I could eat that. It would be a very interesting magitech upgrade, Aide offered. I think I could even leverage it to create displays near any of your bodies.
That wasn’t going to work, even if it was pretty tempting. We can’t take this one. If we happen to find one that no one else knows about, we can talk about it then.
I never get to have any fun.
Was that a joke? It had to be a joke, right?
“What does it say?” Samantha leaned over the case. “Those are words, right?”
Serenity blinked and paid attention to the presentation for a moment. The words were in Bridge, using the Imperial alphabet. He hadn’t even noticed.
He sent a quick text to his mother and asked her what language her interface with A’Atla was in. Her reply was a single word: English. That definitely explained why she could read it but not why his was in another language. Maybe he’d expected it? He’d been using Bridge while offplanet, maybe he hadn’t adapted back to English yet?
Using the Imperial alphabet wasn’t unusual, even this far from the Empire. It was the largest single political entity in the universe and claimed descent from one that was even larger in the past; whatever the reason, it was the most common alphabet used across the universe and definitely the one usually used for Bridge.
“Yes, they’re words,” Serenity agreed. It wasn’t until he took a second look that he realized how lucky he was that they weren’t in a recognizable language; the words revealed the title “Wizard of A’Atla”. The last thing he wanted was to be “outed” as the owner of A’Atla. It wasn’t true, but if anyone saw the title, they wouldn’t believe him.
Serenity released the handle and the words almost immediately faded; it was just an oddly-shaped stick once again. “It said that only limited access is available to A’Atla’s systems. I’m not sure if that’s because it’s through the handheld or if it’s because I don’t have that much access.”
Serenity obviously knew the answer to that, but it was worth the slight misdirection. Another message to his mother seemed called for.
OK if I take them to a spire and get them limited access to A’Atla, resident maybe? I don’t know how else to explain why the remote will work for me and not for them - they haven’t met A’Atla.
What spire?
There’s one to the east of here, a little before we blocked it off. It’s one of the small spires.
Right, forgot about that one. We left it intentionally. Go ahead, limited access only. We’ll have to give it out someday and they’ll probably make the list no matter what. I’ll start putting together a list of other people who should get access quickly; I’ll want to take at least one other group today.
It was a good thing that Bethany responded quickly; Serenity would have gone ahead without her agreement if he’d had to, but it was better this way. It was also good that both Liam and Samantha seemed surprised; neither of them had caught the implication before Serenity had his mother’s approval.
When the moment ended, words spilled out of both of the others.
“A’Atla has a way to remotely access its internals? Wait, does that mean A’Atla has a computer system? How?” Liam sounded absolutely boggled.
Samantha’s focus was different; she’d already moved past the idea of a magical computer system, or perhaps hadn’t even thought about it in the first place. “How did they manage that? How does the enchantment work? Why is access limited? Is it like the Voice?”
“That’s a good question,” Serenity acknowledged. “It seems pretty similar. It sounds like you haven’t seen the spire yet; I checked with B- er, with Ms. Rothmer, and I’m allowed to take you there now. I don’t think she expected this to be related to it, but it sounds like it is.”
“Spire?” Samantha was definitely quicker on the uptake than Liam right now. “And when did you have time to check with Mrs. Rothmer?”
Serenity smiled at that. “When you were staring at the display. Come on, let’s introduce you to the spire.” He could very well have used something as simple as a headset and radio to talk to his mother; he hadn’t, but there was no way for them to know that unless they remembered he hadn’t said anything aloud. With luck, they’d assume something magical; that even had the benefit of being true, though the method Serenity used wasn’t one of the top few that were common in the wider universe.
He had a feeling he’d be saying that a lot over the next few years, often about others rather than himself. Earthlings were inventive; more importantly, they were starting from a very different set of assumptions than the other cultures he’d seen.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Serenity didn’t want to answer more questions, so he headed to the open end of the tent, then looked back at Liam and Samantha. They hadn’t moved. “Aren’t you coming?”
Both of them turned to follow him; Serenity noticed that Samantha snatched up the handheld display before she followed.
Serenity used the time they were traveling to dig through the various menus A’Atla provided. There had to be a way to seriously restrict access; no matter what the system was, no admin wanted everyone in a large system to have full access.
It took most of the trip, but Serenity eventually found the correct screen. It wasn’t one that was easy to get to, but that only made sense. Why would the Wizard need to add new user types or assign people to them?
It was a quick trip to the spire because Serenity knew exactly how to get there. After the fourth time Serenity made a choice of direction without slowing down or apparently consulting a map, Liam commented on it. “You must have spent quite a while down here. When did you get to A’Atla?”
Serenity grinned at the careful probe. He might as well be honest. “I was one of the first people here. I arrived after Ms. Rothmer did, but I was still early enough that I doubt you’ll find much record of me.” He made certain to send a note to his mother with what he’d just said. It wouldn’t do to have her add contradictory information somewhere.
“Wait, you’ve been here the whole time? Why haven’t you been helping map this crazy place?” Samantha demanded.
Serenity smiled, even though the other two couldn’t see it. “I have been. If you haven’t seen my maps, you’ll need to talk to Miz Rothmer. Have you seen any maps of the underground area at all?”
“You’re mapping the underground? Isn’t that a tiny space and mostly blocked off anyway?” Samantha sounded puzzled. It was clear she thought of A’Atla as an island, not a ship.
Serenity didn’t even try to hide his chuckle. “Does this space seem tiny and unworthy of needing a map to you?”
There was no need for Samantha to answer; they’d reached the room Serenity was leading them to. It was about fifteen feet on each side; large enough to be comfortable but still not really all that large. One end of the room was occupied with a raised dais, almost a stage; the other held a collection of chairs that had probably once been nice but were now in poor enough shape that Serenity doubted they would support his weight. The near side of the dais held what Serenity was interested in; instead of a podium, there was a stone spike. It rose about four feet above the ground, less than that above the dais.
Serenity walked up to the spike and touched it. There was no point in not touching it and every reason to make it obvious he had; it would help avoid questions and Serenity was definitely in favor of fewer questions right now. “Come on up, can’t register you with A’Atla until you touch the spire.”
“Is that what it’s for?” Samantha dithered but Liam walked up to join Serenity at the spire. Samantha trailed along behind him as she took in the details of the room. It didn’t look all that different from the other rooms to Serenity, but Samantha seemed enthralled.
Serenity managed to grant both Liam and Samantha minimal rights. That wasn’t “resident” rights as he’d initially assumed; instead, “visitor” rights seemed to be the lowest. All they could do was open unlocked doors (which meant only the ones that were already open; Serenity and his parents had locked all of the others), see a minimal map that showed the areas they could reach (but only while at the spire or in the handheld remote), and use the remote.
There were probably a few other odds and ends, but Serenity hadn’t found them yet. He’d wanted to limit the map to only places they’d been, but that wasn’t an available option; limiting it to the unlocked and unblocked areas was the best he could manage. Fortunately, the outside map was almost entirely considered “blocked,” probably because of the mud. That meant Serenity wouldn’t have to explain why no maps of old A’Atla were forthcoming.
As they walked back to the entrance, Samantha played with the remote while Liam and Serenity walked in silence. They were nearly at the tent when Samantha looked up, excited. “Did you know that there’s a location tracing feature on this thing?”
Location tracing? Serenity could think of several things that could mean.
“You’re the only person who’s used it so far,” Liam reminded Samantha. “Does that mean you can map us back to the authentication spire?”
That wasn’t what Serenity had called it, but he wasn’t going to argue about the designation. That was what they’d done there, after all.
“Yes, but that’s not all,” Samantha gushed as she turned the remote’s display to face Liam and Serenity. “It can trace itself back for centuries! Okay, that’s all in the same spot, but still.”
Liam beat Serenity to the punchline of that particular question. “How many centuries? Can it get back to when it was made?”
Samantha slumped at that. “I can’t get it to go back more than about four thousand years,” she admitted. “And as far as I can tell, it didn’t move at all in that time, not more than a few feet anyway. I can’t even tell if the island moved; it gives its position on the island, not globally.”
Serenity relaxed a bit at that. It wasn’t really good news; he’d have liked to confirm some of his assumptions and even as little as a time frame for when A’Atla sank would have helped. At least it wasn’t bad news, though. “You’ll be making regular reports on what you figure out, right?”
Liam nodded. “Yes, they’ll go through the usual channels. I’m sure Mrs. Rothmer will get a copy. I take it you’re headed out?”
Serenity shrugged. “If you need help, you know how to reach me. I don’t think you really need me now, though.” He indicated Samantha with his head.
“Thanks for the help.” Liam nudged Samantha to get her to say her thanks as well.
It was only two days later when Serenity’s mother let him know that “Tom Cooper” was now at the top of the list of potential “owners” of A’Atla, based primarily on his ability to read “an unknown script”. Lex told her to bless the convenience; it meant an extra layer of protection for the Rothmers.