CHAPTER 69

* CLANDESTINE *

“Welcome to Clandestine!” said the friendly quickener, Paula, after transporting Becky, Bernie, Alyson, Hamen, and Melvin.

“I really thought this was going to take a lot longer,” Becky said with a slight chuckle.

When she woke up at sunrise in Hidden Valley, she assumed that she’d be walking all morning just as she did the previous day, but this proved not to be the case.

Amos, the chief of Hidden Valley, revealed that twenty minutes north of the cloaked town was one of the Fantasmal Government translifts that would take them outside the valley and near the small town of Langwaver. After they ate a hearty breakfast, the group set out. Alyson no longer needed to guide them as Melvin learned special mentus in Hidden Valley that allowed him to easily navigate the Lost Plains without issue.

Once they were transported out of the plains, it was just a one hour walk to the town of Langwaver where they quickly found a commercial quickener that could transport them to the Acumen border town of Marvtell. It was there they learned that the Kingdom of Acumen had a nationwide quickener network. People could go to any town or city marker, call for one of a dozen quickeners, and be transported anywhere in the large country for a nominal cost. After paying the appropriate fee, the group was immediately whisked off to the capital city of Clandestine.

All told, the trip had taken them less than two hours and it was still early morning. Becky was grateful for this because it meant she didn’t have to carry the rucksack all day. Each of them had one, and though hers and Melvin’s were the smallest, they were still heavy. Becky also carried the elfish bacilla, but it was light and didn’t seem to tire her arm no matter how long she held it.

“You’ll need to check-in over there,” Paula pointed to a guard station.

Becky turned to where the quickener was pointing, and her mouth dropped as she got her first look at the city. She swore loudly. “How…how did they do this?”

The group was just outside of a mountain sitting right in the center of the vast plains. The northern side was split open from top to bottom revealing a glimpse of the city within.

“That’s the cleverness of Acumen engineers,” Paula said proudly. “Have a great day.” With that, the cheery, blonde-haired quickener tapped her staff and disappeared.

“So, the whole mountain is hollow?” Becky asked no one in particular.

Most of the others in her group were equally surprised. Only Hamen seemed unimpressed. “Acumen engineering indeed,” he harrumphed.

“What?” Bernie asked as the group walked toward the guard station that Paula had indicated.

“They may have built this city, but the mountain was hollowed out by dwarves, probably millennia ago,” Hamen revealed. “It’s a technique only we dwarves know how to do and it’s very easy to recognize.”

They approached the guard station which was a small booth made of polished white stone. There was a man in a blue robe seated inside and two other men in purple robes standing near the entrance of the city. Becky only realized as they came closer that a semi-transparent blue aura covered the entire open area of the mountain.

The guard in the booth gave the group a politely puzzled look as they stepped forward. They made for a motley crew. Hamen was in his purple robe and silver belt, which of course marked him as a guardian, while Alyson with her grey-robe, silver belt and stone embedded under her blonde bangs signified that she was one of the elite weather masters. Both were advanced adimus ranks with high status and prestige. Becky and Bernie, in their plain brown shirts and shorts, and Henry in his black pants and short-sleeved green shirt, looked completely out of place with them.

“Hello, I’m Elder Barbidious Hamen, requesting entrance into the city on official Fantasmal Government business,” he told the man in the booth.

The man gave a friendly smile. “Of course Elder Hamen, I just need to see your identity cards to add the city registration.”

Hamen reached into his robe and pulled out a small purple card about the size of a credit card and handed it over. Alyson did the same while the others looked perplexed.

The guard sat a small rock on top of each card and tapped them with a rod. The cards glowed briefly but then returned to their dormant state.

“Thank you, Elder Hamen, your pass is, of course, unlimited. Mistress Silvers, your pass is also unlimited.” He was about to hand back the two cards when he paused abruptly.

“Is something wrong?” Hamen asked.

The guard was looking down at a small quartz tablet that had a thin, glass screen attached to it. “Mistress Silvers your name has been flagged by our registration system.”

“What?” Alyson said.

He shook his head as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing. “It looks like it’s just a flag on your name, not your specific identity. It says: ‘Please ask individual to report to the academy.’”

“The academy?” Alyson repeated.

“Yes ma’am, the Acumen Academy of Mentus Engineering located in Clandestine,” he clarified.

“But why?” Alyson seemed to be getting more confused.

“It doesn’t say. It’s just a flag. I’ve never seen something like this come up. It must have come from someone high level. Very few people can put a flag like this in the system.”

“I wonder if it has something to do with my promotion to weather master,” Alyson said.

Becky huffed at this. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve already got plans; we need to get a quickener to take us to Fantasmal Mountain. Whatever this is will have to wait.”

“You’re headed to the Fantasmal Government outpost?” the guard asked.

“Yes, we are,” Hamen said. “We need to get a quickener to the mountain.”

“I’m sorry Elder Hamen,” the guard said as he swiped at the tablet. “The Fantasmal Government temporarily shut down the quickener network due to a large-scale military maneuver.”

Hamen gave him a puzzled look. It wasn’t completely unreasonable that the military might be engaging in training exercises, but the timing struck him as odd. He said nothing of this though.

“They assured us it would be back up by late afternoon,” the guard continued as he finally handed back the two cards. “Now, what about the rest of your party?”

Hamen came out of his musings. “Oh, my other three companions don’t have identity cards. Will that be an issue?”

The guard gave a brief look of confusion at this but didn’t drop his professional demeanor. “No sir, I can issue them temporary passes; however, they will only be good for the day. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, we only need the day,” Hamen confirmed.

“Very good,” the guard said as he pulled out three black cards. “If I can get your names for registration purposes, I can issue your passes.”

Becky, Melvin, and Bernie gave their names and the guard started to process their registrations only to pause again, looking confused. “This is amazing…”

Becky gave an impatient huff. “What now?”

“All of your names are flagged in the system,” he said. “The same flag: ‘‘Please ask individual to report to the academy.’”

“Who would even know us?” Bernie said.

“It could be someone who knows our…unique circumstances,” Alyson said vaguely, not wanting to reveal much in front of the guard.

He finally finished processing their registration and Becky, Bernie, and Melvin each took one of the black cards.

“Please remember to keep your passes on you at all times,” the guard warned. “If you don’t, you’ll end up flagged by the city security team and questioned.”

“Wow, this place is fancy,” Alyson said with a whistle. “What about us? How does it work with our cards?”

“Because your identity cards are linked to your adimus signatures, the embedded registration mentus will work similarly, but you don’t need to have it on you at all times,” the guard explained. “There’s a translift just inside for quick access to the main sectors of the city. Enjoy your day.”

With that, Hamen led the group past the silent, purple-robed guards.

“Are they guardians too?” Becky asked quietly as they headed toward the entrance.

“No, they’re mandants,” Hamen corrected. “Note the white belts.”

“Oh of course, how could I miss that,” Becky said with ill-disguised sarcasm.

They passed through the blue-aura at the entrance of the mountain which felt like walking through a brief rain shower.

“Whoa, they’ve got a strong barrier,” Alyson noted. “Mandant guards, quartz passes, they take their security seriously.”

“All possible due to their core, I imagine,” Hamen said, though clearly not as impressed.

Once inside of the mountain, they were able to clearly see the sprawling city of Clandestine. Many tall buildings dotted the skyline, much like an earth metropolis, and the streets were wide and made of a smooth, white stone. A huge castle sat at the center, it’s white spire the tallest point by far. They stared in awe for a few seconds before heading down the main road that led to the outskirts of the city.

“So, what do we do now?” Bernie asked. “If we can’t go to Fantasmal Mountain, maybe we should check out the academy; it sounds like someone knows us at least. They could know something about the quickener accident. After all, they study that stuff here, right?”

“You don’t think it could be a trap?” Melvin asked. “It’s weird that the note was so vague.”

“I doubt it; If that Davron guy was after us, he’d use monsters not memos,” Becky quipped.

They reached a white stone building with a sign above it that read “Clandestine Translift Network.”

“I want to go to the outpost and find out what’s going on,” Hamen said. “If you want to visit the academy, I’ll meet you there after I’ve checked in.”

Becky shrugged. “I guess it’s worth a shot, but let’s not take too long. No matter what, we need to make it to the mountain today.”

They stepped inside the building, expecting to find themselves in a translift cave with multiple quartz polls just like the governance translift In Weather Mountain. Instead, they entered an all-white room that was completely empty. The door slid closed behind them automatically.

“What in the heavens…?” Hamen said as he looked around.

“Welcome to the Clandestine Translift Network. Please state where you would like to be transported,” came a disembodied female voice.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“That’s new,” Alyson said. “I didn’t know they made voice activated translifts.”

“Voice activated?” Hamen seemed thoroughly confused.

“Finally, something on this world I understand! Let’s try it out.” Becky was reminded of computerized voice assistants that were popular on Earth. She cleared her throat before declaring in a loud voice, “We want to go to the academy.”

“Acumen Academy of Mentus Engineering. Please stand by.”

They felt the briefest of shifts and the door opened again.

Alyson stuck her head out of the translift. “It worked,” she reported.

They stepped out into the middle of a bustling campus with hundreds of people walking around on paved brick sidewalks between the various buildings. It looked like a busy college campus.

“So where do we go now?” Alyson asked, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

“It looks like the main building is over there,” Melvin pointed to a five-story building marked “Administration.”

“Well, I will meet you four later,” Hamen eyed the translift warily before stepping back inside.

“You think he’ll be okay?” Alyson asked with a chuckle as they started down the walkway.

“I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it. I just hope he can find out what’s going on at Fantasmal Mountain,” Becky said. “The sooner we can get out of here, the better.”

“Don’t sulk, Becky,” Alyson said. “It’s not all bad. The guard said that access would be restored around midday, and in the meantime, we can check out these Acumen engineers. It’s a win-win.”

“Has anyone noticed that this place seems to be a little more…modern than anywhere else we’ve been?” Bernie said as he looked around.

“What do you mean?” Becky asked.

“Well look at these lights.” He pointed to the lamp posts on both sides of the walkway. “Those look like electric lightbulbs.”

“Yeah,” Melvin agreed, “and a lot of them are carrying the same quartz tablets that guard had. They look really similar to what we have on earth, just made of quartz.”

“The robes styles here are different too,” Alyson added. “Nothing like what I’m used to.”

Becky shrugged. “Maybe this is just what all the cities are like. After all, you guys lived in isolated places in the middle of nowhere.”

“I went to Teedmount dozens of times while I lived in Weather Mountain, and that was a major city.” Alyson said as they reached the administration building. “It wasn’t anything like it is here. No voice activated translifts, no tablets,” the double doors slid open, and a blast of cool air hit them as they stepped into the lobby, “and definitely no air conditioning.”

Just as Becky was trying to figure out where they should go, a short, tan-skinned girl with long black hair walked up to them carrying a quickener staff in one hand and a quartz tablet in the other. She wore an open blue robe over her navy-blue culotte overalls, making it seem more like a long coat.

“Oi, you Becky Gabbie?”

Becky was taken aback by her abrupt tone. “Uh, yeah…how did you know?”

She tapped the screen of her tablet with her staff. “Your pass; anyway, the boss sent me to fetch ya.”

“Fetch us?” Becky repeated, but the girl tapped her staff on the ground, and they were whisked away.

“Four years of masters school just to quicken people up five floors, like I’m a rockin’ translift,” the quickener muttered with a chuckle as she opened the door marked Suite 505.

A young, pink-haired secretary greeted them as they entered. “Hello Marybeth, are these the guests Vice President Wilson is waiting for?”

“Yup, tell the boss I’m headed out to pick up Lady Maria,” the quickener said jovially.

“Will do; stay out of trouble,” the secretary said with a tinkling laugh.

“Not a rockin’ chance of that!” Marybeth said with a wave as she left the room.

“The Vice President is already waiting for you. Please head right in,” the secretary said, indicating the door behind her.

“Uh, okay…” Becky was very confused but decided to forego questions until she met with the person who had apparently summoned them.

She led the others through the door into an expansive office with vaulted ceilings, bookcases lining either side, and glass double-doors that led out to a balcony.

There, seated behind an impressively large wooden desk was a young man that Becky almost immediately recognized. He had pale skin, short blonde hair, and his mentant-blue robe matched his eyes. The look on his face told her that he wasn’t surprised to see them.

“Hello Becky, Bernie, Alyson, Melvin; I’m glad you all made it,” said Ben Wilson.

***

“Here’s your tea, sir,” Ben’s secretary said as she sat tall glasses in front of him and the others.

Ben had done little more than greet them before declaring that they should take the conversation to the balcony that was just outside his office. They sat at a glass-top table and Ben had his assistant bring them all chilled apple tea before they continued their discussion. The balcony itself was quite large and had a breathtaking view of the campus and the city beyond.

However, Bernie wasn’t looking at the view; instead, his eyes were trained on the pretty, pink-haired assistant. Unlike regular Mendalian robes that went down to a person’s ankles, she wore a thin, knee-length, white and blue robe that seemed more like a dress. He continued to watch her even as she left the balcony.

Alyson nudged him playfully. “See something you like?”

“Huh?” Bernie said as he seemed to come to himself. “Oh…I just…I’ve never seen a robe like that, but it also sort of looks familiar.”

Ben smirked as he took a sip of the amber liquid. “It’s because I designed it based off this show I used to watch back home. Sort of like a short yukata, but Mendalian style,” he boasted. “I’ve actually designed a few different styles of robes for men and women, but the style Alysa is wearing is the most popular so far among women. Obviously, formal robes will never go away since they mark rank and status, but for most people, that’s not an issue, so I think there’s a market for different styles.”

“So, is this what you’ve been doing with your time here?” Alyson asked with an eyeroll.

“Not the only thing,” Ben said with a knowing smile, “but before we get to me, why don’t you guys tell me how you ended up in Acumen, and all together too.”

Becky took the lead in telling their story with Bernie, Alyson, and Melvin intervening at the appropriate times. It was nearly twenty minutes before they were done and by then they’d all finished their tea.

“So, what about you, Ben?” Becky asked impatiently. “What the heck is going on? You’re the vice-president of this place? What does that even mean?”

“Basically I’m responsible for channeling our research and innovations towards realizing the various goals of the kingdom,” Ben said proudly. “I’ve been able to spearhead a lot of revolutions in mentus engineering. I’m sure you’ve seen the quartz information tablets, voice activation systems, and some of the other little inventions I’ve come up with all around the city. Of course, most of these innovations stay internal to our kingdom, but some products we export around the world, like this.” He pulled a small, white, spherical object from his robe pocket and sat it on the table.

Alyson immediately recognized it. “No way! Are you telling me you’re the one who came up with the modern orcrus design?” She gave an impressed whistle. “I’ve always wondered about them. How do you make the screen and keypad work?”

“It took some time, but I figured out how to convert mentus into a type of electrical power using a special hybrid quartz. Ever since then, I’ve been coming up with these types of electrical components and devices,” Ben explained.

“So basically, you’re ramming Earth technology and mentant engineering together,” Bernie said succinctly. “That’s pretty cool.”

“But how?” Melvin asked. “What did you use as a reference?”

“My smartphone,” Ben revealed. “I took it apart to experiment with. It was a ton of trial and error, but it was worth it.”

“So wait,” Becky said in a tone that bordered on frustration, “how long have you been here?”

“Fifteen years,” Ben said flippantly.

“You’ve been here fifteen years fooling around with smartphones and clothing designs instead of looking for the rest of us?” Becky’s voice was dangerously low.

Ben seemed unaffected. “Actually, I’ve been doing both. You see, I helped develop a device that connects to city cores and detect rifts. I augmented the core here in Clandestine and it can detect rifts across the whole kingdom, and we’ve been incorporating the same thing into cores around the world that we have contracts to do maintenance on. There are very few places that can maintain their own cores, so we have access to a lot of them. Any time a major rift was detected, I would search the area to see if someone from our group showed up, but I never found anyone. However, I did get one lead about seven years ago.”

Ben stood and went back into the office to retrieve something from his desk. “A quickener brought this in; it belonged to Stephanie.” He placed a smartphone on the table. “Apparently, she used it to barter for transport to Estern. I tried to track her down, but it was like she disappeared after that. I’m pretty sure she’s still out there somewhere though. I hope she’s okay.”

“You hope she’s okay?” Becky scoffed. “It doesn’t seem like you tried really hard. I’ve only been here a couple of days and I’ve already found three people, not including you.”

“I guess,” Ben shrugged, “but it makes sense I never found any of you. There’s no way I could have gotten into Glorandor; I have no idea how to navigate the Lost Plains; and Weather Mountain is a Fantasmal Government facility. Basically, you were all in places I couldn’t even search. I figured since I landed in the past, I’d have to wait until I caught up to my own time to find most of you. In the meantime, I had fifteen years to prepare. I also made sure that if anyone from our group came to the kingdom, I would be notified. That’s how I was able to guide you here.”

“Well, at least you did something…I guess,” Becky said before pouring herself some more tea from the pitcher Alysa had left. Something about Ben’s cavalier attitude still rubbed her the wrong way, but she decided to let it go.

“You seem to have really made a life for yourself here,” Bernie said.

Ben nodded, a broad smile on his face. “I love it; it’s everything I ever wanted. That’s why I’ve been working so hard to make sure Acumen is protected.”

“What do you mean?” Alyson asked.

“I knew the future. That Davron guy was going to find the Book of War, and from everything he said in the cave, he seemed to want to overthrow the Fantasmal Government. That means a huge war. I want Acumen to be able to stay out of it, but obviously I couldn’t tell anyone what I knew or what my true origins were, so I decided the best way to help was to work from the inside.

“At first, I thought maybe I could just figure out a way to stop Davron from even finding the book, but that was impossible. I didn’t even know where to start. So, I focused on shoring up Acumen’s defenses and increasing its influence around the world. That way Davron will hopefully leave us out of his little war. At the very least it gives the king a better position to negotiate with him if the time comes.”

“Wait…so you’re telling me no one knows you’re from another world?” Bernie said in a hushed tone as if not wanting to be overheard.

“You don’t have to whisper,” Ben chuckled. “The whole reason I moved us out here is because there’s a mentus barrier around the balcony. No one can hear us.”

“So, if you didn’t tell anyone, how did you manage to do all this?” Becky asked. “Apparently, you need an ID just to get into the city. How did you get by when you had nothing?”

“Well, I…” Ben started, but then he paused when he saw a tall, lanky, fair-skinned man entering his office.

Soon the newcomer opened the glass doors that led to the balcony. He looked quite eccentric with his short, messy blonde hair and open blue robe almost falling off one shoulder.

“Sorry Ben, I didn’t know you were entertaining guests. Are these foreign representatives?” he asked as he adjusted his robe to look more presentable.

“No, these are friends of mine who came to visit me on a whim while they were in the city on business,” Ben said before introducing everyone. “Guys, this is Christopher Rogowski, President of the Academy and a very good friend of mine.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Sorry I look a mess, but I just raced here from the core chamber. I hate to interrupt your reunion, Ben, but we could really use you down there. I tried calling you, but there was some sort of interference.”

“Ah, that was my fault,” Ben said apologetically. “I’ll head down right away.”

“Wait,” Becky said. “How long are you going to be? As soon as the Fantasmal Government opens the quickening cave, we need to get out of here. There are others waiting for us in Fantasmal Mountain, plus we still need to figure out where everyone else is.”

Ben faltered for a moment as if debating something. “I tell you what. Why don’t you wait at my manor? I’m sure this won’t take too long, and then we can talk more when I get back.” He opened the balcony door and called for his assistant. “Alysa, would you get Marybeth to take my friends to the manor; I need to head out for a bit.”

Before Becky could object further, Ben left with the chancellor, both of them talking rapidly about whatever issue they were dealing with.

“That man, always so in demand,” Alysa said with a look that clearly showed her admiration. “By the way, there’s an Elder Hamen in the lobby waiting for you.”

Completely nonplused, Becky and the others followed Alysa until they reached the lobby of the building, this time by translift.

“That was quick,” Hamen said when he saw them approach. “I just arrived a few minutes ago; I thought you’d be longer. Did you find out anything?”

“It’s going to take a while to explain,” Becky said. “How about you? Any word on how long it will be before we can go?”

Hamen shook his head. “Unfortunately, they didn’t share any information with the outpost workers about what’s going on. I’m sure it’s more than just a military exercise though. Regardless, they said it should only be a few more hours. I took a communication crystal so they could let me know immediately when the quickeners are back on duty.”

Becky swore under her breath but quickly composed herself. “Well, right now we’re headed to a friend’s manor. I’ll explain on the way.”

Alysa led them outside and immediately called “Marybeth.” Within a few seconds the brash, tan-skinned quickener appeared.

“Hey Alysa—oh, this lot again?” Marybeth said cheerfully as she brushed aside her black bangs.

“Mr. Wilson wants you to take them to the manor,” Alysa explained.

“So, Ben has his own manor,” Bernie said with mild curiosity. “I wonder what that’s like.”

He didn’t have to wait long to find out as once again the quickener transported them without warning, and in the next second, they were standing at the gate of a large estate. It was three stories tall, made of a polished white stone, and had an extravagant fountain in the main courtyard.

Alyson whistled once again as Marybeth guided them through the gates, which opened automatically when she tapped her staff against them. “Whoa, Ben really did well for himself.”

“Yeah, but the boss was gifted this house by Duke Westword,” Marybeth explained.

“What exactly is going on?” Hamen asked confused. “I feel like I missed quite a bit.”

As they headed down the expansive red-brick walkway, Becky briefly explained their encounter with Ben, careful to be vague and not mention anything about their origins since the quickener was just ahead of them.

“Fifteen years, that’s fascinating,” Hamen mused. “I never thought we’d find anyone who’d been sent back longer than Bernie.”

“I kind of get the feeling that he plans to stay here permanently,” Melvin said as they reached the wooden double-doors of the manor.

“Indeed, it looks like he’s made quite the life for himself,” Hamen said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Becky said. “We have to meet up with the others and find a way to get back home. Ben knows this. He’s not going to just abandon his friends to play around here.”

Marybeth, who seemed completely oblivious to the conversation happening behind her, pulled on a large rope to ring the bell. Within seconds, an older gentleman dressed in all black answered the door. “Ah, Ms. Winters, and who do we have here?” he asked cordially.

“The boss asked me to drop this lot off here.” Despite the more formal nature of the man in front of her, Marybeth’s demeanor didn’t change.

“Ben sent guests?” came a bright female voice from inside the palatial manor.

The manservant stepped aside to reveal a petite, fair-skinned woman wearing a short, sleeveless white dress with a red sash around the middle. She had sleek blonde hair that was pinned up in the back, revealing her pointed ears. Her more human facial features made it clear that she was half-elf.

She stepped forward and extended a hand to Hamen, who of the entire group held the highest rank. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I am Maria Wilson; I’m Ben’s wife.”