22 – UP THERE

Calvin decided to wait a couple of days before setting out again, spending some time with Tommy in the relative safety of the city, so that he could recuperate. He didn’t know the precise extent of the wound he suffered, nor did he have any idea of any possible long-lasting effects of the injury, so he preferred to play it safe and wait.

The city, meanwhile, passed from a state of turmoil to one of relative calm in a matter of days. News of the inquisitor coming here, and then leaving in a hurry left strange impressions in the minds of the citizens, who had never witnessed so much action in such a short period of time. They all saw the gigantic ball of fire over the forest: when it appeared it was the dead of night and for a moment it bathed the entire valley west of the mountains in a light so bright it was blinding. Long shadows cast by the looming red sun appeared and vanished in but a moment, then the shockwave and the terrible noise came, and reverberated against the rocky faces of the many peaks, like the howling and the call of ancient monsters.

What was most scary to most, however, wat the tremor that preceded the fireball. All but the few people who usually lived in the mountains or in the fields far away, and were now here only by chance or need, were already used to the small and frequent tremors coming from the watchful tower on top of the highest peak. But, none were prepared for the disastrous earthquake that threatened to ravage the whole town and turn every building taller than a story to dust.

The tower lit up, and glowed with dangerous energy, before unleashing the tremor in all directions, upheaving hills and displacing even the very water of the river. But when the dust settled, everyone was shocked to see that no houses or people were destroyed or injured, a miraculous feat that was immediately attributed to the providential presence of the inquisitor in town.

And so, just like it came, the whole thing went and now barely populated the talks of the drunk, and the housewives, and the few visitors that came from far away a bit scared, and in search of someone to blame or to ensure them that nothing bad will happen. Everyone else had already exhausted all the possible talk about the topic, and when one of the familiar small tremors came, they were all finally content that the situation was back to normal.

As of today, the inquisitor still was not back, and most people weren’t so sure he would ever return to the city, now that his work here was done.

“He cleansed a great evil, and protected us all from harm. What else do you need as proof of his benevolence and power?” they said, and dropped the matter, no longer their concern.

The discussion had become so repetitive around the docks area, where new sailors regularly arrived and asked the same questions over and over, that the clerks were on the verge of a nervous breakdown. They were polite and understanding at first, aware of the fact that the next sailor would have no way to know the answer to his question, even in his was the millionth time someone asked the same thing. But eventually, even they lost their patience, and resorted to just telling the bare minimum to make them all shut up.

Calvin was walking around the area with Tommy. They were scouting possible ships directed in the general direction of the capital, but the venture proved to be fruitless because even though the river came fairly close to it, it also did so in a stretch of land that was considered by all quite impossible to traverse. Impassable mountains, and dangerous marshes and swamps, the sailors told them, just before complaining about how the kingdom should invest in clearing out those swamps and gain prime farmland to work with. None, however, proposed any practical solution as to how such a project should be conducted, beyond the generic “magic” word, as if it should be answer enough to settle all issues.

“That tower does make me uncomfortable, I admit.” Calvin said.

Tommy raised his head, gave the steel construct a quick glance, and braced himself when a small tremor shook the ground where the dock was built. The tower was barely visible behind the misty veil that covered the sky, and by the looks of it, the weather was not going to get any better.

“Looks like you make it uncomfortable as well.” He joked.

“You too think it has a bone to pick with me, then?”

“Of course it does. You are its mortal enemy, after all. It’s been built just to fight you.”

He quickly shushed the small chatterbox before anyone could hear them, but the people didn’t seem interested in the slightest in what two demi-humans were saying. Most just kept their distance, and occasionally stole a glance at them as if to check what they were doing and if they were either stealing something or breaking property. Tommy giggled and squirmed away from Calvin’s grasp, eliciting a sigh from him.

“In any case,” Calvin said, looking at the tower for the briefest of moments, and feeling a slight sense of unease at the action. “Its shape reminds me of something, I’m not sure what.”

“Like a giant bowl made of polished steel? Or maybe a porcupine, with all the little needles of metals that come from around the bowl.”

Calvin hummed. “In think Computer saw this design already, but it cannot figure out what this thing is doing. It said such towers should be used to broadcast, whatever it means, but that this one is not.”

“I don’t get it. But it’s been here ever since the nanite menace, and everyone seems to think it’s a good thing it’s still here and working.”

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“So they do.”

“But, I wonder, how do they even know it is working? The tremors? This must mean that they have been happening for what, years?” The young boy asked.

“Apparently.” Calvin conceded. “I don’t see your point.”

“What if the anti-nanite thing was just a cover?”

Calvin stopped for a moment, and gazed at the far away ships in an attempt to look natural. He felt not completely at ease, talking about this in public, unlike Tommy.

“A cover for what?”

“For whatever is causing the tremors, of course. Think about it. You have this threat that needs to be vanquished, so you can use it to sell the fact that the kingdom needs those towers. It’s true, because the towers keep the threat away, but what most people don’t know is that the towers also do something else.”

“That’s a nice theory, too bad it’s just that, a theory.”

“We could check?”

“Check? Go there you mean?” Calvin asked quickly.

“Yes. We know you can survive thanks to whatever makes you different than the other nanites, so…”

“It’s my personal shield. From before I died. At least that’s my and Computer’s working theory. In any case, even if I can survive there, I don’t see why we’d want to risk it.”

“What if it’s important? Have you not wondered where those towers came from, or who built them? Not the kingdom for sure, they look unlike anything I’ve ever seen around here. And now you also say they look familiar to your alien memories. That can’t be a coincidence, it would be too lazy to assume that.”

Calvin took a few moments to ponder upon that, but he had to admit that now he was quite curious as to what he would find there, and what secrets may be hidden inside the tower. In the end, he agreed to an expedition, and after another day of wait to make sure that Tommy was perfectly healthy, they left the city.

The tower was located on top of a mountain peak right over the city. The summit was not too high up, but it was often concealed by a layer of low clouds, that formed when the warm and moisty air coming from the river valley was pushed upwards against the quasi vertical stone cliffs and cooled down. In the many days the two spent in the city, in fact, only once could they have a good look at the tower from below, before it got swallowed again by the clouds in the evening as soon as the sun went down.

They left the inn early in the morning, and hiked towards one of the back roads that circled behind the mountain range. There was a pass, a couple miles upriver, and from there the road bisected and then split once again, with only a small path leading upwards. It was clear, upon taking the path, that not many people had walked it even back when the war against the doomsday machine was raging.

There were weeds and grasses that made the trail almost vanish in the underbrush. The vegetation thinned as they went up in height, and the temperature dropped, but still the trail was barely recognizable. The sun shone in the sky, clear and warm, a welcome perk of the journey that kept them comfortable even though it was winter. The peak, however, seemed to forever be enshrouded in clouds, that swirled around and ran in circles around the tower itself.

“It’s as if nobody ever even came here after they finished building the tower.” Tommy said.

“I agree. It’s odd. I always thought that the inquisitors or someone for them would come to check the enchantments and refresh the magic every once in a while.”

“Maybe they don’t need to.”

“Maybe.”

“Or they teleport.”

“Unlikely.”

The path kept winding around, coiling around the mountain like a thin and long snake. When they reached almost two thirds of the way up, the clouds parted. They were on the far side of the mountain, away from the city, and here the rocky face was hidden to all except to the few animals and denizens of the rocks. Only other peaks, tall and short alike, were visible all around, with only a dash of green here and there in the distance where the far away valleys were visible.

The mist bleached the greens, however, making them appear far away.

“Look!”

Tommy was looking upwards, towards a small hidden cave in the rock. It was close enough to the path, yet hidden behind a large boulder, and it was dark. Inside, however, he could easily spot a rectangle made of a lighter material, that even had vines covering its surface, and moss growing on it. From the distance it appeared as a grey and white shape, standing to view against the darkness of the rock.

They approached the entrance of the cave. The sunburnt rock was brittle under their feet, icy cold where the sun didn’t warm it and scorching hot where it had been baked by the light all day long, and here and there it broke apart into many sharp splinters. Calvin’s weight, easily over three hundred kilograms, was a major problem because with every step he felt like the whole stone face would come down crashing even with the efforts of Computer, who was distributing the weight as evenly as possible over a large area using a complex system of nanite nanotubes. He calmed himself down, consciously thinking about the fact that he was not indeed that heavy, and concentrating on the sensations of the rocks under his feet, and the cool air all around.

As soon as he reached the cave, he deactivated the useless systems like the sensations coming from under his simulated shoes, and inhaled. The air was damp and moist, smelling of rot and of moss.

“No wonder that door is covered in plants.”

“A door?” Tommy asked aloud, and stared at the rectangle of concrete for a moment longer. “How can something so big even swing open?”

The door was two meters wide and three meters tall. The hinges were as big as a head and were covered in a thick layer of rust and moss. All over the door, tiny cracks housed different species of plant life, and even a couple reptiles that scuttled over its surface, quickly trying to hide away from the big people.

Calvin knocked on the door.

“Solid concrete, half a meter deep at the very least. Perhaps there is a mechanism to open it?”

“Maybe a lever, or a button? Or a magical ritual?” Tommy replied.

“Let’s look around, then.”

They looked around the whole cave entrance, but there was nothing. Even knocking on the walls, or trying some arcane words at random proved fruitless.

“If it’s a ritual, or a passcode, then we’re stuck. If it was a mechanism, then it must be gone by now.” Tommy said.

“A mechanism, like a giant electric engine…” Calvin mused, but soon felt his brother’s stare of on his back. “What to do?”

“Can’t you force it open?”

Calvin looked first at Tommy, then at the door, then back at the wolf-kin while cocking his head to the side.

“Probably…?” He said tentatively.

“Then do it!” Tommy said in a sing song voice, brimming with enthusiasm.

“We can’t! It’s locked for a reason.”

“Look. It’s related to the tower, that’s almost certain by now. And, come on, who’s gonna see us? It’s hidden, it must be important or they wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to hide it and protect it. Just a peek inside, and if it’s dangerous, then we bolt outta there.”

Calvin sighed. “Okay…”

He smashed his fist into the concrete, and cracks started to radiate forward from the point of impact. He kept hitting the door, over and over again, until a small hole Tommy’s size was open.

Musty, stale air came from inside. A dark and long tunnel greeted them, leading deep into the mountain.