The Prophesy: Book 2 - The Right Hand of Destiny

 

The next few days were spent planning the exploration of the Elvin part of the Tunnel storage. The same arrangements were set up, as the princes, accompanied by their military escort, were teleported to the entrance. Another, futile, attempt was made to explore the upper layers. The first down was again Harp, and he moved to the tenth layer to open the vault. The structure of the vault seemed to follow the same pattern as the other, except for a huge room.

Spaced regularly in the room and running around the entire wall, were long tables of mithril covered in a thick layer of dust, where sat strange contraptions, polished glass tied to oblong rectangles with lots of keys, made of a strange substance. Behind the chairs, also made of that strange substance which composed the back of the glass, were huge drawers containing shiny disks that reflected Bata's light in strange ways. Paschal, always the design specialist quickly figured that the disks went in the slots seen on the side of the shiny glass. Behind the polished glass were long ropes that entered the wall. Clearly, this was some form of tool, but what type? Sitar noticed the rope could be pulled out of the wall, leaving behind three holes placed in a triangular fashion. The rope' end was designed to fit in the holes in a certain way, and only in that way.

The boys did not understand what this room was for and decided to leave it in place until they could understand its purpose.

"I prefer sealing that room than damage anything we might not be able to repair later," Harp decided. "Anyway, the high concentration of magic accumulated in these tables of mithril calls for careful handling of anything in here."

The inventory of level ten proceeded apace, and other huge boxes were found and recorded by the boys. The process continued until level two, which showed strange objects. One attracted Sitar's attention.

"Look at this. It says something like 'AMLRNG⁵⁵ ("Auto Mobile Long Range Nuclear Gun.") - TXMR⁶⁶ ("Texas Motorized Rangers 98th division.") -98-42 - ammo: TNO⁷⁷ ("Tactical Nuclear Ordinance.") cal 470 mm.'"

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea, but that thing is not a tooth pick. It is apparently mobile, if you look at the wheels. Let's try to explore further, but I have a bad feeling about this. Let's regroup. No opening of any closed enclosure from now on."

The exploration team continued, and they noted door identification, and, apparently, inventory of stuff found behind them. Some more strange vehicles could be seen, scattered at random, as if work had stopped suddenly and not restarted. There were few skeletons, way less than what would have been expected due to the extent of the level.

"Hey, didn't we see that thing earlier?" remarked Harp, pointing to a label.

"Yes, that is the same thing we saw. Exactly the same, and we are in luck; the door is open at the bottom. Let's have a look," suggested Enron.

The four smaller boys managed to slip under the vertically sliding door, but Timor had to wait outside, keeping company to the escort, or was it the other way around?

Bata was put to contribution and revealed a huge room with line after line of the AMLRNG carriages, for lack of a better word. The first one to notice there was a change from label to label was Thorsten.

"Hey, look! The numbers change from one to the next. This one is labelled TXMR-98-41. And the one next to it to the right is labelled TXMR-98-40." Walking to the next row, Thorsten exclaimed "And this one is numbered TXMR-98-35! I bet the one we see at the other end is labelled TXMR-98-05 with the one at the other rightmost corner labelled TXMR-98-01!"

The boys quickly verified Thorsten's hypothesis and it was confirmed. Then it was Paschal that noticed the residual white lines evenly spaced beyond the position occupied by TXR-98-41. A quick count revealed there were three unoccupied slot in that row, and that five more were ready to receive further AMLRNG carriages, bringing the total to fifty of these carriers.

"So, if I get this, there are room for fifty of these carriers, and they were in the process of bringing one in position when disaster struck. That also means there should be at least five other of these things rusting away somewhere, outside," analysed Sitar. "I wonder how they moved them."

Thorsten, always the impulsive, had climbed on the closest one and peered inside after rubbing the dust off.

"Hey, come look inside! There is a strange wheel, a magic stick in the middle, and two seats!"

The others took turn at looking inside and, true to Thorsten's description they saw seats, a wheel, a stick entering the floor, and three shiny pieces of metal on the floor. The boys looked at each other, not really understanding what they were seeing.

The boys resumed their exploration and found another room with a door open, labelled 'Central Control Room - Restricted Access'. There they found a skeleton in a seat, and lots of buttons, they could only imagine were the so-called 'controls'.

Further down, they found a huge door, again opened, and above it was printed in big red letters 'Ammunition Depot - Danger - NBC hazard - Protective Gear Mandatory Beyond This Point!' Three symbols were painted in yellow: the Atom God's was immediately recognized by everyone, and the skull was also easily identified as a sign of death; the other one baffled them, but they did not need a lesson in biohazards to guess it did not mean it was a green playground!

As they got nearer, it became apparent that a huge carrier of some form of ordinance had exploded just as it had been crossing the door, preventing any effort at closing it to circumvent the propagation of whatever it was carrying within the base. The fire had charred the sign on the carrier, so the boys did not know the general nature of the danger they were facing. Further study revealed the fire had triggered a chain reaction, and that quite a few of the ammunition had exploded, further compounding the disaster. Bits and pieces of twisted steel could be seen embedded in the rock walls and spread around from floor to ceiling.

Timor spotted an intact, if severely corroded oblong object. More cautious than Thorsten due to his long experience with danger, he backed away and called the others rather than get close.

"That must be what they call ammunition, Timor," Sitar said. "From its size I would not like for it to blow in our face. But we need to know what it is."

One of the fairies suggested she get close and see if she could make up any sign on the outside.

"Fine by me, but do not touch it under any circumstance! That thing may be waiting for a feather to touch it to blow up!" Sitar said.

The little fairy slowly walked toward the shell, not even disturbing the dust as she progressed. After careful examination, she retreated, and reported her find.

"It has that skull sign, and, some trace of a red oxidant, a cal number, 105."

"OK, let's get out of here, guys. I really do not like this place. It gives me the creeps."

"I agree, Sitar. However, when we pass by the first carriage on our way back, I would like to look inside the front to test a hunch."

"OK, Harp. Let's leg it!"

As they neared the first of the carriers, Harp hopped on the footstep, and looked inside, after rubbing the dust off. A couple of skeletons were sitting inside the cabin. Repeated verification of each carrier found outside showed there were one or two skeletons depending on size. The boys decided to look beyond the huge door found at the end of the central Southern 'street', so Harp pierced an eyehole about a quarter of an inch in diameter at eye level. It revealed an open hall right across the door, so Harp teleported himself on the other side, and, joined by Sitar, followed the giant tunnel that seemed to climb regularly along a rather straight line. After about two miles, the boys met another door, and, after another eyehole examination, found they could again teleport safely on the other side. There a surprise came to view: the missing AMLRNG! All were empty; this clearly indicated their drivers had left them after waiting for entry and not getting it. Other vehicles were mixed with the AMLRNG. The length of the vehicles prevented them from turning around, and, seemingly backing out was difficult. The boys followed the external tunnel to its conclusion, and the reason why it had not been possible to back out became very apparent! The bridge that spanned the narrow gorge was down, and clearly had been hit by high explosives. The boys returned via direct teleport to their friends and got ready to explore the first level.

Layer one also reserved another surprise. This time, it was buildings of extraordinary sizes. Amongst them was a huge steel tower, named 'Saturn-V Moon Rocket', and a 'space shuttle', but also a series of strange-looking things: 'B-1 Bomber', 'B-2 Bomber'. 'B-52 Bomber', 'SR-71 Spy Plane', 'U-2 Spy Plane', a beautiful thing called 'Concorde SS Transport' and a humongous thing labelled 'Airbus A-380'. And beyond that, there were other things held in births: A 'U-boote', and other similar object, an 'Enterprise Aircraft Carrier', and 'ships'. At the other end there were buildings, buildings, and more buildings, most of which held no meaning for the boys. The only constant things found in all labels were the words 'Exact replica - scale 1:1'. One ship was fascinating to all: One named the 'Vasa Gunship - Doomed square-rigger tall sail ship, which capsized on her maiden voyage.' The furled sails were kept in their socks, dry and ready to use. Paschal, always with an eye for design, noted:

"From what I see, that thing must have been top-heavy. No wonder it capsized. Now that one named the 'Savannah Schooner', is designed for speed. And look at that other one, the 'Blue Nose'! It must have been a speed horse! Now, that trireme⁸⁸ ("Trireme: maritime word designing a galley with three rows of overlapping oars on a side, the biggest ships of the galley era.") must have been a nightmare to handle at sea!", as he pointed to a roman galley.

"Anyway, let's complete the inventory. We are almost done, another week, and we will be ready to move things. The biggest piece is the 'Cheops Pyramid' that strangely resounds down in my memory, as well as the 'Sphinx'," reminded Paschal.

"Funny you mention this. To me it was the 'Dolmen Neolithic Alignments' and the 'Stonehenge Cromlech' that resonate most in my memory," replied Harp.

"Since we are on the subject, the 'Pyramid of the Moon' and the 'Temple of the Sun - Machupicchu' fascinate me more than anything!" Sitar informed them.

"I have been fascinated by Ayers' Rock and Mount Sinai, but they are on a 1000:1 scale. But what really ticks me at the core is 'Solomon's Temple - reconstruction from descriptions'; I have a feeling this reconstruction is off by a wide margin, and something is missing," Enron completed the overview. "Nonetheless, the most beautiful building of all is definitely the Taj Mahal." Everyone nodded, as they remembered the beauty of the building reflecting in a shiny mirror, that they supposed was the representation of water.

The inventory resumed and came to conclusion on schedule. Thorsten and Timor found a common interest in the reproduction 1:1 of the 'Lascaux Neolithic Paintings in Setting' Other caves found their approval as well, and as more and more were found, the two grew closer. The discovery of the 'Easter Island Sculptures' nailed it: Who would have thought the Trolls and dwarfs had a common sense of aesthetics?

The last section visited was labelled 'Electrical Power Plant' with a stylized lightning bolt, and double steel doors, one of which was partly opened. A quick exploration revealed row after row of 'electrical generators', 'Dam Gates controls' and 'Load Regulators' which triggered a vague memory in Paschal. Unable to set his finger on a clear image, he decided to put that on the backburner. Everything was silent in the room but a deep rumble could be heard below their feet as the rock vibrated. An underground river was passing nearby. Paschal promised himself he would return to understand all this, once he managed to get his hand on a technical manual.

The group emerged from the caves elated but also worried. How many deadly poisons were waiting in level two? Harp and Sitar had resealed the level, and made sure all potential entrances were blocked by wards.

***

Winter never really stopped, and summer was but a mockery. Who would have thought this possible to see snowfall and blizzards in Jul? Nonetheless, the royals worked their heart out to make sure everyone had food and sufficient wood to heat their homes. The use of horse-drawn sleds to carry goods and wood across the kingdom became a common sight. Wolves would also pull sleds to carry people and smaller loads. Every member of the equines and canines knew they had a duty to fulfil in maintaining the kingdom running. As the weather continued to look gloomy, rescue efforts were extended to other animals. Giant aviaries were built under geodesic domes, for each major family of birds. The raising of rodents to feed the predatory birds and the other carnivores of the zoo became a veritable industry. Even fresh-water fish were rescued, as it became apparent that the ice cover would not melt on most rivers. Considerable efforts also went into invertebrates.

The extent of the climatic change was such that the royals decided to expand their search for life forms outside the Kingdom. They divided their effort by scouring different continents in pairs. Thorsten was adamant: he would go where Harp would go. Then it was Sitar and Enron that decided to pair up, while Paschal and Timor ended together. Next came the distribution of work. Paschal and Timor took Africa, while Sitar and Enron decided to handle Eurasia, since they were both magical and the continent was by far the biggest of all. Harp and Thorsten decided to handle America. That left Australia and Antarctica to handle. Yamato and Williams decided to handle these two, rather small continents. The biggest problem remained: how to handle the oceans, which represent seventy-five percent of the surface of the globe? The remaining royals, namely Samson, Harold, Annabelle, and Dunbar decided to join force and tackle the problem. There arose the issue of travel on oceans: if it is viable to teleport point to point on land, standing on water was uncomfortable at best! And there were these stories about these giant sharks. No one wanted to end up as an entrée for one of them! Another issue was the Atom God's dejections that seemed to lace the seas. How could they make sure they were not caught in one of these rivers within the oceans?

Paschal suggested that they again resorted to the memory of the Wolf Conscience to find a solution.

"It's regretful that humans are so ferociously independent. Had they developed a Conscience, we could find the answer in it rather than resort to searching the memories of dogs past to look for any gleaned information!" exclaimed a frustrated Harp.

"Well, you do that, and meanwhile, I'll be looking into that vast store of information we have below our feet. I'm not ready to go back to the Tunnel yet. I have shivers down my back just thinking about that level. We blocked the normal exits, Harp, but we never considered the ventilation mechanisms. It may well explain why everyone died almost instantly. If one of these ordinances decided to leak or blow, we might not know of it in time to escape."

"Do you think these things could still be active after six thousand years, Sitar?" asked Samson.

"Oh yes! Look at the Atom God. It still is biting at our ass after all this time! I am sure the Ancients' alternate forms of weapons were as effective if not more! I have been thinking about this and I have come to a disturbing conclusion, and I am sure the Ancients did too. There are three classes of weapons, independently of their mode of delivery. The first class is the Atom God, which burns like the sun, therefore is a radiation weapon; the second is bacteriological, sicknesses and the likes; and finally, there is the chemical, like poisons. We have already recovered one of three, namely the chemical, with the spider poison. It would not take much effort to find a way to use sicknesses, but I will vehemently oppose the development of it or radiological weapon loads. We know what gives with radiation ordinances, we live its consequences every day. We see sicknesses, and epidemics; a bacteriological weapon might well come bite us in the ass. And I will also oppose mass dispersion of chemical loads. We have no control as to what happens when one of these things is thrown in a battle, or how long it stays effective. Chemical weapons must stay of limited dispersion, preferably on an individual basis."

The others looked at Sitar and the realisation dawned on them that his critique of sophisticated weaponry was amply justified.

"Anyway, the Ancients probably had ways to detect the Atom God's Breath?" asked Timor, who was slowly coming out of his shell and contributing more to debates.

"Yes Timor, they had. The most common was the Geiger counter. I came across a reference to it in one of the books of the Elvin library. Unfortunately, there was no diagram or explanation onto how to build one. I can still remember my frustration when I read the line 'Any off the shelf Geiger counter can be used to detect trace amounts of radiation and help in detecting pitchblende, the mineral from which uranium is extracted to fuel nuclear reactors.' Off the shelf my ass! There was not even a picture! If the author wasn't long dead, I would kill him with my bare hands!"

"Even if you had one of these things right under your nose and knew what it was, are you sure it would still be functional? I am sure these detectors needed a source or other of energy and any energy leaks," Paschal said.

"Anyway, Paschal, that is an important tip, notwithstanding Sitar's frustration," replied Harold. "All we need to send for is a feed for 'Geiger counter'. It may take time, but I am sure one of the dog ancestors was at least nearby when one human used that word. By cross-referencing all instances and titbits, we may be able to grasp the principle, if not a downright plan."

"Dad's right, guys. Oh, sorry, mom!"

"Come on, Enron, don't cut a hair in four lengthwise. Leave that to corrupt politicians trying to justify why they spend a gold coin to buy a copper nail!"

"That sounds like what we are unearthing while doing an audit of the Royal Treasury and the management by the previous lord Exchequer," piped up Thorsten. "That guy was worse than a wood borer in a mine stud."

"It seems we may need to put him to the question, dad. I am sorry we cannot recover what was stolen. I doubt anything survived of your ancestral home, Thorsten."

"I don't know what dad would say to that comment, Harp, but finding you was worth all the losses. What pleases me immensely is that the bastard must have nightmares every night about his lost riches!"

Everyone exploded in unbridled laughter at the image of the avaricious dwarf mumbling in his sleep "My gold! My sapphires! My rubies! My diamonds! My money! My hard-robbed riches! All gone! All gone! I am starving! I feel sick! I am dying! They have skinned me alive! On my tombstone, write: From riches to rags and my motto: In Gold we trust!⁹⁹ ("A mockery of the motto found on United States' legal tender: In God we trust.")" that Thorsten impersonated as he twisted on the floor holding his stomach.

"If ever you decide to retire from kingship, Thorsten, I'm hiring you as court fool! That was priceless!" Harold said, to some chuckles.

"Anyway, let's get back to our problem. Boys, when you start exploring outside of the kingdom, try to find orc nests, but stay safe. The crocodile priest must be reduced in number in many regions that are living an extended winter. However that winter probably does not extend to the equator. As we move south, you will need to be more careful. Also, keep an eye out for other predators."

"Dad, I worry less about big predators than invisible enemies, namely the Atom God. We can never be sure all zones were marked, or that they have not shifted," answered Enron. "However, I doubt a short hop into a dangerous area would harm us significantly."

"Enron's right. I have been thinking about something," Harp said.

"What, son?"

"We could effectively use Paschal's idea of a mobile magic field, the one he used to conserve pressure as he went up in the air, to isolate ourselves from the detrimental effects of Atom God's Breath of Death."

"But the magic field as we know it doesn't shield?"

"Paschal, we never tried applying it to that task. I think I can even modify it so it blocks all radiations."

"For what good that would do us, Harp! We would be in the dark! Light is radiation! And so is heat, come to think of it!"

"The objection is correct, Paschal, but look at glass: it seems to block some of the sun's light. If that can do it, we may be able to look at how it does it and find a way to not only maintain the transparency of the field, but make it so that what we do not want stays out."

"That assumes we know what is the nature of the Atom God's Breath."

"Again, right, Paschal. But let's deal with that problem in an orderly fashion. First, we need to understand how glass does what it does. When we have found a way to not only do what glass does but also improve on it, we need to find information on the nature of the Atom God's Breath. Hopefully, the combination of the two will help us device a field that will be effective."

"The second point is my domain, Harp. I'll see what I can find about the Atom God's Breath. The Ancients must have documented this somewhere. However distasteful it may be, I may have to go back to the Tunnel."

"Oh no, you will not be going there alone. I have finished my tests with the tessaract, and I have multiplied the number of them by twenty. I figured it would be less stressful to have twenty tessaracts, spread in a circle around the College of Magic, than pack everything into a single tessaract. I've also decided to increase the footprint from the one square yard I had planned to ten thousand square yard per tessaract field. That way, the weight will be distributed, and the rocks will be able to bear it without unduly stressing the magic core under the College of magic."

"That is a lot of space!"

"Yes, it is. But we will be able to not only move the contents, but use it as well. The result is that we will effectively unpack the books, and have access to them. I plan to make the tessaract in such a way it is about three yards high by a hundred yards on a side. The total three-dimensional volume of the tessaract will be thirty thousand cubic yards. In the tessaract, we will have thirty million cubic yards of space."

"Why the twentieth tessaract, I thought we had decided to leave level two of the western end intact?"

"Look at what's below our feet. The caves and mines are full to the brink, and we have an impossible time finding stuff we may need in an emergency, Annabelle. In fact, I plan to use that move as a test run for the process."

"That is a good idea. Does magic work within the tessaract?"

"Oh yes, it is pure magic space. Even a non-magical being, given proper training in the use of the Will and the Verb, can practice magic. A magical being becomes in Gestalt with space and instantly knows where everything is, if he knows what to ask for."

"The Will and the Verb?" asked an interested Timor.

"When you know what you really want, and can see it in your mind, then you can verbalise its description to Magic. For instance, if I want a piece of gold, I think gold, get a grab around its intrinsic nature, then give it form, say I want a gold coin. I can then say 'I want to create one gold coin, or a hundred, here, at that place, now', and it will do it for me. The more precise the mental image, the more complete, and the better the creation will conform to my wishes. I still remember when I tried the gold coin exercise for the first time. I ended up with a piece of lead, not even gold plated! I was so embarrassed!"

"What about food?"

"We create the food by imagining how the proteins, fats, sugars and what not are organized. Note we have not created a living organism yet, by far. That is way too complex for us, still. And also, it is way too dangerous. Life has something more than the sum of its components. It is this bit that is the prerogative of he Creator, not ours. The Fallen tried to create life to fit their need, and it brought them down. They overestimated their knowledge, their understanding of what life is, and somehow, it blew up in their face. By the way, when we kill a life form, we only send its essence on its way to the next cycle. This is the tragedy of the soul-snatchers. They destroy the Creator's work more thoroughly than just by sending the life essence off on a trip to another cycle: they devour that essence, make it theirs and pervert it to the point it can no longer be part of the cycle. Their loss is great, but it is their doing. However, they blame Life itself for their condition, and you know the rest. I do not plan to try to give life to what is inherently dead, notwithstanding Silver Moon, but then, his death was more like the spark did not want to sustain itself. I just boosted the juice, I did not try to create it."

"And we have not used magic to modify genetic material to accelerate evolution in a directed way either. We will not repeat the mistakes of the priests or, for that matter, the Elohim. Intelligent design only proved one thing: how stupid and conceited these entities were."

"That's strange, I though they claimed they created life!"

"I suspect they believed they could, and, instead of pursuing their original artificial selection to fruition and lead mankind into its evolution, they tried to create life out of nothing. It backfired and burned them beyond recognition. This was their downfall. They lost control of things, and became the Evil Ones. They cannot die as long as they have souls to feed on, but they live in loathing of life because it is a constant pain to them, a reminder of their failure. The worse is they have influenced man's understanding of events, an easy task given they live so long and humans live so short a life."

"That's a fascinating story, Harp. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Dad, I found a 'Bible' and read it; as I did so, the facts, the real ones, popped in my memory. We were not there, but we had access to a Book, the Book of Knowledge, that predates the Bible and relates the events as they were recorded by those Elohim that did not fall prey to unbounded ambitions. I remember reading it in the Royal Atlantean library, before the Child Moon fell. It is in our safekeeping, since I remember personally bringing it to Kantar when we set up the Royal Library there. It logs the entire process that led to the fall. My memory is still spotty, but the more I talk about that, the clearer it becomes. In short, there were two factions amongst the Elohim; the first wanted to follow a careful, controlled protocol; the other group, on the other hand, wanted to create vessels for their souls, not caring about the lowly life form's wellbeing. At one point, the leader of the dark ones decided to break the protocol, thus forcing the others to follow their decision. They informed the experimental subjects; naturally, they gave them biased information, and released them in nature. By the time the others had managed to recover their subjects, it was too late: free breeding had occurred, and births were numerous. The good guys couldn't resolve themselves to destroying innocents born out of spite. The breeding project was ruined. The Bible relates this sequence of events, but in a deformed way. The dark ones managed to take the nice role of creators, which is their most blatant lie. One thing did survive: the name of the leader of the Dark Elohim: Lux, or Lucifer. From that Book of Knowledge, it appears it was not his real name but a name he gave himself because he thought he was the Light set out to guide the Elohim to their Destiny. The battle between the good ones and the bad ones was horrendous, and left the planet devastated, destroying every trace of the advanced installations of the Elohim. Finally, finding they could not ever hope of restarting the project, the surviving Elohim that wanted to conform to the original project left, but not before destroying everything and anything remotely technical. They left the dark ones here to fend for themselves, like a ship captain would leave mutinous crewmembers on a desolate island. That is why, even today, you find Dark Princes on Earth. Everywhere in that book, you see the imprint of the Dark Ones. The Fallen Angels, as they are so aptly named, have corrupted everything they have touched ever since. They have even usurped the Creator, claiming to do things in his name. No loving God would do what the god described in the Bible did. Genocides, wars, and wanton destruction are not what would be considered the mark of a loving God. They even claimed the Flood that destroyed Atlantis as their own doing, when we know it is not the case: We were there! They are so intent on destroying things and life they did not hesitate to destroy a couple of towns for a minor offence done to one of them by a guard, using a weapon so powerful even the Ancients did not dare use it. But there was justice in that event: quite a few members of the Fallen leadership perished during that explosion."

"What was that?" wondered Thorsten.

"From the description, antimatter. It disrupted their very soul's bindings and all those within range exploded. That also explains why there are few surviving original Dark Ones, if any. All those we have underfoot are, to the best of my knowledge, second or third generation Evils. It also explains why the prayers usually go unanswered. The Dark Ones are too self-centred to care, and they rejoice in misery of others. Once in a while, they do Good but only because it suits them to do so. If a good action can create division and war, go for it is their motto. Since they are always at each other's throat, they cannot unite, which is beneficial to the good side."

"Much like orcs and crocodiles."

"Yes, Samson. And I'm not going to complain!"

"I have to wonder why the Book of Knowledge, and its sister book, the Book of Life, were not destroyed by the Fallen?"

"I have two hypotheses: the good ones hid them at the beginning of the War of the Angels, in two distinct and distant parts and the Dark ones did not find them; the second hypothesis is that they are indestructible. Unable to destroy them, the Dark Ones decided to write their own corrupt version of the Book, and spread it around, in order to have control over the ever increasing and rebellious human population. One thing that has me fascinated is the repeated emergence of prophets. I think they are spurious recombination of the human genetic pool that led to the recessive traits the original selection plan to combine into an individual to varying degrees. Some saw things in the future, which was one of the traits that the Elohim's original plan wanted to favour. It also includes the use of the magic field, or what the other humans called miracles. The Fallen Ones hunted them down without mercy. Sadly, some prophets fell prey to the Fallen, and preached hatred, serving what they thought was the Creator. The Ancients' religions were full of these preachers of hate, serving the Dark under the false impression of serving the Light; the Fallen must have had an orgasm when they saw the destruction the Cataclysm unleashed."

"I have the impression the Elohim were litterbugs, they left their garbage, namely the Evil Ones, behind when they lifted camp!" commented Timor, to the hilarity of everyone else.

"I wonder what impact the Atlanteans had on their plans?"

"Not good, I think. Remember, we are labelled 'humanoid' not human, the same label that comes with the Elohim. There is something here that we need to resolve yet. I suspect the Fallen must have been relieved that Atlantis went on the wayside. Our re-emergence, now, must really bug them, and it pleases me immensely to be in their way."

"I wonder what happened to the Elohim that left?"

"Maybe the Book of Life could shed light on the issue, but for now their destiny is of little importance to our survival. We have a lot of things to do, and quite a few mysteries to resolve, dad," Harp replied. "All I can say is that the Fallen have marred every effort at recreating a viable positive philosophy of life. Be it the Torah, the New Testament, or the Koran, they had managed to leave their dirty imprints on them by erecting laws in the name of the Creator that condone abuse, torture, war, discrimination and misery. The very Essence of the creator as Love of Life and its diversity has been obliterated. Sins pertaining to the propagation of life abound, which make for no sense whatsoever; rules that devalue the vessel of life and reduce it to less than human status have been enacted, all in the name of a creator that is supposed to see everyone as equal. Life itself is considered expandable, since the Creator is portrayed as practicing genocide to allegedly eradicate those who do not think like him. Yet, look around: life thrives on diversity, not on its opposite. Each time a species becomes too uniform, too specialised, it dies out because it can no longer adapt to change."

***

The four magical princes spent the next week designing a magical ward that would be used as a shield against the Breath of Death and other manifestations of the Atom God. Their first objective, understanding how a window shielded from the sun, put them through a difficult time. They knew nothing about light itself. Fortunately, Newton had a dog, and the Wolf Conscience had managed to log in some of his comments to his family about his experiments. From there, progress was quick, because Newton's name resonated like thunder across the princes' collective memories, and then the rest followed in an explosion of knowledge recovered from their past. Quickly the physics driving the nuclear weaponry, its consequences, and the debate on their use, Albert Einstein's unwilling implication in the development of nuclear power, Fermi's experiences, and the hydrogen bomb all came cascading back to them. The sudden gain of knowledge also revealed that there was more to radiation than electromagnetic energy, there were hard particles, alpha and beta rays, gamma rays, x-rays, in fact, a whole spectrum of more or less damning components. These in turn led to a review and restructuring of the ward so that it would cover a wider range of hazards. The principle retained was two-fold: a density gradient in a force field, that would effectively force light of certain wave lengths to bend and travel around a protected area; second, the need to deal with high speed particles forced the boys to create a secondary layer to the ward, that would effectively reflect these particles like a mirror reflects light. Yet the main issue remained: how to verify its efficiency without risk. The idea that led to the solution came from Thorsten, which really was proving a positive addition to the group.

"Hey, what if we had a spherical magic, that would sparkle at the passage of any of these things, something we could hold in our hands? Then, someone could be inside the protective field and verify visually its effectiveness by looking at the sphere. If it sparkles, the ward is not working, if it stays dark, it is working."

"That is an excellent idea, Thorsten, however I will amend that idea somewhat. See, the curvature of a magic field stresses it and requires more energy to maintain. We will put a third layer to the shield, one that sparkles if the outer walls fail to do their work properly. It might even help us fine-tune the wards."

Harp's approval of his idea made Thorsten's day and he literally shone with pride and good humour. It made him feel so good to be accepted as an equal amongst all these marvellous people!

The addition of the scintillation layer, as Harp decided to call it, was not as easy as it might seem. They had problems because the sparks were too weak to impress their retina, as was revealed by a quick hop into the vicinity of a Forbidden Forest. Further research was needed. Paschal was the next one to propose an idea: why not create a chain reaction within the field where the emission of a single light particle would trigger the emission of a thousand more, in a chain reaction¹⁰¹⁰ ("This is the principle of the photomultiplier.")? By selecting the wavelength and filtering it out, it would stand out from the inside. The next problem was to choose the right wavelength. Violet being rare, its suppression from the visual range was not a major impairment to vision. It was light within the violet range that would be mirrored back to the outside world. That had unexpected results: From the outside, the energy field, which had initially appeared transparent, took a violet hue. This did not bother the boys, since it also hid their presence inside the force field.

Then Timor, always the practical hunter, added another suggestion: animals dissipated heat, why not use the same principle to track their whereabouts, since finding them was the goal of the entire exercise. It was back to the drawing board.

Another thin layer got added to the ward, this time filtering red, but letting infrared in, to a certain point. A specific range was also selected so it could be amplified to the visual level. The benefits were many: tracks could be followed, and aged according to the degradation of their heat signature. Animals could be seen at night much more easily. Heat could be allowed inside the dome, which had been damn cold so far, much to the discomfort of the boys. And finally, since excessive heat was reflected back out, it became possible to go into hot spots with relative impunity. A simple idea had developed into a complex endeavour that had required many weeks of trials and errors. Winter equinox was almost on them when the boys finally felt comfortable with their ward, and proceeded to create multiple copies of the complex system. Harp's image of magic as being weaved from threads came in handy and helped everyone contribute to the task. Even Thorsten and Timor asked that some of their magic be spooled off for the need of the work. Harp obliged and realised that both had huge, unused, reserves. They both would be magical, given the proper incentives to break their blockage. He had an idea as to what might trigger Thorsten's release, and it sent shivers down his spine, but had no idea of what would get Timor's to boil to bursting point. Sometimes, he thought, prophecies can be a pain in the butt!

***

The Ark project, as it had been officially named after some of the zookeepers had repeatedly referred to it in that name, really gained momentum from this moment on. While no solutions had yet been found for the Oceanic life, it was decided that keeping all living organisms free roaming might, in the very short term, become impractical, even if they were in wide enclosures. The solution was to put them in stasis pods, packed layer upon layer, in suspended animation. It would have many advantages: There would be no need to feed them; they would take a lot less room; genetic diversity could be maintained by allowing the capture of as wide a sample of a species as possible; and, while they were in suspended animation, eggs and sperm collection could be undertaken without undue risk to both the keepers and the animals. To guide the boys into their collecting task, the Book of Life proved irreplaceable. It gave them a full inventory of each species, its habitat, its numbers, and other important information. As each couple left, they memorised the book's contents, and upon return, checked on it to verify if they had reached their goal for that day. They targeted the species that were on the verge of extinction, keeping those that were widespread for last. Gradually, the book reflected their work with more and more species marked with a 'SA' for Suspended Animation addendum to its definition.

Ian reached his second year and began talking Elvish and human without much prompting from his parents. He kept riding Silver Moon around Eloise, always escorted by horses, dogs, and wolves that made sure nothing happened to the prince. That summer, Thorsten and Harp had been moving north from the tip of South America, moving in a systematic search and rescue pattern. North America had been searched up to the border of what once was known as Mexico. Even Lois was visited, but it was now a phantom town. The people had either run away from something or had perished in one way or another. The last outpost of civilisation east of the Rockies was no more. No rats were even left in the place, not even cockroaches! One thing the search revealed was that the orcs and crocodiles were again at war with each other, the crocodiles swimming up the Hippy from the sea and invading the waterways. Crocodiles would wait for a party of orcs to ford a river and swarm them. Their hunters also seemed to be more numerous than usual, clearly indicating that, somewhere, humans were still being captured to breed. The ice blocking the passes was probably the only reason the wards surrounding the Elvin kingdom had not been triggered.

Harp and Thorsten reached what was left of the Amazon forest, which had suffered indirectly from radiation damage. Vast expanses of it had burned, and the soil, poor by nature, had been slow to recover. Further damage had occurred in direct hits from the fist of the Atom God, mainly in places identified on ancient maps as Brasilia, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janiero. The sudden apparition of the reddish-violet dome walking in the forest terrorised the sparse human population and the rumour of an evil spirit of the forest made communication with the humans next to impossible. They ran at the mere sight of the dome. The disappearance of their dogs added to their fear.

It was Thorsten that figured out what was happening, and he explained how he thought the human saw the dome from the outside. It made good sense to Harp, so the next village they neared, Harp dropped the dome in favour of a simple transparent shield. He expected that two children walking in the village would be less threatening than the dome doing the same. Boy, was he sorely mistaken! Panic spread even faster amongst the dark-skinned humans of the forest. The result was even more dramatic! They were pelted with arrows and darts, which rebounded off the field, thus adding to the frenetic behaviour.

"I don't get it?" wondered Thorsten.

"Me neither, Thorsten, but I'm getting pissed. Let's capture one of the elders. Maybe I can extract the information from the bugger!"

It took some doing to find one of the humans that had not run into the forest, and for cause: he was sick with a severe case of paludism. Harp quickly found the parasite's signature in his blood stream and dispatched it. Recovery would be slow, but at least the individual was out of danger for the time being. It took the man about two hours to emerge from his coma, and, the moment he saw Harp and Thorsten, he tried to run away. Harp had been expecting the reaction and had binded him to his pallet. As the man frantically tried to escape and his head moved from left to right in denial of a fate he did not want to face, Harp searched his memory gently for the reason of his state of mind. After ten minutes, Harp ported him outside and let him go.

"Well?"

"It seems white men are associated with the Devils. They have been repeating across subsequent generations a long litany of stories about the arrival of white men, strange sicknesses destroying their people, and then Pachacamac, the Sun God, avanging his people by destroying their corruption. I think they are refering to the Inca god of the Sun, and merged it with the Atom God, making the later the vangeful arm of the former. To be honest, I would not have put it above some of the Ancients to have used bacteriological warfare on the people inhabiting these forests, especially if they offered resistance to the spoliation of their lifestyle. I suspect it was repeated over and over, Thorsten. And probably, if the human populations were isolated from each other for long periods of time, some diseases were common in some areas, building immunity, and when these people moved outside of their normal range to explore, they brought with them the disease to which they were immune, but to which they exposed a defenceless population, decimating them."

"Aren't we doing the same thing? After all we come from quite far!"

"I have been worried about us catching something, so when we started this task, I took my precautions, and informed the other teams of the potential hazards. We have been wearing what amounts to a biohazard suit, and we have been protected from any infection. By the same token, we have kept our own shit with us, and not contaminated the environment we travel. But your question shows you have grown into a very valuable member of our team, Thorsten."

"But I still do not do magic!"

"That's not what makes value. It is the positive contribution you do to our work that matters."

"There are so many things I don't understand."

"Like what?"

"Well, you have apparently vast knowledge but it seems to be filled with huge gaps!"

"Oh, that. I explained that to dad some years back. I think if we got dumped with all the knowledge instantly, we would lose our minds, so it gets distilled to us on a need to know basis. I think the problem with the prophets was that they did not dispose of this mechanism and most became nuts over a short period of time."

"Will I lose my mind when my turn comes?"

"No, definitely not. We will be there to buffer your learning curve and explain things to you. Prophets were lonely, sometimes weakened by long periods of feasting, and generally ill equipped to deal with what they learned, given their culture. We came to this world with a memory of the Ancients' feats, and that has helped us deal with events. We know what science is, but also what magic is. We understand their interaction, and we are much better equipped than any prophet would have been to understand what we see and deal with."

"That makes me feel better. What do we do with the humans? The genetic pool we have in store is limited. Do you think we could capture some?"

"That would be easy, but I prefer delaying that. Something tells me to wait. I have marked their members and, when the time comes, we will be able to retrieve them rapidly. Theoretically, any newborn child will be staying long enough with an adult to be recovered. Let's leave, we have a lot of ground to cover and that ecosystem is particularly complex to sample adequately."

The boys resumed their search pattern, keeping with their policy of recovering canines. At long last they found the herd of unicorns, and, after exposing the issues to the stallion via telepathy, the unicorns' Conscience accepted their offer to move to Elvin lands. To say the sudden appearance of the six hundred and fifty-three unicorns in Eloise was a shock would not render justice to the reaction. Harp quickly created for them a vast greenhouse that mimicked the generally hilly terrain they were used to, and saw to it that they had a plentiful source of fresh food and water. He figured the unicorns would need some acclimatising to the much rougher weather before they could contribute to the Elvin kingdom as the horses did.

***

Yamato and Williams first decided to explore Antarctica. At first, they despaired of finding anything worth their effort, but, suddenly, they reached a steel door that seemed to block the entry of a cave. The door lock still worked after six thousand years, testament to the quality of work the Ancients had put into its manufacture. They opened the door and found themselves in a lock. Another equally massive door was in front of them, again opening by spinning wheels that tumbled locks. However, the final lock refused to move until they closed the first door. At that moment, light came on, totally taking them by surprise. They then could spin the last wheel and the last obstacle to the contents of the building could be examined for the first time since the Cataclysm.

"Let's be careful, Williams. Remember the Tunnel expedition and what the boys discovered. I do not want to fall on my ass because we went too fast in exploring that place, which seems huge by the way. Look at all these dark hallways!"

"I'm with you there. Let's mark our passage. I'll use a bit of chalk to do so. The arrow will indicate the way back. Not that we need this since I just dropped a magic beacon, but I do not want to turn in circles! The magic field here is severely warped, and I feel dizzy just trying to know which way I am facing."

"I feel the same. Before we go deeper, I have told Harold about our find and to expect us by vespers or to come searching for us."

"Good idea. Let's get moving. First, this building seems to have a name: Doomsday Vault, it says right there. And just below is this, in smaller letters: Seed Repository. What is a seed repository?"

"I have no idea. Let's look at that row of boxes. Oh, simple squares of plastic with a text. Let's compare different squares."

"There is a pattern here: some texts are constant while others change constantly. It looks like an attempt at recording something. I read species, subspecies, stock, number, and original location. Then, just below, there is another series of numbers and letters but radically different. Then there is a short text describing something."

"Let's duplicate that card, and take it with us. Maybe we will make sense out of it. Species and subspecies, I understand, but the names mean nothing to me."

The two mages progressed along a wall, surprised to see light open in front of them while light behind them vanished.

"Well, that is one heck of a sophisticated magic, if you want to know!" Williams said.

"I don't feel magic at work here, that is what troubles me. It seems to be an application of totally natural physics. I suspect that Paschal would love to see this and understand the principle behind it. Let's follow that hallway; it is the first we meet. Ah, A-1-L0?"

"Let's look at the copy. Ah, here is something that seems to follow the same pattern, but with added numbers after it. E-5-L0-64."

"What is it we are seeing here?" began to analyse Yamato. "These are locks, let's see what they reveal."

The mechanism worked flawlessly and the two men found themselves looking at the top of a bin that had rolled out of its resting place at a mere pull. In the bin, protected by a transparent substance, were millions upon millions of seeds. Their eyes wide in surprise, the two men looked at the bin with awe. Finally, Yamato pushed it back in place and locked it, silently.

"Let's try to find that E5-L0-64 bin. I would not be surprised if it contained seeds."

The two men quickly emerged from the A-1 tunnel and continuing to walk around the room, found the E1-L0 entrance. They began the walk and quickly realised that the E5-L0 was not next-door! Each increment of the E number was well spaced, and as they reached the end of E-4, Williams held Yamato back so he could verify something.

"Look at that last bin. It carries the label E4-L0-127. And about a bin away, there is the E5-L0-0 bin. What a funny way to divide numbers. And have you seen these white markers, which seem to divide things in smaller blocks, and these red ones? I have counted the number of bins and a white marker appears every eight bins, and a red one every sixteen bins. And the blue marker appears every thirty-two bins, and the yellow marker appears every sixty-four bins. I bet we will find the bin we are looking immediately after the next yellow marker."

Williams' hypothesis was verified, and the two men were in awe of the place's size.

"I just wonder how high that first number gets?" wondered Yamato as he looked around.

"The only way to find out is to follow the hallway to its end and look at the last bin."

"Yes, I think you are right. Let's mark this place and jog down. I don't think we risk anything here. I figured out what a seed repository is: a giant collection of all possible plant seeds ever known by the Ancients. A treasure!"

The two men took off on a quick jog and ran for nearly an hour before meeting the end of the tunnel.

"Let's answer our question. E-127-L0-127! And look to our right, a door. Let's see what that reveals," suggested Yamato.

"The lock mechanism is activated by that push bar. OK. A staircase, and it goes down and down Let's get to the bottom."

The men walked down the stairs, and at the bottom, found another door, also easily opened.

"The moment of truth! Let's see the label: E-127-L7-127! And it's full of seeds!" exclaimed Williams after opening the drawer bin and peeking inside, before pushing it back in position and locking it.

"That is immense. Let's teleport to the beacon I left at the beginning of E0-L0-0."

The two men rapidly materialised at the beacon, and resumed their walk, wondering hoe many hallways there were. Their answer came quickly this time, they found the last hall as being labelled as H. Williams materialised a pen and a parchment, and began doing the maths: eight hall letters, multiplied by eight levels, so a total of sixty-four halls. Then we have one hundred twenty-eight blocks of one hundred twenty-eight bins! Grr! Didn't the Ancients know how to count on their fingers? Anyway, that makes for sixteen thousand and three hundred eighty-four bins per hall, for a grand total of one million forty-eight thousand and five hundred and seventy six bins! And that's assuming there isn't another of these Doomsday repositories, at the North Pole!"

"Or more than one here, Williams. We need to explore this place more carefully, and inform the others of our discovery. Let's get out of here, and go home. I've marked the place and we will resume our search pattern tomorrow. I don't want to be late for vespers! Knowing Harold, he would probably move an army to start a search and rescue mission!"

"Yes, let's pop home."

The two men disappeared from the repository, after having made sure all was locked and tight. The moment their feet stopped pressuring the floor, the lights went out.

***

Sitar and Timor began exploring Africa from its southern tip. Apparently Johannesburg had been levelled, as well as Pretoria. Damage seemed to be localised along the coastline, which were washed by highly radioactive currents. Getting to Africa had not been as difficult as the two had envisioned, because they stayed high in the atmosphere, wrapped in their protective cocoon and simply popped by sight across Atlanticus, following a slanted trajectory relative to the sun's position. Even if they left early in the morning, they noticed the sun was rising quite fast above them and after some thinking, realised they were moving forward in the day as they moved east. This being taken into account they speeded up their hops by lengthening their jumps and just before sext, they saw the coast of Africa, just below and east of what was once known as the Grand Canary Islands. The Sahara's edge was visible from their altitude, with a sandstorm brewing, a simoom. The boys dropped on the Canary and began collecting, waiting for the storm on the continent to get off its high horses. There was a wide variety of animals, but no orcs; however or crocodile priests. The reason became apparent when the boys, sitting on a headland, saw the biggest shark they had ever seen. Measuring over one hundred fifty feet long, it swam majestically in the sea, apparently hunting for food. Its dark body was a sight to behold, telling of great hunter, a master of its domain. At one point the fish disappeared from sight; a few minutes later it suddenly jumped out of the water and caught an unsuspecting giant bird some a hundred feet in the air and splashed down in a spectacular geyser of seawater.

"Look at that! I thought these things were fishermen's tall tales!" Sitar exclaimed.

"I wonder how many tall tales we will meet during this trip?"

"Yes, Timor, that sends shivers down my spine. When the parents begin dealing with the sea life, they will need to beware of that juggernaut!"

***

Meanwhile, Paschal and Enron had begun their exploration at the Bering Strait and descended along the coast southward. The tidal waves had done considerable damage along the coastline, but also cleansed up quite a few radioactive deposits. More by curiosity than anything, Japan was visited, and revealed extensive damage, both from extensive radiation and the number of major volcanic eruptions that had dotted the history of the islands since the Atom God had first set its imprint on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What was once the bay of Tokyo had been covered by lava as the Fujiyama had blown its top repeatedly over time. The lava lake the boys could see at the bottom of the caldera testified to its violent and continuous activity. Human life had been wiped clean, and a small population of macaque monkeys subsisted on the most northern island, by some sort of miracle. They were promptly rescued and put into stasis pods as well as sprouts of the plants they seemed to be feeding on.

The next jump was on the Korean peninsula, but there, nothing could be salvaged. The shield glowed menacingly nonstop, and the boys proceeded further south. The entire Far East was a giant wound, and even the gigantic tidal waves had not managed to clean it up completely. Vast areas remained as deadly as ever, and the markings left by the survivors of the war had lost any significance, when they still stood. Safe places were now as deadly as the danger zones the boundaries marked. The Middle East was even more scared, and vast areas seemed heated to the point the earth had formed a black, cracked glass, where nothing would ever grow again.

"This is not encouraging. It seems the further we go, the worse it gets!" exclaimed Enron.

"Yes. Nonetheless, we have the duty to examine the situation before jumping to conclusions."

The Near East proved as bad if not worse than what the boys had anticipated. Radiation levels were so high the dome was lit green and the thermal signature of radiation was also astoundingly intense.

"It seems the Atom God hit that region with a very intense hate. I've never seen that much damage inflicted on such a small region!" exclaimed Paschal. "Everything glows, everything is hot!"

"Yes, let's go inland, maybe there are some safe heavens, but I doubt it. The Atom God's breath must have wiped out everything everywhere. And I want to look at the western edge. Not that I hold any hope."

The interior of Asia proved to be as devastated as its shoreline. Europe was far worse. Things seemed to have been pummelled with a fury they could not even understand. Giant craters could be seen emerging from the ruins, glassy inside, and with spikes and shards of molten rocks sticking up everywhere. The inner seas glowed a savage white still, and, in some places, seemed to boil! The British islands had not escaped the wanton destruction and showed little life; even lichens seemed to desert the rocks. Like everywhere else, six thousand years of rain on unprotected soil had eroded the topsoil to the bedrock.

"Let's have a look at Stonehenge. I feel an obligation to look at it," Paschal suggested.

The boys moved over the devastated terrain, feeling sick in their stomach at the sights they flew over. Finding Stonehenge proved difficult, as the standing rocks had been blown on their backs by a powerful wind. Their fall had shattered them into separate pieces, and it was only the total absence of vegetation that allowed for the boys to spot the ruins. Erosion had finished undermining the stumps that had managed to stay standing.

"What are you looking for, Paschal?"

"We left a very special item here when we migrated prior to the flood. I am sure the ancients never found it. It was well hidden deep below the tallest of the standing pillars, in the middle of the cromlech. The standing rocks acted as focalizing lens for this and it probably is now fully loaded. We need it, and we will move it to Lava Flows. Let me get my bearings."

It took half an hour for Paschal to pinpoint the object he was looking for, located two hundred feet below the surface.

Figure 10: An unbound Atlantean Crystal

 

 

"Ah, here it is! Finally!"

"What size is it?"

"It's one of the many crystals we dispersed around the world, five in total. One is found here, another under the Cheops pyramid in Egypt, which also marks the storage place we selected for one of the other stasis rooms. We had planned to move everything to Kantar, but we ran out of time. Another one is under another pyramid, the Pyramid of the Moon in Yucatan, and another under the Temple of the Sun in Machupicchu. We lost trace of the fifth crystal. As for size, it is about sixty feet high, and cut like a diamond. It is a crystal of absolutely pure orichalque, enclosed in an eleven-dimension Mobius strip. That's why it has not taken off to escape the gravitational well of the planet. It's constantly vibrating at sixty-four thousand five hundred and sixty-five cycles per second. Harp and I designed this and grew the crystals in-situ. Our old self took three hundred years to do so, and that was using accelerated time to reach the result. Had we left things go naturally, we would still be waiting on the first one to reach its critical mass."

"That doesn't add up. I understand there are as many crystals as there are rooms, but you only mention knowing where one is. Where are the others?"

"In the unexplored underground of Thebes, or more properly, the Thebes-Nineveh complex. Let's stick with calling it Thebes because, as we add more parts, the name will become impossible to say. Nineveh is to be the power core of the complete system, Kantar the command centre, and other parts are to hold stasis chambers. Now I still can't get my hand on how many parts are needed for the puzzle to be complete. I think some do not even exist yet and we will need to build them as we go. The stasis chambers never got activated due to the crystals never reaching them. And Thebes is incomplete in many other ways. Let's bring that crystal to Thebes, and Harp and I will do the connection, activating a second room. Moving the room under the pyramid will require our common effort, and will be difficult at best, given the level of radiation. I just hope the radiation has not percolated to the room's structure."

"And what about the fifth crystal?"

"The last we heard, it was being put on board a ship to cross Atlanticus, in a convoy. The sister ship reached Yucatan but the other one never did. Then the Child Moon fell on us too early and we never did manage to mount a search and rescue mission. So it is somewhere in Atlanticus, but we have no idea where to look for it."

"Would it affect the environment?"

"Definitely, it is uncontrolled. But the nature and extent of these effects would depend on how much water is over the wreck, how much sediment has settled over it, and the flow of magic in the area where the ship sank. All I can say is it could have made havoc over a wide area."

"OK. Let's pick up that crystal below us and move it home. I gather you know how to regulate it while we transport it?"

"Yes, but forget far jumps. We will have to go slow, so as not to create excessive potentials in the magic field. Any fast move could create unwanted flux."

"Oh, Ok. A long night ahead I gather. Let's get started. Maybe some island travel might be a good idea, at least we could rest."

"Don't dream, Enron. We cannot let that rest on contaminated surfaces!"

"Damn, when will you be the bearer of good news?"

"Have you ever seen an architect bring good news? Usually we bring cost overruns!"

"You have a point. Let's get to work. We should take the shortest route, the Grand Arc, and fly higher than the cloud cover. At least we can maintain a linear trajectory using the North Star as reference. It wouldn't do us good to run in circles over Atlanticus!"