The invention floor had only gotten more busy as the clock progressed, although the Head Engineer’s office remained as dark as ever. Ambrose sat on the steps, trying to make any sense of the chaos. Everyone seemed to have a different project to work on. And who was supervising them all?
“Ambrose? He jumped, looking around.
“Yeah?”
“Over here. Behind you.” He turned around to see a stack of books. After a bit of shifting, the stack rotated to reveal a woman in her early twenties. Her frizzy black hair had been hastily tied back, although Ambrose thought he saw a few pieces of metal caught in the fray. A braid on the right side tried to balance the chaos out with a little order. She smiled at him, although even in the shadow of the staircase he could see the dark spots under her eyes.
“Right this way. I’ll explain everything when this is all settled.” She took a wobbling step before adding a small bin of parts to the top of her stack and leading the way to a small room off the main floor. After setting the teetering pile down on a large desk to the right, she spun a gear on the wall until it clicked. Light glowed down from the ceiling, each panel lighting up in some way that Ambrose couldn’t piece together. The room’s walls were covered in scratches and burn marks, presumably from other students’ projects. Ambrose pulled out one of the chairs and sat down while she rearranged some of the papers and boxes in her stack. After the whole thing threatened to collapse twice and actually did collapse once, she gave up and lowered herself into the other chair.
“Alright, sorry about that. Here in the caverns we’re a lot of things, but organized is not often one of them. My name is Charity, by the way.”
She raised her hand, arm straight out and palm facing him. He blinked. “Am I supposed to do something?”
“Oh, right. Charity, you’re dull.” She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. “Okay, sorry. Raise your hand like mine.” He copied the gesture, and she pressed her palm to his. A tingle raced down his arm, like an overflowing tide pool, hinting at more power inside. He drew his hand away.
“What was that?”
Charity smiled. “Well, it’s a common greeting for Engineers, although it’s a little more informal. But it’s also a great start for our first lesson.” She raised a finger. “But first, I want to know your name. It’s only fair.”
“Ambrose. What’s the first lesson?”
“Someone’s ready to learn. I like that.” She held out her hand again, this time with the palm up. “Touch my hand again and leave your hand there. It’ll be easier this way.” The surge of energy returned, although he had no clue where it was coming from. “Do you feel that?”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“You’re feeling the energy flow from my core.” Ambrose gave her a quizzical look. “Take two fingers and tap on your heart. What do you feel?”
“It’s beating. Just like always.”
“Okay. Now move your fingers down and a little over, right in between your ribs.” He followed her instructions, although there didn’t seem to be anything there. He focused hard, trying to find even a clue of something out of the ordinary. “Anything?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s okay. I didn’t expect you to feel anything. At least, not yet. Now that you know where to look, take my hand again and trace my energy channels back to it with your mind.”
Ambrose closed his eyes and thought of little trails of light glowing around bone and muscle. They all went to one place. Not the heart, but close to it. A little lower, more central. There! A pool of energy, waves rippling on the surface. No, not a pol. A ball of energy, and the ripples were all along the surface.
“I think I see it.”
Charity sounded surprised. “What do you see?”
“There’s a ball of energy. The surface looks like water, and all the channels connect to it.”
Charity let go of his hand and sat back. He opened his eyes. “Did I say something wrong?”
She tapped on her chest, right above her core. “No, not really. I’ve just never gotten a description like that. Okay, now try again and see if you can find your own core.”
Ambrose pressed his palm to his stomach and slid it upwards. He doubled back when it came level with his heart, back and forth until he settled on one spot that seemed lighter than the rest. If Charity’s core had been a rippling ball, then his seemed like a gaseous cloud of energy. And a small cloud at that.
“There’s not really a core there. It’s just a puddle or a cloud.”
“Good. When we’re done here, maybe in a week or two, there will be.” Charity looked over at the scattered papers, picking one up and reading off of it. “Okay, that’s most of what I had in my notes. Just a few more things.” She threw paper back on top of the collapsed pile. “So if everyone has a ‘cloud’ like you, then why isn’t everyone an Engineer?”
“Can some people just not feel it?”
Charity blinked. “Partially. But sometimes it’s just not big enough to feel. That or they just don’t have the mind-power to condense it.”
“Condense it?”
“I’ll show you.” Charity reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cylindrical object, the top and bottom plated with a copper-colored metal. The sides of the cylinder were clear, revealing a system of gears and springs and various other components Ambrose couldn’t name, all working away despite having no obvious power source. “Have you ever seen one of these before?”
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Ambrose shook his head. “Never. I’d remember if I had.”
“Good. I’d be worried if you had. This is a vitality indicator, vital for short. Once you start one spinning, it doesn’t stop until you do. They’re difficult to make and hard to activate, so each one is worth a lot. Each Engineer has a working one in the Central Pillar. At some point soon I’ll take you down there.”
“Can I hold it?”
Charity hesitated before handing it to him. “Just be careful. I refilled this one not too long ago, and I was out for a day after that. It takes a lot out of you.” Ambrose hefted the vital. It was a lot heavier than he’d expected. And there was a clicking noise, faint enough that he almost missed it. Kind of like a heartbeat, honestly. He handed it back before she got too nervous.
“So this is what makes someone an Engineer?”
“Pretty much. There’s a ceremony of sorts, and there’s also a Code we try to live by. But for all practical purposes, yes. Anyone who lights one of these is valuable enough that we keep them down here and train them further.”
“When will I have a chance to light one?”
Charity tapped her chin. “You know what, I’ll just take you down to the Central Pillar now. You can try your hand at lighting one there. If it doesn’t work today--and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t, because it probably won’t first try--you’ll get a chance every two or so days until you make it. If it still hasn’t worked out within a mooncycle, chances are it isn’t meant to be. But those who don’t make it can still train to be messengers and foundry assistants. The caverns are big enough.”
The Lost Souls huddled behind a set of overgrown blue-grey bushes, looking out at the town. Each building had the same kind of wood, bleached a dirty white from the sun with beams slowly splintering left and right. The sun had just set behind the mountains, casting the town in shadow and cuing the many lanterns to be lit. All the shops on the main street were in the process of closing for the night, shopkeepers busy switching their products and tidying up. A few people still roamed the streets, looking up at the mountains. A lone Sentry stood near an intersection, eyes slowly sweeping over everything in his field of vision.
“Alright, Mantra, you go right and skirt around the outside of town. And, for the love of everything you hold dear, be quiet about it. Trust, that box I tagged should still be in the alleyway. If you go quickly, you might be able to get in and get out before anyone notices. Levity, I don’t care what you do, just don’t get caught. Cheer, figure it out. Your best shot is to find the mining depot across town and then take the long way back.”
“Got it.” Cheer stepped away and dashed right up to the edge of the street. The best way to get across, short of going with Mantra, would be to act like she belonged. Chances are the Sentry wouldn’t even look twice. She strode along, pulling a palefruit from her bag and biting into it. Just a random citizen on their way home after a day at the harvest. Nothing suspicious whatsoever.
And just like that, the Sentries didn’t pay her any attention. Street after street, they let her pass by as though she really were just a regular commoner. She almost wanted to cause a scene just to have a little fun. But Creed would berate her for it for far too long afterwards to make it worth any joy she got in the moment. The last street with the shop she’d been told to hit looked exactly as boring as the rest. She walked up to the door of the stonemason’s shop and kicked it open, not bothering to check if it was unlocked. A girl had to have a little fun.
The shopkeeper stood in front of a display of tools, straightening the chisels so their edges all aligned. He whirled around as Cheer stepped into the shop, a chisel clutched in his hand. She opened the flap on her bag and began to stuff tools into it. Each one weighed a significant amount, so she’d have to be careful that she didn’t get duplicates. A set of chisels, definitely. And a new mallet. Creed would like one of those. Maybe another guide-spike. Ooh, and another awl. Mantra had probably blunted the last one beyond repair.
Cheer had no clue how Creed had let her have the obvious best job. It felt like shopping without having to pay for it. Or, well, at least in money. She paid for it in energy as she made a getaway. And when she had to fight the store-owners. As she would probably have to in a second.
The stonemason brought the handle of his chisel screaming down at Cheer, a determined expression on his face. She nimbly dodged out of the way and raised her eyebrows. “Is that really the best you can do?”
“Get out of my shop, thief!” He slashed at her with the edge of the chisel, prompting another taunting dance just out of reach.
“I’ll get out when I have what I came for.” The next time he swung the chisel, she caught it and wrenched it out of his grasp, dropping it in her bag and closing the flap. Back out the door, into the street, a raging stonemason following. Surely the Sentries had heard by now. Or maybe they were all rushing to where Mantra had made a scene, as he surely had.
As if on cue, a Sentry ran around the corner, wrist launcher at the ready. “Stop in the name of the Engineers!”
Cheer smiled and hollered back. “There are few things I would stop for. That is not one of them.” She took off down the street, farther and farther away from the hideout. The tools weighed so much more than she’d expected. Maybe she’d go a little faster this time instead of toying with the Sentries.
The man in the uniform raced along behind her, leveling the wrist launcher at her and pulling back a dart. They knew her face well enough that they wouldn’t be telling her to stop a second time. She lifted her bag as she heard the twang of the launcher’s string, a dart embedding itself in the fabric. And now it has another hole to join all the other shots they’ve taken at me.
She dodged left down another street, grey-white wood flashing around her. Everything blurred together when you weren’t looking for something specific. Even the fraying faded-color fabric awnings that some of the better stores had mixed together.
Even with the tools, Cheer knew she could run faster than the Sentry. He just ran because his captain said he had to. Maybe he even believed he could do some good in the world. But she ran so she wouldn’t get caught. A very big distinction, one any self-respecting thief knew very well. The blue-grey thinleaf trees appeared through the gaps in the buildings to the right, the start of the wilderness. But she couldn’t break off and disappear just yet. She had to distract the Sentry, make him think he almost had her. And she still hadn’t picked her exit angle yet. Each time she raided a shop, she left the town a different way so the Sentries would never know where she actually meant to go. The hideout had to stay hidden at all costs.
Another dart fired, another block. This one had gone lower, almost to her legs. They were getting smarter. If she always blocked the higher shots, they’d never hit. But if they could get her legs, maybe it would hit instead of just flying by or getting intercepted. She needed to make a quick exit and figure out how to solve that problem another time. The next time thinleaves showed through the line of buildings, she dug her heel in and dashed between the stores. For some reason, she always ran faster when the trees and wildlife surrounded her. The town was foreign territory, the place of the enemy. And the hideout was a collective home, not a place to be alone. The woods were hers, totally and completely. The trees shielded her from harm, the thin mist swirled and danced with her as she ran. And the mountains stood as guardians while she frolicked. Utter perfection.
Except for the heavy bag of tools on her shoulder. She sighed and turned her course as she reached the Foothills. It would be a kilometer or two before she recognized the territory. Until then, she just had to follow the mountains and their little cousins. Maybe even take a small rest in the middle. The Sentries weren’t going to search that much forest. But a rest in her own room on something softer than tree needles and dirt sounded better. Might as well just finish the job and then rest. She pushed herself just a little bit faster. It would be even better if she could get back before the light disappeared completely.