Great Expectations

Chapter 3 of Children of Luzistor

Captain's log, ongoing. After spending the night at Dan's villa, having familiarized ourselves with his magic bottle, our group readies for the teleport jump to a remote corner of the floating city. Team Dan, augmented with the android Platina, will go first. Their task is to secure the site for my group to follow. All is chaotic here in the Archonage. Fans of Team Dan are quite vocal behind low barriers; the sorceress Zena is even now signing autographs. The blonde wizardress Bonnie, in white tunic over slit black skirt, has to pull her away. Zena wears her adventuring costume all in red, daringly low cut, but let out a bit at the abdomen here in her second month of expecting.

Dan's fighters, Ed and Pete, mug for all the scry globes pointed their way. Their burden is limited to shields on their backs, since Dan has stocked the magic bottle full of supplies. An announcer calls overhead to signal the all clear for Dan to step into the depressed glowing circle, which will hold its full complement of seven. A tone sounds. The Dans are gone in a white flash, the circle slowly dimming back to normal. The vampire Cambris is traveling in the bottle until after dark when it's safe to come out.

Vixia has been frustrated by the care this world has for its own. She saunters over, hands on hips, where her disruptor pistol dangles. "There's one thing that doesn't make sense. Why can't those people of the underground use that teleport to come here?"

I raise my voice over the din. "The way Dan explains it, the sender rings can be set to scramble their setting, which prevents anyone from following us back. As soon as Dan decides the insertion point is secure, he'll send back a sign. That's when we go."

She looks about the busy, vaulted chamber. "Where is our secret weapon—the ghoul-eyed girl with the twin swords?"

"Probably in stealth, as she doesn't like crowds. She may be right behind you," I say with a leer. Vixia does a quick one-eighty to make sure, a hand going to her pistol.

Yet the biggest malcontent is the Borg queen, always taunting, testing. She approaches with her permanent smirk. "The mage girl's presence has created a paradox," she says of Ardra. "Being here at the same time as her younger self will bring about her slow decline. You had better accomplish your mission with all dispatch." She drifts away without waiting for a replay.

"I don't trust that one," Vixia says. I can only grin at the irony.

Moast and Ardra join us, disengaging from a gaggle of reporters. Jili arises from nowhere, and our group is complete. We only await Dan's all clear to enter the sender ring. Within moments it arrives, a simple white cloth. Red would have meant stay away. We step down into the ribbed ring, which by now we are all familiar with. Suddenly the world is a watercolor splashed with acid. A hollow rush assails the ears, as if we trespass through some forbidden twilight dimension.

We have arrived to bitter cold and wind. Moast puts out a hand to steady Vixia, who seems ill at ease looking down at an expanse of white wasteland. The dark realms. The sender ring takes up the whole of the ledge, meaning we have to step carefully onto the side facing a blank wall. There is a low overhead, and nothing to grab hold of.

Dan puts his head down through an opening. "Over here, folks. You'll find insets in the wall to use as a ladder."

We all climb up into a dim space that follows the curve of a massive tower above it, according to the map. Someone has opened a ragged hole at one end, where light beckons. Dan leads us to a short climb up the rocky slope, and we reunite with Team Dan, who have established an initial camp that has seen much use. Thick tree roots have invaded the space, and the air is humid from water trickling down onto palm-shaped leaves.

I join Dan at the spot where he's deposited some of his gear in the wide pocket of interlaced roots. Voices of the others echo here, their breath steamed from the cold. "Phase one complete," I say, wondering what happens next.

Dan sits down on his backpack. "The underground will be here shortly. They always know when the teleport has been used." So sure is he of this, he leans back with hands behind his head.

It isn't good enough for Jili. Her layered shrouds float as if on a phantom current while she roams about. Her anxiety is palpable; I suppose I'd also be on pins and needles on the eve of meeting a long-lost sibling. But it wouldn't do for her to rashly go rushing off, not with the whole endeavor riding on her shoulders.

Everyone goes quiet when a child in ragged furs peaks in. "Team Dan!" Thus reassured, he motions for others, until a group of six have scampered down the slope. They all stop in their tracks when catching sight of Jili. Their are cries of "Jonturi!" until they realize they've got the wrong person.

"That ain't Jonturi," a younger lad says. "It looks like her, though."

I make bold to put an arm about Jili's shoulders. "There's part of the mystery solved. It would seem you have a sister."

Jili goes to one knee so as not to frighten the kid. "Where's Jonturi now?" She starts to take the lad's arms, but restrains herself.

"We don't see her much," says the young leader. "The dragon lords think she's gonna do them in, and she has to stay out of their way."

Jili rises to face me triumphantly. "It's like I hoped. She's like me. Together we'll tear this place down."

"Berlo," the leader says. "Go find Jonturi. Tell her she has a sister." The kid skips away, begins climbing the slope to the next ragged hole in the stone. " 'Til then, why don't you come to the camp and meet everybody." He looks hopeful. "Have you brought us stuff like last time?"

"That we have," Dan says, rummaging in his backpack. The kids grab the treats as fast as he can produce them. In seconds, they crawl and hop into the exit hole with the treasures.

"They're so cute!" Zena gushes. "I wish we could take them home."

"You'd take the station cats home," Bonnie quips, "and make pets out of them."

The tall bro, Pete, who wears a purple do rag with tails, is all business. "Are we gonna stand here lookin' at each other all day?" The serrated black sword on his belt is called Soul Drinker, as it drains life force in favor of his own.

The Borg queen finally gets around to him. "A Nubian. You are far from home."

Pete glowers. "Actually I'm from Pittsburgh."

"Don't listen to him," says the wise guy Ed, who wears a trim goatee. "He's just tired of being the emissary from Planet Soul." The predatory stare of the Borg queen makes him look most uneasy.

Vixia points to the opening. "Your assassin princess is already gone. We'd better go and keep tabs on her."

Dan and I are last to leave the security of this space. We follow in a ragged line on uneven rocky terrain that looks bored out in antiquity. In some places, windows have even been hacked out, providing the only light. A roughly circular path brings us to the underground peoples' camp. It's a riot of drab furs, voices, children playing, a few moms with infants.

"Madness," Vixia decides, "to bring more numbers into a barren ecosystem."

Platina, far less judgmental, draws plenty of stares as she moves about the various levels, taking in the hanging hides, the murals of faraway places only imagined. She even has no objection to curious hands touching her metal form. It isn't something the Borg queen has to deal with. The folks here see in her a wolf on the make.

Voices rise in welcome as an older man comes out of a side chamber equipped with a hide door. He reminds me of the gurus of old, wearing a robe, having hair and beard peppered with gray.

"Doylus!" Dan goes to grip forearms with the smiling man. "We're here to find two shamans who make the spirit trees in the Blight."

But Doylus isn't to be rushed past a rare time for company. He orders food and drink, which Dan pads out with his own supply. The two leaders sit on a rug in the center of the chamber.

Just then, the lad tasked with finding Jonturi appears up at the next exit hole. "I found her! She can't wait to meet her sister!"

"Show me." Jili is up and moving fast.

"Well, crud," Dans swears. "Pardon us, Doylus. Picard and I have to follow that crazy girl, to watch her back." As we exit the space, Dan is already panting, and the fleet-footed assassin is pulling away. "Slow down, Jili!" He gulps air. "At least she isn't in stealth."

I look back at Zena, who pauses at the entrance hole. "Everyone stay put! We'll be back shortly!" I sincerely hope that's the case.