took Kaden's hand and let the Lombax help him to his feet.
More noise of grinding stone called their attention behind them, where their lights shone against a wall that was slowly sliding down into the floor. When a loud crack announced that it had stopped, the way before them lay open, an empty corridor lined with torches that ominously blinked alight one-by-one.
Kaden frowned suspiciously. It was too easy. Too inviting. Especially considering the hospitality they'd been shown so far. He glanced at Max, whose face confirmed the same wariness. They both looked around for some other avenue to explore, only to discover that they were standing on something of an island. The ground around the fire ring continued for a few paces in all directions before it cut off, the resulting drop leading too far down for the bottom to be seen.
Simultaneously they turned back to the lit corridor, realizing they had no other option.
"Well," Kaden muttered. "Any advice?"
"Go as slow as you possibly can," Max replied. "But the instant you hear something, run."
Kaden nodded his agreement, and the two explorers stepped cautiously into the torchlit hallway. The stone walls that arched high over their heads were full of cracks and covered in moss. Some of the cracks looked suspiciously deliberate, Kaden thought, and he kept his eyes on them as he inched past. For a while the going was quiet and uneventful, the only tension being the constant awareness that something might happen. Neither Max nor Kaden dared breathe a word to break the silence for fear of setting off another trap.
They hadn't gone very far when a threatening twang pierced the silence, and a flaming arrow zipped through the air right in front of them. Who had triggered this and how was a mystery, but it didn't really matter. Max's instructions flashed into Kaden's mind, and the two bolted forward as a volley of flaming arrows followed the first, lighting up the corridor from every angle. Some snapped against the opposite wall. Others embedded themselves in the ceiling or floor. There was no telling where they would strike, so the twosome's only chance was to stay ahead of them.
Suddenly the arrows stopped, and within the same second a stream of flame shot across the path just ahead, sweeping back and forth over the floor. Kaden and Max screeched to a halt for just a second to catch their bearings, then leapt over the fire as it was coming toward them and continued onward. Many more such obstacles continued to threaten them at every turn. Gaps in the floor that they had to jump. Moving bars that they had to duck. Pendulum blades swinging from the ceiling that they had to time their dash through.
Just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse, Kaden looked up and saw that the corridor stopped shortly in a dead end.
"Oh, no!" Max exclaimed.
They couldn't stop running, lest traps overtake them. What would they do when they ran out of road?
"Hit it with everything you've got!" Kaden shouted in desperation, hoping the wall was more brittle than it looked.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and reached out his hands while Max did the same at his right. They lunged toward the wall... and passed right through like it wasn't there. Kaden opened his eyes in surprise when he reached what he thought would be solid stone and instead flew instead through thin air. He and his guide toppled to the ground, and found themselves once more in darkness and silence.
"What happened?" Max grunted.
Kaden got up and shone his light behind them. Sure enough, he saw a solid stone wall right where it should've been. How had they phased right through it? Overcome by curiosity, Kaden walked over to the wall and reached out to touch it. His hand passed right into it, disappearing behind the image of the wall.
"It's a hologram!" he muttered in disbelief. "I knew they used to have technology!" And rather advanced technology, for that matter. The perils of the death-defying run were instantly forgotten in the face of this discovery.
Kaden looked back at Max who was already at work lighting up torches to illuminate their surroundings. He found some dead torches lining the walls of the roundish room, and replaced them with his fresh ones until the whole room was filled with a soft yellow glow.
There was nothing in the room except walls and floors, but a detail of far greater significance was that the walls were covered in ancient runes and bizarre pictures. While Kaden stared dumbly with his mouth hanging open, Max took off his pack and pulled a book from inside it. After leafing through it for a brief moment, looking constantly up and down from the book to the wall, he exclaimed in surprise, "These runes are a historical account!"
"You're kidding!" Kaden exclaimed.
"No, I'm not!" said Max. "A lot of it is missing, though..."
"Well, read what you can."
"Okay, let's see... Here it says... 'our mistake was—' and it trails off... 'could not have anticipated how badly—' trails off again... 'not to be tampered with—' and there's a huge chunk missing after that..."
"Are there any complete sentences intact?" Kaden asked, trying not to sound annoyed.
"I'm sorry," Max muttered sheepishly. He glanced across the wall and moved over to a nearby section, saying, "There's a decent-sized bit over here that's mostly legible, but it starts right in the middle of something: '–a great machine with incredible power.'"
That got Kaden's attention. "Go on," he said.
"Uh..." Max understood a lot of ancient Fongoid on his own, but he needed the assistance of his book to interpret some of the symbols, and as a result his translation was a bit slow and fragmented. "It says, 'We have been entrusted with—information?—no, knowledge of its existence, and we... must not betray that trust.' A small bit is worn away, and then, '–our duty to the...'"
Max trailed off, his eyes still fixed on the same spot of the wall. Kaden waited a few seconds, then could no longer contain his curiosity and blurted out, "The what?"
"It's hard to translate," Max explained. "It's a cluster of symbols written in a way that's meant to read as a single idea—like a two-part name... I think the first part is 'Keeper.' "
"Keeper?" Kaden repeated, surprised at the coincidence. "Keeper of what?"
"That part I can't read," Max muttered. "It's legible, but the symbol is completely unfamiliar to me, and it's not in the book. It must be unique to this story, because I've never seen it before in any Fongoid writings."
Kaden sighed in disappointment, sweeping back his ears with his hand. "Does the symbol appear anywhere else? Maybe if we found it in another context, we could figure out what it means."
Soon he and Max were scouring every wall in the room for the strange doohickey that would hopefully answer their questions. Kaden was about to give up and start kicking dust around in frustration when Max announced, "Here! I think I found it."
Kaden rushed over to him and looked at the writing on the wall to which he pointed. It was an almost square patch of text, with four lines of runic Fongoid and the sought-after symbol straggling at the bottom.
"What are the words above it?" Kaden asked.
"Hold on..." Max entreated, running his hands over the text as though it would help him read it. His eyes flitted back and forth for a few seconds before he smiled and said, "You're not going to believe this, but it's a riddle."
"A riddle?"
Max nodded. "A very strange riddle..."
"Well, what's it say?"
"It reads, 'What is longer than length, stronger than strength, changes but doesn't change, and never gets parking tickets?'"
Kaden stared in dumbfounded silence for a long moment, waiting for his partner to laugh and admit that he was pulling his leg. When Max only held his gaze in all seriousness for a good ten seconds, Kaden exclaimed, "That's the dumbest riddle I've ever heard!"
"Well, its answer is the symbol you want to translate," Max reminded, "so if we can solve this riddle, we'll know what this 'great machine' was supposedly the keeper of."
Kaden took a deep breath. "All right, all right," he muttered. "Let's just think about this. What is longer than length,"
"–stronger than strength,"
"–changes but... doesn't change,"
"–and never gets..." (Max paused to make a strange face) "parking tickets...?"
The two adults stared at each other in childish bewilderment, trying to find some visage of sense in the bizarre word puzzle, until Kaden at last cracked under the ridiculousness of it all.
"What kind of stupid riddle is that?! Changes but doesn't change? Parking tickets? That doesn't even make sense!" He turned to Max and asked, "Are you sure you read it right?"
"Not entirely sure, no," Max admitted. "These runes are almost as old as the rocks they're carved into."
"Hmm..." Kaden's tail started flipping back and forth as he drifted off into thought. At long last he murmured, "A machine from that long ago... that was considered great and powerful."
"If it was so ancient, it might not be so great by modern standards," Max suggested.
"Still... to think that an entire race would forsake all other technology because of one machine. What in the universe could it have been capable of?"
Max had no answer to that.
At long last Kaden sighed in frustration and pulled a small golden trinket from his pocket. He opened it so that each of its round halves lay flat on his hand, like pages of a book. On the right side was the inner-workings of the tiny machine—little pieces of metal that all fit together and moved in a synchronous pattern, producing a faint ticking sound. On the other side was a familiar holo-pic of him and Alister. The sight of it made him smile, just like he was smiling in the picture.
"What's that?" Max asked.
"It's called a pocket watch," Kaden replied.
"Yes..." Max murmured thoughtfully. "I think I have a few of those in my collection. That technology hasn't been used in centuries. Where did you get one?"
"I made it."
"Made it?"
Kaden nodded.
"May I see it?" Max asked.
Kaden handed over the bauble and Max looked it over with muted fascination. He wondered if the Markazian would ask about the picture, but evidently he was either too preoccupied with the watch itself to notice it, or simply felt that it was none of his business.
However, he did venture to ask, "Why are there no numbers?"
"Because it's not about the function," Kaden said, "it's about the mechanism."
"Huh?"
Kaden smiled and went on, "Have you ever heard the old phrase, 'like clockwork?'"
"That is an old phrase."
"It was used to mean something worked perfectly. That's what clocks represent for me. The technology itself is so ancient, so primitive— and yet, it's one of the only inventions in history that always works perfectly. This watch is to remind me that, no matter how complex technology gets, it's always based on something simple—cogs and gears, kinetic energy and movement—like a..." Kaden paused, his eyes and mouth opening wide in stunned realization. He turned and stared dumbly at the runes on the wall, then at last finished, "like a—a clock..."
Max said nothing. Whatever had struck Kaden so strongly completely eluded him.
"Of course..." Kaden exclaimed, his eyes bright. "It's time!"
"What?" Max asked, still confused.
"Think about it," Kaden said, speaking faster than his partner could likely keep up. "The answer to the riddle is 'time.' It's longer than length and stronger than strength because it never ends and can't be overpowered. It changes places and people, but time itself never changes because it always passes in a uniform way. And it never stops, so it's impossible for time to get parking tickets! Get it?"
Max stared open-mouthed at the excited Lombax for a long, speechless moment. "Kaden..." he muttered at last, "either you've lost your mind, or whoever wrote that riddle had a terrible sense of humor."
"But let's just say I'm right. That would mean that the rune reads 'Keeper of Time,' which would mean that this 'great machine with incredible power' was a timekeeper. We think of clocks as devices for keeping track of time, but what if there was a clock that could actually keep time itself? And if the clock is the machine and time is the mechanism, then what's the function?"
"Uh..."
Kaden realized that he had officially lost Max. Thus, he volunteered his own explanation. "We could be dealing with a device that can actually control the flow of time."
"You mean—a time machine?"
"I don't know... maybe."
A faint warbling noise overhead called their attention upward, where they saw a strange, softly glowing object floating in the air. Kaden squinted his eyes to see it better, and just then it moved a little closer of its own accord. Was it a creature? A robot? Kaden couldn't tell. It looked like it was alive, but sparks zapped constantly across its small purplish body. Its eyes were enormous, but he couldn't tell whether they were looking at him or not.
"What is that?" Max asked.
Kaden didn't reply, for he was still trying to figure it out himself. The thing uttered something Kaden couldn't understand in a voice that sounded like buzzing. It blinked its giant eyes and hovered closer, and suddenly Kaden snapped—it looked just like one of the pictures etched in the age-old runes on the wall!
He didn't even have time to gasp before the creature fluttered off, shrinking into the darkness above.
"No, wait!" he shouted, instinctively stepping forward. Once more he felt something give under his foot and heard an accompanying click.
His ears instantly went limp. "Oh, boy."
The circular floor underfoot shook, revealing a seam down the middle, and the two halves split apart, dumping Max and Kaden into the open air below. Within seconds Kaden splashed into water, and held his breath as his body was swept away with a strong current. He managed to break surface and look around, but the only light came from the direction to which the water flowed. There wasn't even time to panic before he was tossed over the edge of a waterfall, and he landed with an even bigger splash in the pool below.
Returning to the surface with a gasp for breath, he worriedly called out, "Max?"
The Markazian surfaced nearby, coughing and thrashing around in a lingering panic.
"Max! Are you okay?"
Max stilled and looked around, then nodded and said, "Yeah, I think so..."
They were back in the jungle, and since there was obviously no going back the way they came, they had no choice but to swim ashore and make their way back to Aphelion. The going was relatively quiet, as they both had much to think about and little to say, but at one point Max did venture to ask Kaden, "What do you think that—thing we saw was?"
"I don't know..." Kaden admitted thoughtfully. "But I'm betting it was the source of the weird energy reading that brought me here."
« « « « « ж » » » » »
"So what you're saying is, you think somewhere out in space there's a clock that can control time?" said Hadrian, as usual trying not to sound condescending but without total success. Kaden looked straight at him, then at every other member of the Council in turn, trying to gauge their reactions to see if the general consensus favored his view, or Hadrian's. He couldn't help but feel resentment bubbling inside him at the mere sound of his long-time rival's cocky voice. He remembered Hadrian's outward response when Kaden was chosen as the Keeper of the Dimensionator: outwardly professional, but inwardly seething. He'd lost no time in chasing down a seat on the Council of Elders, as though to declare that he wouldn't be outdone by a self-taught dreamer ten years younger than him who'd gotten lucky.
"That's my theory, yes... though it's really more of a hypothesis at this point. I think we should look into it further," Kaden stated. He was disappointed that no one else in the room seemed much more enthusiastic than Hadrian. They looked at each other across the round table with bemused eyes and no one ventured to speak for a long moment. Kaden felt like the walls of the meeting chamber were closing in on him as he anxiously awaited a response.
He turned to the only member of the Council who he knew personally, and his old friend gave him a sympathetic look. Of course, Kaden realized that this was all he could do. Major Alister Azimuth had only been on the council for a very short time, and even putting that aside, his opinion was not particularly valued in terms of purely scientific ventures. He was there mostly to offer wisdom in military-related decisions.
"How would we do that?" someone asked, breaking the silence at last. "By sending out ships to look for this thing?
"Well, not right away," said Kaden. "I get the feeling even the Fongoids on Quantos don't know about the cavern that Max Apogee and I found. If we showed them such an important piece of their own history, they might trust us enough that they'd be willing to share some of what they know about this 'Keeper of Time'."
"No offense, Kaden, but the Fongoids hardly seem like they would be a reliable source of information. They're naïve, and easily confused."
"Besides," said Hadrian, "what are the chances that this 'Clock' actually exists? We can't afford to send valuable scientists out chasing what could very well prove to be a fairy tale."
"A fairy tale?" Kaden repeated, livid at his insulting choice of words.
"You must consider the possibility that the runes you read were not based on actual fact," Hadrian said smugly.
"And you must consider the possibility that they were!" Kaden snapped back.
At that moment Councilwoman Ulima stood to her feet, and all eyes turned to her. She was tall and slender, with graying fur the same base color as Kaden's. Known for her great wisdom, articulated most effectively through her strong voice and sharp eyes, she had an aura that commanded respect from everyone she came in contact with. She spoke with gentle firmness, capturing the attention of all present even though she was only addressing one of them. "Please understand, Kaden," she said. "We aren't dismissing your findings offhand. However, certain absolutes still hold true as determining factors in the equation. Even if your theory is valid, you must understand how impractical it would be to pursue it. Quite frankly, we can't spare the resources, and even if we could... do you really think it would be wise to seek out something that powerful?"
Kaden said nothing, soberly considering her point. After she'd given him a moment to reflect, Ulima went on. "Time is a living, breathing thing. Powerful, beautiful—oftentimes cruel. It can humble the strongest army, shape mountains to its will, and turn entire oceans to dust. If a machine that can manipulate it in any way truly exists, it's not the sort of thing that should be made known. Someone with your imagination should understand why this is so."
Kaden gritted his teeth and almost bit his tongue. He did understand. Truly, he was grateful for Ulima's tact and sensitivity in dismissing his proposal without implying complete disrespect for it. Still, it was disappointing, and he felt a bit like he had been trampled underfoot.
"All right, then," he muttered with a respectful nod, trying not to sound as flustered as he felt. "Thank you all for your time."
He turned and headed toward the door, holding his head high in an effort to leave with dignity. Just then Alister rose from his seat and called out to him, "Kaden."
Kaden stopped, and turned to meet with the sad eyes of his friend.
"I'm sorry," Alister muttered.
It wasn't a huge comfort, but Kaden was glad to know that his best friend was willing to step out this far—to acknowledge their relationship before the rest of the Council, and for such a trivial matter as offering sympathy. Kaden smiled in silent thanks, then turned around and quietly walked away.
Author's Notes:
- Max Apogee— Yes, I went there. :P Don't worry, there's a method to my madness. XD As for the way I chose to portray Max's character, well... I just thought it would make for a fun contrast if he was a bit of a shy, awkward type and Talwyn got her forwardness from her mother. ^-^
- The Unnamed Temple (or whatever it is)— No, it's not a place that exists in the canon, but I drew my inspiration from the level where Ratchet explores the Temple of Zahn.
- Kaden's Watch— I was hoping I could do something really significant with that watch when I finally brought it into the story, but I was drawing a blank for the longest time and about to give up... I totally give God the credit for the idea that hit me for incorporating it into this chapter, 'cause there's no way it came from my subconscious. X) I always thought it was funny that the watch didn't have any numbers, so Kaden's reason for making it is meant to explain that. What do you think, Dark Glass Marionette? Does this satisfy you? ^-^ I bet now you're wondering how Alister gets ahold of it, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. ;)
- The 'Time' Riddle— *does Orvus chuckle* Okay, so this little nugget came from me tearing my hair out trying to figure out some not-too-all-revealing clue that could steer Kaden in the direction of his 'Clock' theory. Knowing Orvus, I can totally imagine him leaving some sort of bizarre riddle on Quantos to tantalize would-be knowledge seekers. The tricky part was coming up with one that fit his... unique sense of humor. :P Hopefully I succeeded. ^^'
- Kaden's Theory— *heaves long sigh and passes out on keyboard* Okay, so even though I dedicated a whole chapter to showing how Kaden theorized the Great Clock's existence (and even though that chapter ended up being the longest chapter I've ever written for the story), I still feel like the way it all happens is too fast and coincidental to be believable. Again, I hope it's just me, but if it's not, then... oh, well. :(
Well, this chapter just about does it for the fun and games. The no-nonsense final arc of the story rapidly approaches... and I'm a little scared, to tell the truth. Thanks so much to everyone who's been keeping up with me on this! Hopefully you won't regret it by the time it's over.