The room was small and plain, its walls painted white. It lacked furniture except for a simple throne – a chair, more like – made of silvery metal. A woman was sitting on the throne, her resemblance to the statue unmistakable. She smiled at Nua and the girl tensed. Deep in her heart, there was a sort of longing or yearning for this smile, a faint but distinct feeling of a need. A need to please, to be accepted, to be comforted. She stepped back, certain that there was sorcery at work. She wouldn’t let any goddess, no matter how powerful, worm her way into her mind.

Ninisina Nammu started speaking. At first, Nua didn’t understand a word. Then she sensed a subtle shift in the air, and the phrases gradually took on a familiar shape.

“Greetings, guest. I regret to inform you that this research facility has been shut down and its employees transferred. The laboratories are locked under code black. I advise against entering on your own accord.”

“What?!”

The goddess blinked. Her whole silhouette became semi-transparent for a fraction of a breath. Then, she solidified again, her gaze focused on Nua. She pursed her lips, suddenly seeming more alive than before.

“I sense the ether of my father,” she said, her eyes pensive. “But not his aura. Who are you?”

“I’m Nua.” For some reason, her eyes welled up with tears. Again, she steeled her resolve against the goddess’ influence. “I carry Anki’s ether and his soul.”

Ninisina Nammu went still as a statue. She stopped talking, moving, or even blinking. She remained in this frozen state for an uncomfortably long while, and just when Nua started to wonder if she was, in fact, a broken machine, she blinked again. This time, there was an air of gravity about her.

“I am so sorry, Nua, carrier of Anki,” she said. Her voice was sweet and tinged with profound, painful sadness. “This is one of the worst scenarios I have predicted to transpire. Not everything is lost for us, for you, just yet. But we must proceed with caution. For now, I can give you the access to the research tower. However, you won’t be able to interact with the inner sanctum’s memory crystal until you awaken your own ether.”

Nua was glad for the familiarity with Anki’s manner of speaking. She didn’t recognize half of the words, but she could figure out the general meaning just like she did with the king’s blabber on a regular basis. She didn’t have the faintest idea what the goddess meant by “the worst scenarios”, though. Perhaps she realized that the fall of her father had to end with the fall of their empire.

“Why is that? Don’t you trust your dad? What is in this memory crystal thing?”

Ninisina Nammu gave her a long, pensive look.

“There are secrets you cannot yet handle. I can envision seven different scenarios that would doom you if you obtain this knowledge before you have the power to defend it. I can deduce that my creator would grieve deeply in the eventuality of your potential demise. I am to tell you that you should take care and that your safety is of utmost importance.”

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Nua frowned.

“You are not the real goddess, right? Nor her ghost. You’re an illusion.” Nua folded her arms. As soon as she realized that, Ninisina’s influence became easier to resist.

“Correct, in a way. I am an interactive recording,” said the goddess. “I am linked to the internal circuits so I can react to the scenarios that predict an authorized person’s arrival. This is one of them, Nua, carrier of Anki. ”

Nua’s blood ran cold. Did the goddess predict her arrival a thousand years after the plague and the war? Impossible. She took a deep breath. This was, ultimately, not about her. She was just someone who brought Anki’s soul in tow. In the case she died, he would finally die with her. She sighed. She didn’t like feeling like a pawn or a transport animal to the Autarchs of old. But she could still get something out of this arrangement.

“Is the real Ninisina Nammu sleeping upstairs? Or was she transferred as well?”

“I was not granted this knowledge.”

“Who were the people in the containers? In the… public area?”

“I was not granted this knowledge.”

“Fine,” Nua sighed. “I tried. Oh. The defenses. Are there any dangerous machines inside, that I should avoid?”

“I have already deactivated the shields. The spellwork password for the guardians is Enheduanna,” the goddess answered. “Please refer to my father for the instructions of spellwork password’s use.”

“Enheduanna.”

“Correct. The inner sanctum has a separate set of defenses, and I am taking them down as we speak,” Ninisina started, then she went still.

“Hey? Goddess?” Nua waved her hand. “Are you there?”

The illusion looked directly at her. She smiled again.

“Error.” She said in a sweet voice. “Error.”

The room vanished.

*****

Nua blinked. The statue and the altar again came into sight, and so did the companions surrounding her; the mercenaries and the blue cloudy shape of Anki. She could see that the party was on the edge. Raya stepped to the back. Oswald and Quintus had their weapons prepared. Zaina was just staring at her with an intent gaze and the posture of a crouching panther.

“What are you doing?”

At the same moment when she started speaking, there was a rumbling sound coming from the pedestal, and its seemingly solid wall split open, revealing a door. Which, in turn, retracted into the statue, opening up a small room fitted with a mirror. Nua knew it was a carriage similar to the one in the Southern Temple.

“This is the elevator. The passage up.” She threw the others a nervous look. “I was talking with the goddess. Actually, her illusion. This statue is a sorcerous machine, and it responded to my prayer.”

The mercenaries relaxed, if only a little.

“You were facing the statue, light coming off your eyes and your mouth,” Quintus sheathed his sword. “We had to be ready for anything. I am still not certain that we should go in there.”

Nua looked into the room and then, she realized that she was trembling. She wrapped her arms around herself. So much weirdness happened to her so far, and now she could not get rid of Ninisina Nammu’s gentle face from her mind. Was it the goddess’ influence lingering? Or was she that impressed with Anki’s story?

“She gave me a password,” she said. “There are laboratories inside. They’re full of treasures and mostly safe. We shouldn’t go to the part that’s called an inner sanctum. She stopped talking when she got to that point and she said it was an error. I don’t like it at all.”

“Is that what happened?” Anki asked, his voice severe. “I couldn’t get inside. Please, tell me everything.”

“Just give me a minute,” Nua said aloud, facing the party. “This thing’s waiting for us. I need to use my scouting ability.”

“Fine.” Quintus nodded. “I need to inquire my Muses about it just as well.”