1 – Spark
Brittany's watch alarm beeped. It wasn't a loud beep, but she did have the watch right next to her ear, so it was loud enough. She sat up with a groan.
It looked like she was the first one awake. She got up off the mattress on the floor and went into the kitchen. Digging through the cupboards, she finally found what she was looking for – coffee powder. She scooped several helpings into a pot and put it on to boil. As she was doing so, there was a light, almost tentative tap on the front door. Not hearing anyone else stir, Brittany went to the door and opened it a crack.
It was already very bright outside. She was slowly beginning to understand why Atrus and Irvan wore goggles when up here. Shielding her eyes, Brittany saw a young girl, about ten years old, wearing a button-up shirt, light cardigan and long skirt, all in brown earthy colours, with her long fair hair tied back in a ponytail and a large blue stone hanging from a chain around her neck. She looked up at Brittany.
"Hiya, Britt," she said. "Anyone still asleep?"
"Yeah, everyone else is," replied Brittany. "Come in."
Brittany opened the door fully and Yeesha came in. The two of them went into the kitchen, where the coffee pot was beginning to whine. Brittany took it off the boil and poured herself a cup.
"You want anything to eat?"
"Nah, Mum always makes me eat breakfast." Yeesha sat down. "Dad sent me over to make sure you got his letter."
"Yep, we did," replied Brittany, sipping her coffee. "Irvan gave it to us."
"Cool," said Yeesha. "So when are you coming over?"
About half an hour later, everyone else had awoken and was busy either drinking coffee, eating breakfast or both. Yeesha and Jane were talking non-stop about a vast array of things, Rachel was continuing her conversation with Maddy from the other night about relationships, and Jordan and Brittany were discussing Atrus' letter.
"Yeah, school's finished for two months now..."
"...no, I expect he wants us to..."
"...it is hard, but if you look enough..."
"...but why would he want..."
"...the key is not to..."
"...Dad is teaching me how to..."
"...he might want to consult..."
"...comes down to how much you're..."
"...must be more interesting than..."
"...most of them just want sex."
Unluckily for Rachel, this was exactly where the conversation froze so that the entire room heard her. She blushed slightly.
"So, uh... ready to go?"
As always, the sunroom on Tomahna glistened with the light of the new day. The wind whispered softly as the six of them linked in, and the chimes tinkled softly as the wind passed them. Together, they made their way up to the observatory.
Jordan, Rachel and Jane went first – they worked out that the elevator could not comfortably accomodate more than three at a time – quickly followed by Brittany, Maddy and Yeesha. It was beautifully lit, mainly because of the huge round window overlooking the rest of Tomahna.
"I'll go find Dad," said Yeesha, and disappeared with Jane back into the elevator. Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany stepped up to the large window and looked out over Tomahna.
The location that Atrus and Catherine had found for their new home ten years ago was amazingly perfect. It was situated in a fairly large valley in the deep desert, away from all traces of exploration by the people of the surface, built around a smallish freshwater lake. The buildings were all precisely the same – round, domed buildings, about half a dozen (not counting the one they were standing in), linked by walkways and the elevator.
Although the desert surrounding Tomahna was more or less featureless, excepting the volcano visible on the horizon, the area around the valley was teeming with natural beauty, most of which stemmed from the small amount of plant life that thrived around the lake, and also from the small birds that were often seen flying around. Really, Rachel thought, it would be a beautiful area even if it wasn't Tomahna, which was probably why Atrus and Catherine had chosen this area as their home. From this perspective, the valley always reminded Maddy just a little bit of Voltaic, the lesson age of energy that she, Jordan and Rachel had visited ten years ago.
As the four of them stood at the window, immersed in Tomahna's beauty, the elevator door opened behind them with a whirr and Atrus stepped out. The four visitors greeted their host with the usual handshakes and hugs before Atrus started off on one of his spiels.
"Well, my friends, you're probably wondering why I've asked you here... the truth is, I need your help."
"Something to do with your sons?" asked Brittany. Atrus nodded.
"Yes, that's right. As you know, they were trapped twenty years ago on two separate prison ages after they destroyed many of the ages in my library on Myst, shortly before I met the four of you. Yes... well, at that time, Catherine and I decided that it would be best to leave them imprisoned. We'd hoped that it might reform them, you see. Anyway... it's been twenty years now, and Catherine believes our sons should be released."
At this point, Atrus' audience stiffened visibly. All four of them remembered how they had diced with possible death twenty years ago by almost freeing Sirrus and Achenar. Atrus noticed this reaction, and pressed on quickly.
"You see, I'm not convinced. So I think it would be best to have an objective opinion. That's where you four come in. What I -"
"Wait, wait, wait," interrupted Jordan. "You want us to help you decide if Sirrus and Acheanr have reformed enough to be released?" Atrus nodded. Jordan glanced at the other three before continuing. "Well, naturally we'd be happy to help you, Atrus, but I wonder how you can see us as objective. After all, we were very nearly victims of their manipulation ourselves."
"That's true," replied Atrus, "but you did manage to see through them, something with Catherine and I failed miserably at. The four of you are the only people who really understand the situation Catherine and I are in, and because you don't have the subjectivity of them being family, you're the only ones we can trust to give us a genuine opinion on whether or not either Sirrus or Achenar do deserve to be freed."
There was silence for a minute, then Jordan spoke again. "All right... so what's the plan? We can't exactly go to the prison ages, can we?"
"Well, yes, we can," replied Atrus. "I wrote a secure linking chamber into each one that allows visitors to come and go without releasing Sirrus or Achenar. But we're not going to the ages yet. First, I want to show you the ages before we go there using my old crystal viewer." He gestured to the device behind him. "I've made a few changes to it recently to allow it to function in Tomahna. I've also added a sound component, so we can listen in on an age, but I haven't calibated the sound panel to be able to pick up either Spire or Haven yet. Would you mind giving me a hand with that, one of you?"
Jordan, Rachel and Maddy all looked at Brittany, who shrugged her agreement and stepped up to the panel on the wall that Atrus pointed at.
"All right..." muttered Atrus, examining a panel on the crystal viewer. "What I'm going to do is transmit a wave form being put out by Haven. It should appear in your right-hand monitor. Okay... here it comes."
A high-pitched hum filled the air suddenly, and Rachel grimaced. Atrus glanced up. "Oh, sorry about that... I couldn't work out how to stop it doing that. But do you see the wave, Brittany?"
"Yes," replied Brittany.
"Good. Now, we have to manipulate the blue line until it matches that yellow wave exactly. The blue line is the result of two superimposed..."
Atrus carried on for quite a while in the way that the four of them knew him so well for. Eventually, he started to instruct Brittany on use of the panel. Brittany knew a little about wave forms, and proved fairly adept at manipulating the signals. It didn't take her long to get a lock on Haven's signal. Spire's signal took her a bit longer, as it was more complex than Haven's, but eventually she stepped back from the panel with a triumphant smile on her face. Atrus straightened up and turned back to the four of them.
"Excellent. Well done, my friend. We should be able to hear both prison ages now. So, let's begin, shall we?"
Before Jordan could respond, a sudden small explosion rocked the observatory. The five of them stumbled, trying to keep their footing. Smoke was rising from the panel that Atrus had been using a minute ago. Atrus frowned.
"What in the name of -"
He was interrupted by another explosion, this time coming from a largish round device suspended just above the sound panel. This triggered several more explosions, culminating finally in a much larger one. The five of them ducked the flying sparks and threw their hands over their heads.
A minute later, when the chaos had subsided, they straightened up. The large ball that had exploded was still sparking slightly, and the viewer panel was still smoking heavily, but the explosions had stopped. Atrus went cautiously over to the viewer and examined it, muttering to himself, before turning back again to Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany.
"Okay... a slight change in plans, my friends. It looks like the explosion shut down the main power supply and damaged the viewer's external image modulator. Fortunately, the viewer itself looks undamaged, so I'm going to go and get my spare image modulator from Rime. So while I'm gone, why don't the four of you get the power restored? Go to the waterwheel control room and close both emergency release gates. Once you've done that, come back here and use the viewer to contact me. If you look in my journal there you'll find the crystal combination to view Rime." He gestured to a drawer in his desk. "The backup power will keep the elevator running but only between here and the station below; you won't be able to cross the lake." He pulled a book off his shelf and flicked it open to the last page. "Oh, and you'll need to turn on the roof antenna before the viewer will work. And keep an eye on Yeesha for me, would you?"
"Of course," replied Rachel, remembering how many times Atrus and Catherine had watched Jane for her and Jordan when they had to go out of town.
"Thanks... I'll be back soon."
He stands, smiling. At last. At long last. He's finally got it.
He gathers his wits about him. More... he needs some more. In case they're needed. After all, he can't go unarmed. He fetches his bag and gathers four or five. There... that should be plenty.
He rests for a minute, then goes to the chamber. The supposedly impenetrable chamber. He stands just feet away from his freedom. He can taste it. And soon it will be his.
It's time. Bag ready. Fist ready. Nerves steady.
He raises his fist. He is on edge. What if it doesn't work properly? What if the book gets destroyed? What if -
No! Nothing can go wrong. He's planned this to perfection.
He counts himself down. Sehn... bree... fah... roon!
He opens his fist and hurls the contents into the chamber, then runs. A perfect piercing note fills the air, followed by a shattering rumble. He straightens up and returns to the chamber. The impenetrable chamber... He grins. Oh yes. I finally did it.
He steps over the debris and through the broken bars. He opens the small capsule in front of him.
Yes... there it is. He opens the book.
Twenty years, he's waited for this. He touches the book and steps forward into darkness.
"Oh come on. Surely we can get this."
Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany stood in front of the power supply box in Catherine's study. After Yeesha had informed them that something had apparently gone wrong with the backup power, they had determined that this was why they couldn't close the release gates on the waterwheel as Atrus had instructed. It was clear that this box could be used to manually redirect the backup power to several vital pieces of equipment around Tomahna, including the elevator and the two waterwheel gates. It was clear that the gates needed to be powered to enable the four of them to close them and restore the power across Tomahna, but actually doing so was proving to be quite a struggle. Brittany stepped back, conceding defeat. All four of them had now tried, and all four of them had failed.
"Why can't we solve this?" sighed Maddy. "We're supposed to be intelligent."
At this point, Jane entered the room and joined the group.
"I thought you were with Yeesha?" asked Jordan.
"Yeah," sighed Jane, "but she had to go practise her music." The five of them heard a high, musical piping sound, a little like a flute, coming from one of the greenhouses. Jane smiled cheerfully. "So I thought I'd let her get on with it and come see what you were doing." She paused. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to power the waterwheel release gates so that we can restore the main power supply," replied Maddy. "Except we can't seem to redirect the power."
Jane stepped forward and peered at the box. "Cool. Let me try."
"Oh, I don't think that -"
Rachel was cut off by Maddy. "Let her try, Rach. No harm in teaching her to think logically about this stuff.
"I suppose not," sighed Rachel. "It's just that we sort of need to get this power back on soon, and -"
"Hey, look, I made the lights blink," chirped Jane offhandedly.
"Okay, she totally solved it," reported Brittany after looking at the panel. "I think she might be a genius."
Jane grinned cheekily. "Told ya, Mum. Even Britt agrees."
Maddy pressed the button on the waterwheel controls. There was a rattling clank, and the covers for the two release gates dropped down, pulling the main covers up. Water poured down onto the wheel, making it turn, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. There was a click, and a small device next to the wheel started crackling with electricity. The five of them smiled triumphantly.
"We did it," said Maddy as they walked away from the wheel. Jane gave her a look. "I said 'we'."
"Suit yourself," sighed Jane. "And stop bouncing up and down, you're making the bridge shake."
"I'm not bouncing up and down," replied Maddy, puzzled. All five of them stopped. Jane was right; the bridge was shaking. It had been fairly slight at first, but now it was beginning to pick up. It wasn't just the bridge, either – the ground was shaking as well. The five of them grabbed hold of the railings and each other, too frightened to try and get off the bridge.
The supports holding the bridge into the rock began to slip, and the bridge dipped violently.
"What the hell is -"
There was a sudden flash and glow of green light from the rock under Atrus and Catherine's bedroom, then an explosion rocked the five terrified bystanders as the bridge finally gave way.
Unfortunately, I was not able to work out how to include the Tomahna gondola in this story - it just seemed out of place and a little unnecessary, given the fact that they have Eder B'lontahv for such transport.
