Novels2Search

18.[Docked]

Wit couldn't believe how delicious [amber-snail] tasted, they reminded him of sweet warm tofu with an added zest of live energy. Even the shell was edible, which Wit found tasted like candy and packed a spark when licked. No wonder the wisps couldn't resist these savory delights. He grabbed the thin glowing fungus next.

The light instantly dimmed in the stalk when he broke the connection, it was fascinating to see the electrical interplay with the biology of nature.

While the small mushrooms were a bit bland, they were still oddly refreshing, the stems did have a satisfying crunch like celery that Wit enjoyed. After sampling the food and finding them to be perfectly edible he practically gorged himself with four more snails and at least a dozen picked mushrooms.

Wisp One had shown up at one point snuggling against his leg, wagging its antenna towards his hands. Wit looked at the amber crystal shell in his grasp that he was currently gnawing on.

Stretching his arm away he puffed “No, this is mine. Go find your own,”

The dog-sized wisp didn't like that answer apparently because the next second One was crawling on him and fluttering his quad wings in a frenzy which pushed them both to the ground in a splash. One then in an act of swiftness grabbed the shell out of his hand with its mandibles before flying off.

“Hey, give that back you thief!” Wit proclaimed before chuckling at the scene of One crunching merrily on the shell upside down on the ceiling far from his reach.

“Okay you wispy wisp, go on and enjoy it. Think of it as a reward for your first successful mission.” Wit said, thinking he should start to take better care of his minions from here on out, he now knew how easy it was to lose them.

With breakfast taken care of, he refocused on the chamber covered in [circuit moss]. There had to be a way inside he thought, but it was fully encased in the thick vegetation effectively hiding the entrance.

Wit figured he would have to claw most of the moss off the wall to find it, and his feline ears fell back in irritation at that prospect. The chamber’s circumference was quite large, but he wasn't one to shy away from work. Tapping his bark-covered chin with a claw, he contemplated where to start.

Before he could begin, Poindexter informed him of its own find. “Wit, if you are looking to enter this space my scans have revealed multiple circular divots throughout the upper half of the chamber. Clearing one might lead to further insight.”

“Now that you mention it, it does look like there’s a pattern of dents up there. How high is this wall?”

“Approximately sixty feet in height Master Wit.”

Not wasting time Wit threw himself on the wall using his thorn like claws on both his hands and feet to grapple the thick moss to scuttle his way up the wall. At this point he’s accepted that climbing was just a part of life now, and was happy to have all these adaptations to help.

Reaching the first divot, Wit looked at the indentation with curiosity before digging his claws in and tearing at it. There was a zap of electricity that cracked against his hand that left the young Omni reeling in shock. Luckily he had the foresight to summon one of his nuclei in his opposing hand to keep him from falling but still it left his other hand pulsing with current.

Now that he thought about it, he should’ve seen that one coming, he practically just sliced a live circuit open. He remembered the countless shocks he received when working on his widgets in the pixel simulator; it was a good reminder that things were still fundamentally the same even if they took a different shape.

At least the cut was effective in clearing the divot, which ended up revealing a damp mossy filled hole. Unfortunately the hole was barely big enough to fit a small child such as himself, there was no way he was getting in through this way he thought.

“It's too small. Even if I could squeeze in, there's no way to move once I'm inside.” Wit said a bit peeved that there was no easy way in, but then thought about his haphazard journey up the elevator shaft.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

He looked at his nucleus and cracked a grin with his sudden idea. Dismissing his amber glob, he started forcing himself into the tight confines of the hole. He shimmed his shoulders and adjusted himself like a worm in an effort to inch his way deeper, hoping whatever was inside was worth it.

It took him some time to force his whole body into the tube and once fully enveloped he couldn't even move a fraction of an inch which he thought would freak him out but oddly enough he didn't feel an ounce of discomfort.

Not thinking too much of his complete lack of claustrophobia Wit resummoned his nucleus but this time out of the [exoBark] surrounding his neck. He static locked the goop under his chin and pressed it up against the [circuit moss] on the floor. And just like he thought it would, the static current dragged him through the tight hole in an instant; throwing him out into a dark open space.

After a brief bout of panic as he fell over a dozen feet he eventually thudded hard against a mossy floor, bumping his head against something metallic. Grunting in discomfort, he eased himself up into a sitting position and floated his dim nucleus above his palm to get a look around the dark room only somewhat still seeable due to the glowing mushrooms.

The young Omni wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see on this side of the room but when his eyes fell on rows upon rows of tear shaped forms covered in the fungus moss, Wit instinctively knew exactly what he was looking at.

“Guides,” he whispered in awe.

There was no way Wit would mistake what he considered the closest thing to parental figures. The Guides were the ones to raise him and every single tower born child for their entire duration in Babel until their eventual rebirth.

“Well that answers a question I’ve always wondered,” Wit muttered as he cast his amber light over one of the docked Guides.

The question of where did the Guides go when the kids were put to sleep in their habitation pods? Did they just float around aimlessly, did they have secret missions outside the tower? No one really ever knew and that only increased everyone’s curiosity and imaginations.

The kids would come up with so many different stories that Wit was sure he heard a new one at least once a week. Especially the older kids, it had to be some form of tradition to scare the younger ones with the more outlandish tales that have been going on for who knows how long.

Wit always had an inkling of an idea that they all needed to recharge their batteries or something similar before the next day but he could never prove it. Now he couldn’t help but smirk knowing he was right. This had to be where they docked themselves to replenish their energy.

Hidden away right below the second floor, right underneath every single one of their noses. They must have used the tunnels to reach certain parts of the tower’s interior and back without anyone noticing for all these years.

Sitting there alone with his former Guides made Wit feel somewhat out of place, he felt like he stumbled upon their last resting place that shouldn’t have been disturbed as they earned eternal sleep from years of service. As he turned around casting his light throughout the gloomy room he could practically feel the heaviness of time that had passed in this large enclosure.

He closed his eyes trying to imagine how it all looked before the fall of Babel, before all the moss got caught in their circuits. Wit could almost picture the hustle and bustle of floating pristine Guides coming and going switching with their fully charged compatriots. He remembered the assortment of colors that they used to represent emotions, and wondered if they used it with one another and not just with the kids.

He found it funny that he never thought of that question before, but he figured they probably communicated very differently than humans. Probably a lot of bleeps and bloops, Wit chuckled at that thought while opening his eyes bringing himself back to reality.

He didn’t want to disturb the Guides in their final resting place, but he knew there had to be something here that generated the [circuit moss]. He didn't know what it was, but that heaviness that brushed past his mind reminded him of the phenomenon quintessence filling the amber pool that gave him his [nucleiåmberus] organix.

He squinted at each of the ground level Guides looking for that peculiar rainbow shimmer. Not seeing anything that stood out he cast his nucleus orb higher, increasing the static output to release more light. That’s when he saw it, fat tendrils of mycelium moss stretching from the high wall to the center of the high ceiling.

He eventually reached his distance limit of control with the nucleus, but what he saw had him gaping.

Directly above him, held aloft by bridges of [circuit moss] was an unimaginably large gyrating sphere of vegetation. It undulated and shifted into itself continuously without stopping, reminding Wit of clothes thrashing about in a washing machine.

It was eerie how quiet the mass of [circuit moss] could move with so much vigor but not make a single sound while doing so. But that thought quickly left his mind when he noticed the familiar faint rainbow shimmer floating throughout the entire structure.

He couldn’t help but crack a toothy grin. Gotcha