Alkhem
The world drew closer to the sun again, as it did every year since the beginning. The mists surrounding Atlantia thinned, but one's eye still struggled to see the outline of nearby islands off the coast. The threshers had moved into Posied Bay to birth hundreds of the next generation, many died young, devoured not by adults or by other sea creatures, but at the maws of their siblings. Only the strongest and most well fed ever left the bay to roam the seas of earth, to be the lions of salt. Many folks would flock the edges of the waters, watching the majesty of the great beasts. This was the first time Delta had travelled around the bay without Mayen's presence. She missed out on watching the threshers the previous year, as her sister was still reluctant on letting her go beyond her borders.
Delta appreciated her protectiveness, but neither of them knew how hard or how long the magi would pursue her. Waiting another year was safest, ever vigilant for the presence of suspicious folk, but nothing had come of it since the four years of living with Mayen. It was difficult for an acolyte to pass through the city without a small crowd gathering, so the decision was made for Delta to traverse the white city on her own as no one would give her second glances.
On the cusp of her twenty-second year, Delta wasn't just locked away in Mayen's townhouse, sitting on her hands. Her higher studies took her down the path of a scribe. The matter of the fact was their work, being less glamorous was often overlooked by the general public and would allow entry to some of the most secretive and exciting places in the world and beyond. Her love of history and astute memory combined into the perfect career, yet finding a place to practice her years of training was another matter.
Standing on the alfresco with her hands pressed against the stone fence with A'gesh flying high, Delta watched the violent ripples of the water. Navy and black fins protruded every few moments and awed sighs emanated from other watchers crowded around her. In the corner of her eye, children giggled as they tried daring each other to hop over the safety barricade and stand on the edge of the stones before the water. Some of them even tried shoving each other over the fence, laughing if they almost lost their footing. Atlantia's wilds were dangerous but living for so long in the shields of civilisation made people lose respect for nature. The bloodthirsty threshers were now just a show to the modern Atlantean.
Delta felt a telepathic probe press against her mind. She pulled her stare from the ocean and glanced around the crowds. There were mostly human faces; there were fewer off-worlders watching the threshers than in years prior. Tension between off-worlders and humans had reached boiling point, and the off-worlders begun disappearing from society on earth, leaving for their homeworlds or to settle on other planets. She looked to the threshers beating against the tides. A'gesh circled above with a hoard of other sea birds; her keen eyes saw the school of fish desperately trying to escape the harassment. She was getting too close to the turbulent surface and Delta whistled for her. The bird shot her a glare just before circling back.
She pressed herself through the crowd and made her way to the city's library. The enormous complex was large enough to fit a whole district with dozens of entries into its halls. Warm winds blew through her hair when she stepped into the interior. A'gesh took no time to fly to the high trees planted in line with the balconies of the library. She glanced at her wrist phone; she had less than an hour before her interview with the head librarian, the thought of which made her stomach turn. Down the many halls, she stopped by the history section. Its architecture was different from the modern sharp cuts of marble and granite; instead old sandstone and decorative tinted glass with gold lines of ancient artistic images on the corners were used.
Delta observed that the statues had their arms outstretched and held floating chandeliers in their hands. Rows of granite shelves stretched between each statue the contents of which held the collected works of Atlanteans history and general know-how. Tomes from various time periods lay waiting for someone to open and read their thick pages, some of them so old and marked in forgotten languages that no one knew how to read them.
The oldest scrolls locked behind protective glass vaults sat on the highest shelves, with tomes as thick as open palms lined below them available for public access. Computers and their screens sat in the centre between every bookshelf, most of which were being used by visitors and workers alike. Her eye caught a door with the red universal symbol of 'no admittance' tattooed with laser on its surface. This was the door that she would be called to when the time had come. An empty velvet chair called to her. There was no point in resisting its comfortable advances, she thought.
Settling into the soft cushions, Delta found the deep edges were cutting circulation in her legs. She placed one leg over the top of another, trying to ease the false comforting appearance of the chair. Her elbows were too short to reach the arms, so she placed one over the top of the back frame. Realising should her interviewer see her, she would look ridiculous. She scoffed as she bounced herself to the side with one elbow easily resting onto the wooden arm; her calf leaned against the leg as she tried balancing her rump on the hard-wooden edge. “This is ludicrous,” she muttered.
An elderly man spun around and glared at her with a frown for a moment before a slight look of confusion glazed over his eyes. She felt a telepathic press against her mind, perhaps trying to send his thoughts to request her silence. Delta rolled her eyes and tapped her temple with her fist, indicating her psionic inability, but she could clearly get his message without telepathy. The man huffed before spinning back to the open tome at his desk. Her nerves trickled up her spine; she glanced to the shelf closest to her reach. Her eyes were scanning over the spines of the tomes until she caught the golden lettering of Forging of Atlantia. This was a book she had read many times in her mansion's library. However, the one before her appeared to have been carefully maintained in compared to her thoroughly loved copy.
Her fingers pried the tome from its brethren and slapped it over her lap. Peeling back the leather-bound cover, it took no time for her eyes to be digging into its words.
“Before knowledge of the lands of Atlantia, in the age of supreme reign of warlords who tore at each other's borders, mindless soldiers were used as extensions of their many master's will and enslaved small folk that fought an unending battle for survival. This was life in the Third Age. When small folk and a few rogue soldiers decided that their children ought to know life without suffering, they banded together and desired to leave their nations. Peoples who once were taught to hate one another crossed each other’s borders and made plans on their great exodus.
“Their old tales once spoke of a land shrouded by mists, far across sparse and dangerous seas. Many fearless explorers sought this mystical land out, however, once they departed their ports, they were never heard from again. Other tales speak of shipwrecked explorers on their return from the land, only to have their bodies twisted in unnatural diseases and their ability to speak reduced to unintelligible shrieks. The small folk knew never to go west, but where else in the world would they be free from their warlord's tyranny?
“After numerous debates, they liberated many warships from their ports, slayed unwilling soldiers and put the rest to work. It's believed that fewer than a hundred ships left the coasts. However, their numbers were to dwindle. In their rush to escape, the refugees hadn't scavenged and stole enough supplies for their voyage. Since most had never stepped foot on a boat or had a clear idea where this 'promised land' would be exactly, they left their fates to their gods or modern-day equivalent: to the universe. The famine grew, and disease followed, spreading across the many ships on the already weakened population. Death had boarded and took many with it. Hope was reduced to burning amber, until one morning, the mists came.
“It's said that the mists were so thick that no one could see beyond several feet of them, but they knew their exhausting voyage was near its end. On the clearest days, refugees could see the outlines of the highest dark mountains. Hope had returned, only to be challenged by jagged stones that jutted from the seas. The ship hulls weren't designed to scrape against the rock's edges, creating massive holes that quickly filled them with water. The lungs of those caught in the rush met the same fate. Many more perished trying to navigate through the harsh coasts, but as the days passed and the weather warmed, the mists had softened.
“The grey sands were a miracle to those who walked on them. The refugees crawled on their bellies against the land, their cracked lips were kissing the coarse grains; they were saved. The land they had arrived to was foreign to them, yet they knew to keep their wits from the stories of the previous explorers. Now settled on the flatter and grassier terrain by way of improvised huts made from broken ships washed ashore, they sent out parties to find food, building material and safer lands. They discovered an abundance of bamboo shoots stronger than some metals, minerals of every imaginable variety and fruits and nuts so sweet it would make one tear. However, death followed once again as the search parties found grass-covered pits with fatal drops, sturdy caves with giant shaggy bears clawing at the unsuspecting newcomers, insects who latched onto flesh and cut out their slice leaving a painful infection and plants that released a paralytic poison that suffocated the victim.
“This was a dangerous land, almost as fearsome as the one they had known before, but the settlers were unrelenting in their desire for survival. The fears of the old world followed them here; they feared the warlords may come after them to punish their betrayal. It was only a matter of time, and time was not on their side. A group of strange folks came to their settlement; they had no weapons or armour, their clothes were woven from leaf, bark and hay. The markings on their faces and arms were dry, coloured clay and hand painted. Their skin and hair were ivory shaded, and their eyes shone like yellow stars. They appeared to be human, but not entirely of this world.
“The settler’s response was one of suspicion. The strange people almost seemed pleased with their arrival and amused by their reaction. The natives of the land had lived their time beyond count and had only heard whispers of other peoples across the seas. They watched the settlers struggle since their arrival and took pity on their plight. With an extended hand of kinship, the natives offered their unlimited knowledge of the land with a simple request of knowing more about the lands outside. The bargain was struck, and the two groups collaborated. The natives were pacifists. They knew death was just around the corner on this land, and believed the humans standing beside them would help them out of any danger. They believed human life, as well as all life, was precious. They had never known war or at least had never experienced it among their tribes.
“The settlers shared their science of the known world and greater scopes of technology, such as medicine, farming, transport, even weapon making. With the spirituality of the natives and technological know-how of the settlers, they were endlessly fascinated with each other for years, until a time came where trust between the two shattered. The natives realised the newcomers weren't there for the simple curiosity of other lands and cultures, they were refugees, runners, traitors of their former homes. The settlers warned them one day that war might come to Atlantia's shores for retribution, perhaps even for conquering. With the native’s utter disgust of murder and fear for their people’s future, some considered expelling the settlers from the land to avoid the warlord’s wrath. But too long a time had passed, and the day of invasion drew nearer.
“Left with little option, the settlers moulded grand weapons from the metals found by the natives and built fortresses to withstand attacks by the sea on defensible terrain discovered by the natives. These two groups worked tirelessly, building a new future around fear, thus this age was dubbed The Age of Fear. Progression of technology had skipped hundreds, if not, thousands of years within a span of a century. Each corner of the island-continent had been covered with invulnerable structures to holdout sieges for months. Mechanic protectors, the size of a dozen warships were built and sent out to scout around the perimeters of their oceans. All the while the two groups mated and merged into one people – one Atlantean civilisation. They lay there; waiting for the invasion, preparing their sons and daughters for war that never came.
“Scouts were sent to their ancestor’s former cities, passing through the mists with motorised ships, readying for some form of resistance, but in truth, they had no idea what or who had awaited them. They found nothing. The ports had been taken by the sea, towns were engulfed by the forests and cities had been reduced to dust. They had wiped themselves out. Atlanteans believed they were the only humans left in the entire world. It appeared that all others were consumed by war and vengeance that killed their futures. No one was left to sing their songs or tell their tales.
“A remarkable discovery was made during their search. There were small pockets of primitive human clans scattered on every corner, untouched and untainted. Atlanteans were builders since the dawn of their time. Now charged to build a better world than the one their ancestors and even they knew. They sought out every human group and uplifted their status, not with conquering, but by exploiting human curiosity. By letting them come, letting them ask questions, letting them listen. This was the dawn of the Fourth Age.”
“Del-un?” Delta's eyes shot up at an off-worlder man standing before the marked door. His face was sharp and squared; his nose appeared to have been broken several times over the years, and on either side sat two deep-set orange eyes peering through the cracks of thick lids. His skin was grey-blue with flashes of rose underneath, showing his kind had red blood. Heavy lines ran from his slender nostrils all the way down to his chin, gave an impression that he had never smiled a day in his life. The slick black hair cut neatly, the eyebrows that rose high on his forehead, and grey ears that pointed up to his crown framed his face. His blue turtleneck shirt sat snug under a sharp black suit with protruding shoulder pads, accentuating his rectangular frame. In a combination of the emotionless stare and impossibly straight posture it was undoubtable that this man was Xannian.
She had seen them around more recently; they were one of the few off-worlders that hadn't left earth in droves. Yet, there was something about his appearance that gave her pause, almost rippling something deep within her. Delta smiled, as she placed the tome aside and placed it gently back into the shelf. With her shoulders back and head high, she strode to the Xannian with her arm stretched out in greeting. “Pleasant to meet you, mister...?”
The Xannian glanced down at her hand without inching to shake it before looking back to her face. “Sorren. Follow me.”
Delta felt a ripple of frustration adding to her nerves, her face dropped just as he turned and walked into the opened staff room door. It was a cosier and more humbled room than the spacious and grandiose halls of the library.
Her head turned to see A'gesh ready to fly through the opened door, but Sorren had already gripped the handle, ready to slam it shut. “Wait a moment please, my bird's coming now.”
Sorren's brows rose up as the lavender creature swooped in before landing on her shoulder. His lips twitched in frustration before returning to stone, already a bad start. “We do not allow animals in staff rooms,” he said.
“She won't make a mess, I assure you,” she said flashing a smile as she made a sandy frayed couch beside the wall her seat. Sorren walked to his desk and looked over a hologram lit tablet on the surface before glancing to her. The silence made her chest tighten as she wondered what to expect from this strange man.
“You must be from Xann,” she said trying to project repose.
“All Xannians come from Xann,” Sorren said never taking his stare from the tablet.
Delta nodded as she tried thinking of new conversation to fill the awkward air. “It's summer now, must be a relief to live in a hotter climate alike to Xann.”
“Your professor is Acolyte Mayen,” he said keeping his stare on his desk.
“She does speak highly of you,” she said.
Sorren shook his head as he glanced up. “Doubtful. Mayen was close to death when she came to my family farm after a voyage in the deserts with the Wastewalker clans. I almost turned her away until we saw the value in her, and she saw value in me. Mayen sent you my way as a form of equalling the debt.”
“Well, if you look through my application deeper, you'll see my worth,” she said through her teeth.
“It says in your application that you are mundane,” he said with a slight tilt of his head.
“That's correct, would that be an issue?” she said as her heart thumped like a steel hammer against her ribs.
“A minor inconvenience,” he said as he waved his hand over the tablet, “it shows that you have the necessary schooling for the work, yet your name doesn't appear to be in the education department archives, why is that?”
“Del-un is not my complete name, I'm of a well-known family that's unaware of my career choices and they would be a distraction from work. I'd like to keep it that way,” this was not false, Delta reasoned.
Sorren raised his brows again. “Whichever noble family you come from holds no credit for me or this institution, if you are right for the position that is my only concern.”
“Am I?” crossing her arms as she glared at the head librarian.
He scoffed as he straightened his back. “This was just a meeting; you have already been accepted. Follow.”
A spark of celebration pulsed through her at his words. Before she could utter a sound, he swooped out of the office and down the halls of history, not waiting to see whether she could keep his pace. They pushed to pass the hordes of visitors in every hallway and corridor they wandered through.
“What is your full name?” Sorren's voice was so quiet amongst the others, Delta almost hadn't heard it.
“Delta.”
“You will be meeting with the archivist, Ebesi Isat, she will be your handler. Her current work is gathering and cataloguing all data pertaining to Alkhem,” he said with a glance over his shoulder.
“In comparison to Atlantia, I'm not as well acquainted with Alkhemite history,” she said as A'gesh dug a little too hard into her shoulder.
“Learn,” he said.
With a roll of her eyes, they came to another 'no admittance' door. Sorren gave the wood a single tap before it slid to the side. It was another hall with many long granite tables hovering over the floor, filled with ancient Alkhemite artefacts, scrolls, tomes and crystal computers scattered on every surface. A young woman, barely older than seventeen, hopped up from a rickety stool with amber letters glowing from her wrist phone. Her face was sharp and narrow with sandy-gold skin and black liner drawn across her eyes. Her void black hair was tightly braided around her jaw and across her brow. Her dress had many layers of white and silver nigh-transparent cloth hung loosely around her form with a golden belt clenched at the waist.
“Sorren,” she said with a slight bow before turning to Delta, “you must be Del-un.”
“I am, but you can call me Delta,” she said carefully, eyeing the hall for another, hopefully, older woman to be her handler.
“This is Ebesi Isat, you will be taking direction from her,” Sorren said with a glance at Delta. His lips slightly curled in amusement at her disappointment, “I will take my leave,” he said before departing.
“He does that a lot,” Ebesi said with an assuring smile as her eye caught A'gesh, “gorgeous bird, never seen anything like her around here. Can I pat her?”
Delta nodded and jerked her shoulder towards the girl. “Careful, A'gesh nips and especially hates it when people get too close to her tail feathers.”
To her amazement, A'gesh not only pressed her head against Ebesi's palm but also curled her tail plumage around for the girl to pat her. Surprised with hints of jealousy, Delta pulled her shoulder back, breaking their touch.
“Can I ask, how did a teenager become an archivist?” she said eyeing the strange girl.
Ebesi chuckled and nervously coiled her finger around one of her black braids. “I come from a long line of scribes, even before your people came to Alkhem, my family would note everything down. My parents expected this of me. Eventually this is all I ever learnt to do.”
“So, you've always obeyed them? Never thought about doing something different for yourself?” she said without consideration.
Ebesi's smile waned as she shrugged her shoulders in a manner that made her appear even younger. “It's good when your parents are proud of you.”
Delta winced a smile, desperately hoping that she didn't give herself up to the Alkhemite. “Course it is.”
Ebesi flicked her wrist phone on; her eyes widened with worry when reading the screen before dashing to the long desk and pulling out two hefty silk bags from beneath. “We don't have time! Have you got the scrivener program already on that thing?” she said eyeing Delta's wrist.
“Not yet,” she said stepping toward the desk as she watched Ebesi shove tablet after tablet in thick cloth slots before sliding data crystals into the open hole, “is there something I can do?”
“Ugh, here take this,” she grabbed a slightly greyed crystal and pushed it into Delta's hand, “install it, your device should already have scanning capabilities, you'll just need to turn it on.”
“I've used the scanner before,” Delta said growing more frustrated as she popped the crystal inside the diamond slot of the bracelet. She watched as Ebesi filled the bags to almost tearing as she struggled to seal them.
“All this expensive equipment and the institute doesn't give us pocket dimension storage for all that,” Ebesi mumbled before taking a step back to admire her work, “we need to call someone to pick up these things.”
“No need,” Delta gripped the straps and pulled them over her shoulder, a smirk crawled up her cheeks as Ebesi hung her mouth open in shock.
“Those bags weigh as much as me! How're you doing that?” she said as her eyes hopped from the bags to Delta.
“Good genes. Where are we going?” she said backing out of the hall.
“Overseas,” Ebesi said tapping away at her wrist phone as she slid the doors open for Delta.
“That narrows it down,” she rolled her eyes before stepping out into the library’s public chambers, “I don't have my overnight bag.”
Ebesi shook her head as she skipped toward the direction of the portal halls. “Just a day trip, you'll be back before sundown. Say, have you ever been to Alkhem?” she said with a pearly white grin on her face.
~
A blast of the portal and a hover vehicle ride later, they were in the golden city of Alkhem. Across the sea, Ebesi’s homeland was surrounded by a wild jungle and its air was thick with humidity. The city was built along the longest river on the earth’s largest continent, Necropan. The holo-photos didn't do the place justice. Unlike Atlantia's sharp and rather simplistic architecture, Alkhem was the gem of art in the world. Every surface was covered in chiselled or laser-etched imagery, the sandstone walls were a combination of gold and bronze encrusted with turquoise, lapis lazuli, amethyst and every kind of beautiful stone that one could think of.
There were no skyscrapers in Alkhem, just an assortment of building blocks that varied from single to several storeys in height. The streets were narrow; most of them were covered by striped tapestry to protect the citizens from the sun’s harshness. Every street had food or other goods on display in the open. A mix of spices, cooked meat and perfumes mingled with the hot air that stung Delta’s delicate nose. A’gesh happily chirped on her shoulder. Delta hadn't needed to worry about her bird not being excited for their adventure.
“So, we'll just need to make a small stop at my apartment to sort ourselves out before we head to the pylon site. I think you'll really like the view from there,” Ebesi said with wild young eyes beaming back at Delta.
“Better not be too far away, my arms are getting tired and this heat…” she said sensing her snug black and navy patterned blouse dampening beneath her pits.
“It's not far, just past the marketplace,” Ebesi said as her narrow form slipped through the squeeze of people.
“I don't understand why we didn't just port directly to your apartment, why go through Alkhem's portal station and walk all the way?” Delta called out, she could feel the bags bumping through various legs and clay vases, praying that the crash of clay behind her wasn't of her own doing.
“Because not everyone has teleportation alcoves in their house, only those who can spend without care and most public areas have a port system,” she said with a devilish smirk, “I guess we look like primitives to you Atlanteans.”
Delta rolled her eyes. “All manner of being is equal in the modern world, Atlanteans had to be the ones to teach the world that. If it weren't for us, your lot would still be harbouring slaves, wouldn't you?”
Ebesi's face turned grim, she slowed her pace as she carefully glanced around the bazaar. “If I were an Atlantean, I wouldn't speak so loudly about that stuff around here.”
Delta couldn't suppress her scoff. “What does me being an Atlantean have to do with anything?”
“You aren't exactly the most popular people, I've seen what it's like in Atlantia, they don't really talk about what's happening outside,” she whispered.
“Speak plainly to me, Ebesi, I've never been good at riddles,” she said.
Ebesi glanced at the bags for a moment before cocking her head forward. “Talk later. Just don't act so arrogant,” she breathed as she continued their trek through the streets.
Delta suppressed her frustration with a sigh as she hauled the bags forward, keeping her eyes ahead. Even the people dressed differently too. Atlanteans clothed themselves in darker garbs that covered most of their bodies. Alkhemites wore light and partially transparent clothes fitted with thick golden jewellery around their wrists, ankles and necks. The women wore heavy black wigs that draped over their shoulders complemented with a face-full of makeup. Even the men had a similar glamorous appearance.
Ebesi couldn’t help commenting on Delta’s small strides as she walked through Alkhem carrying the two oversized cases. Delta suffered in silence trying to stop herself from tripping her archivist over. Sweat rolled down her brow as she walked through the packed streets. “Ebesi, how far now?”
“Right here!” she said pointing to a red wooden door down a few steps from the street. Ebesi skipped down the steps; her sandals were scraping against the stone surface. Keys jingled in her hand as she placed them into one of the three locks in the centre of the door. After a loud click, she forced her way through the door and disappeared into a dark room. Delta carefully walked down the steps while the heavy bags hit into her thighs, bruising them, but in her wisdom, she remained quiet through her ordeal.
“Ebesi, where did you go?” she called out through the wooden doorway. A large lantern that hovered from the ceiling filled the heavily cluttered room in calming amber light. There was a large table in the centre that held various figurines, scrolls and pens scattered across its surface. Shelves were packed to the brim with notebooks, ornaments and pieces of paper hanging off the sides. Tomes piled up in towers lay beside each corner of the room on the sandstone floor, making Delta’s accessibility with the bags nigh impossible.
“I’m here!” her head popped out from a corner beside a small window adjacent to the entrance, “just throw those bags down anywhere, sorry for the mess.”
Delta elbowed the door shut as her fingers released the bags beside it. They fell with a heavy thud, but if they can build crafts that can survive under the immense pressure of Jupiter, then their computers can sustain a small fall. A’gesh fluttered off her shoulder and flew up to the highest shelf; she tucked her head down into her wings and began grooming through her tail feathers.
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of seeds I’ve left around the place and the window’s open if she wants to drink some water from the river. So, what do you think?” Ebesi said with a big grin on her face, and her arms stretched out.
“I thought you said there was a breath-taking view of the pylons,” Delta said as one of her brows shot up.
“Oh, that’s a couple levels up. Come, I’ll show you,” she said beckoning Delta to follow.
Ebesi turned and disappeared behind the corner. Delta could see her skipping up a narrow staircase. She skilfully placed her foot on every space of the floor, balancing herself as she jumped over another pile of scrolls. Finally, a few agile movements later, she came to the wooden planked staircase leading to the level above. Ebesi poked her head above the railing and grinned down to Delta.
She followed her up the stairs, where sunlight poured through the wide windows of the upper levels.
“Look out there,” Ebesi said, sliding open the glass door to wide stone balcony overlooking some of the city. Delta’s jaw dropped to see the wide dark river stretching across the horizon. Brown and gold buildings laid along its shores adorned with tall palm trees growing along the walkways. A short distance further behind the city laid three monolithic pyramids hidden behind the haze of the clouds. Their four sides were covered in a pearly white marble that seemed to shine from the sun’s rays. The closest and largest one had a barely visible golden tip at the top; it appeared to emanate a transparent blue beam that shot up into the clouds and disappear the higher one looked.
Delta was overcome by awe at their magnificence. Emotions flooded her chest and she felt tears building in her eyes. She had almost forgotten about the humidity and the exotic smells from the streets, it felt like there was nothing else in the world except the heart-warming sight before her. She could even feel her skin prickling with power just by being in the pylon’s presence and her body becoming more awake and energised by them.
“Those are the new energy plant prototypes, they’ve taken years to build, but at least the outer casings are finished,” Ebesi said pointing over the balcony. She glanced at Delta, “are you alright?”
“I–I never expected them to be so…” Delta couldn’t find the words as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“Beautiful. Yes, I sometimes spend hours watching them from this balcony. They truly take you by surprise, even some off-worlders are awestruck by them,” she said.
Delta ripped her eyes away from the pyramids to meet Ebesi’s face. “Please tell me we are going there today.”
“Not a moment to waste! One of the engineers will be waiting for us to begin recording,” Ebesi said turning back to the stairs, “could you bring a couple of the tablets and about six data crystals?”
“Then why did you bring two bags full of them?” Delta said already speeding down the stairs.
“They say that energy down in the pylon chambers messes with our devices, sometimes they break in certain areas.” Ebesi rubbed her finger against her chin as she thoughtfully glanced into space, “Actually, bring one bag.”