Excerpt from The Unknown Battle of Krndsdell, Chapter 5
Marzena stood perfectly still, so that in the half-light she was indistinguishable among all of the manikins. He has somehow found this place. Yes, found--the man seemed to be searching as he walked among the trellises, weaved in and out among the statuesque figures. His meandering path seemed random, yet was he getting, on average, closer? Yes, he's a little closer now. Marzena felt a thrill of realization run up her spine. She grasped the little leather pouch hanging around her neck. The Elders will question me, but I will tell them I had no other choice.
She heard footsteps behind her. Not taking the time to look back, with her shaking hands Marzena opened the drawstring on the pouch and searched the contents blindly with her fingers. In spite of her pounding heart she managed to find the second finger-trox. Just then a hand grabbed her shoulder and in a mad panic she slipped the finger-trox into place. In a moment the world around her dissolved and she felt a thrill of acceleration as another world congealed around her.
Marzena now was in a forest, surrounded by trees and foliage--in the exact places where the manikins and trellises had stood. She could still feel a hand on her shoulder and turned now to confront her would-be captor. "You!" she called out in surprise.
The young man blinked his eyes in complete disorientation. "What, how? . . . Where are we?"
Marzena pushed him away. "Why were you following me? I thought you were --"
He was shaking his head. "No, no, I'm not . . ."
Marzena eyed him coldly. "I recognize you now, from the gathering--you were among the cloddses. I remember you . . . but only because of your foolish speaking out of turn. Who are you? You followed me. You actually touched me! Do you know that you have caused me to use a trox, to reveal what should remain hidden? You have threatened the very quarm itself. I must take you back to Leddger to be . . ."
"Wait!" the young man said. "I only approached you because I saw the man, he was searching for you among the mannikins. You were in danger. I only touched you because I wanted to get your attention without making any noise."
Marzena realized she had been confused in her fear and panic. It's true, there must be two separate men involved--the other man was a distance away from me when I felt the touch on my shoulder. "We are safe here," she said. "We have experienced a type-2 transformation to a place completely sealed off from the Durggs. Everything that was there is here, but it is all in a different form now. And that includes the man who was stalking me. He must be here, too. We must try to find him and bring him to Leddger for questioning--if we can recognize him--he will appear very different here because he was not in contact with me at the transformation, as you were. But he cannot threaten us here."
Marzena led the way as they began to walk among the trees, looking carefully at every tree, every piece of foliage. She began to be troubled, as she could find no indication of the man anywhere. "This is not right," she said, and then decided to turn to a lesser mystery: "Now tell me, how did you find your way into the Warehouse?"
"It's true, I followed you. I have been trying to talk to you since the night of the gathering. I know it was foolish to think that . . . you are . . . Well, my name is Taln."
Marzena dismissed the introduction. "How did you get into the Warehouse? It is invisible to all Uninvited."
"I don't know," said Taln. "It was easy. I just . . . followed you."
Taln is an Undiscovered. He knows the quarm without knowing it. Marzena looked at him, but gave no hint of what she was thinking.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Excerpt from The Unknown Battle of Krndsdell, Chapter 22
It couldn’t go on indefinitely. Taln heard the lock click and the door to his cell opened. He squinted in the sudden flood of light. A figure entered, almost glided in. Taln did not move, did not acknowledge his captor.
The man gestured, pointing a finger at Taln. “You are the first person who ever found us. You must be very clever. The punishment for this, of course, is death. But we have decided to offer you the opportunity to determine your outcome yourself.”
Nothing. There’s nothing I can say to you that would work to my advantage.
“We know who you are. We know all about you.”
How could they know who I am? It’s impossible with the precautions I took. I must not respond to him in any way.
The man smiled, cocked his head to the side a little. “Don’t worry about your wife, she’s doing fine. We can make sure no one does her any harm.”
Give no reaction. He’s bluffing.
“You don’t believe we have found her? Well I have brought you something of hers . . . let’s just say, as evidence of our serious intentions.” He reached his hand out towards Taln, showing him a little bundle wrapped in a handkerchief. He opened up the handkerchief for Taln to see.
Taln had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It can’t be! Marzena’s finger-troxes. Oh, how I miss Marzena! And now they have taken her too! How could they have known where she was? But wait. . . does he have all twelve of the troxes? He tried to count the troxes in the man’s hand without appearing to be too interested. Of course his captors couldn’t know anything about the quarm.
“If you choose to tell us nothing, then we will do nothing to protect Marzena from . . . whatever might happen to her," the man smiled. "If you help us we will help her. If you scorn us we will scorn her. As I promised, here’s your opportunity to determine the outcome. Now, will you cooperate with us?”
He has only ten of the finger-troxes! He must have no idea of what he's got! And those troxes must have been taken from Marzena no more than fourteen days ago--when I was last with her. So I must stall, stall, as much as possible.
The man looked at Tron impatiently. "Well, what is your answer, will you cooperate?"
Taln was hardly paying attention, as he was realizing all of the implications. At some time, the remaining two troxes will slip into Resonance, and if I am vigilant, their momentary unphasing will enable me to access the power of the Third Frelzn before the final dissolution of the remaining troxes drains the energile reservoir. So . . . I must stall him--pretend to cooperate, however much it galls me to submit to him, and watch for the precise moment of the Third Frelzn. It's the only way to save Marzena.
Taln looked up at the man. “Please don’t hurt Marzena,” he pleaded. “What do you want from me?”
The man smiled and clasped his hands together. “Tell me how you found us. You should not have been able to do this. No one has ever found us.”
Taln didn’t want to even hint about the quarm. That was the one thing they must not ever know. “I learned about your whereabouts from my readings in the Library of Gleb,” Taln said.
“Liar!” the man retorted. “There is nothing in any of the books in the Library of Gleb that even remotely speak of time directionality. You can’t have learned anything there. Now, we’ll try this again: How did you find us?”
Time directionality? So this is why they can never be caught! Not in my wildest dreams have I ever thought that they used time directionality. I must get him to reveal more about this.
Taln shrugged his shoulders. “Actually, we have known about time directionality for quite some time. We have just thought it more useful to develop the stronger potential of time dimensionality instead.” Phew! what a mouthful of nonsense. Can he tell I’m making it up as I go along?
The man stood looking at Taln for almost a minute, considering. “Hmm . . .time directionality versus time dimensionality. I think you are bluffing,” he said finally. “You have developed no science of time dimensionality—We would surely have detected it. My people have been trained from birth in the subtleties of time. As children, we play with quantas of time as your children play with crude blocks. When your children are learning to walk, our children are learning to walk backwards, to talk backwards, to do facial expressions and hand gestures in reverse, so we can invade your counter-world, and your people never guess our true nature—that we move in the opposite direction in time as you are. No, you cannot fool me when talking about time.”
Why is he telling me all this, revealing his true nature? He must plan on killing me after I tell him what he wants to know. I must somehow last long enough to access the Third Frelzn.
“No, I am not satisfied with your cooperation,” the man said, shaking his head. “At any rate, I must leave now, as my intersection with your time has reached a maximum. I must head now into your past.” He smiled. “But I can assure you that the next one who comes in my place will bring more news of Marzena--bad news, I'm afraid. . . And, ah yes, news of the quarm.” He smiled, and was suddenly gone.
They know about the quarm! How could they?! But . . . do they? Perhaps that's exactly what they are trying to learn from me. The only hope I have is to hold on until the eruption of the Third Frelzn.
It couldn’t go on indefinitely. Taln heard the lock click and the door to his cell opened. He squinted in the sudden flood of light. A figure entered, almost glided in. Taln did not move, did not acknowledge his captor.
The man gestured, pointing a finger at Taln. “You are the first person who ever found us. You must be very clever. The punishment for this, of course, is death. But we have decided to offer you the opportunity to determine your outcome yourself.”
Nothing. There’s nothing I can say to you that would work to my advantage.
“We know who you are. We know all about you.”
How could they know who I am? It’s impossible with the precautions I took. I must not respond to him in any way.
The man smiled, cocked his head to the side a little. “Don’t worry about your wife, she’s doing fine. We can make sure no one does her any harm.”
Give no reaction. He’s bluffing.
“You don’t believe we have found her? Well I have brought you something of hers . . . let’s just say, as evidence of our serious intentions.” He reached his hand out towards Taln, showing him a little bundle wrapped in a handkerchief. He opened up the handkerchief for Taln to see.
Taln had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It can’t be! Marzena’s finger-troxes. Oh, how I miss Marzena! And now they have taken her too! How could they have known where she was? But wait. . . does he have all twelve of the troxes? He tried to count the troxes in the man’s hand without appearing to be too interested. Of course his captors couldn’t know anything about the quarm.
“If you choose to tell us nothing, then we will do nothing to protect Marzena from . . . whatever might happen to her," the man smiled. "If you help us we will help her. If you scorn us we will scorn her. As I promised, here’s your opportunity to determine the outcome. Now, will you cooperate with us?”
He has only ten of the finger-troxes! He must have no idea of what he's got! And those troxes must have been taken from Marzena no more than fourteen days ago--when I was last with her. So I must stall, stall, as much as possible.
The man looked at Tron impatiently. "Well, what is your answer, will you cooperate?"
Taln was hardly paying attention, as he was realizing all of the implications. At some time, the remaining two troxes will slip into Resonance, and if I am vigilant, their momentary unphasing will enable me to access the power of the Third Frelzn before the final dissolution of the remaining troxes drains the energile reservoir. So . . . I must stall him--pretend to cooperate, however much it galls me to submit to him, and watch for the precise moment of the Third Frelzn. It's the only way to save Marzena.
Taln looked up at the man. “Please don’t hurt Marzena,” he pleaded. “What do you want from me?”
The man smiled and clasped his hands together. “Tell me how you found us. You should not have been able to do this. No one has ever found us.”
Taln didn’t want to even hint about the quarm. That was the one thing they must not ever know. “I learned about your whereabouts from my readings in the Library of Gleb,” Taln said.
“Liar!” the man retorted. “There is nothing in any of the books in the Library of Gleb that even remotely speak of time directionality. You can’t have learned anything there. Now, we’ll try this again: How did you find us?”
Time directionality? So this is why they can never be caught! Not in my wildest dreams have I ever thought that they used time directionality. I must get him to reveal more about this.
Taln shrugged his shoulders. “Actually, we have known about time directionality for quite some time. We have just thought it more useful to develop the stronger potential of time dimensionality instead.” Phew! what a mouthful of nonsense. Can he tell I’m making it up as I go along?
The man stood looking at Taln for almost a minute, considering. “Hmm . . .time directionality versus time dimensionality. I think you are bluffing,” he said finally. “You have developed no science of time dimensionality—We would surely have detected it. My people have been trained from birth in the subtleties of time. As children, we play with quantas of time as your children play with crude blocks. When your children are learning to walk, our children are learning to walk backwards, to talk backwards, to do facial expressions and hand gestures in reverse, so we can invade your counter-world, and your people never guess our true nature—that we move in the opposite direction in time as you are. No, you cannot fool me when talking about time.”
Why is he telling me all this, revealing his true nature? He must plan on killing me after I tell him what he wants to know. I must somehow last long enough to access the Third Frelzn.
“No, I am not satisfied with your cooperation,” the man said, shaking his head. “At any rate, I must leave now, as my intersection with your time has reached a maximum. I must head now into your past.” He smiled. “But I can assure you that the next one who comes in my place will bring more news of Marzena--bad news, I'm afraid. . . And, ah yes, news of the quarm.” He smiled, and was suddenly gone.
They know about the quarm! How could they?! But . . . do they? Perhaps that's exactly what they are trying to learn from me. The only hope I have is to hold on until the eruption of the Third Frelzn.
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