The Star Whorl (The Totality Cycles Book 1) (28 page)

     Without hesitation, his
father slipped into the transport chamber, and the Long-Travel glyph, out of
sight above, was Nil-ized to send him to the Solidaris Orm. It seemed to take
forever for the indicator on the chamber to show it was clear, and Kreceno’Tiv
was hard-pressed not the clack his elytra-pace in impatience.

    
It’s like being in the
vuu-blitzed line for the
Bustani, he wanted to gripe. But just then, the
indicator cleared, and the chamber opened before him.

     “Your turn,” Vespa
Kareni’Tiv said, a smile in her voice.

Whorl Eighty Eight

     Trying not to draw a nervous
breath, he tucked in his vuu’erio and stepped into the Long-Travel chamber with
no small amount of trepidation. The chamber filled with Nil’Gu’vua, the power
permeating his body and filling his mind. His vuu’erio tried to connect to his
tertiary retinas, to see the shape that Nil’Gu’vua was taking. But he could not
shape this Nil’Gu’vua – it shaped him, and he had a strange feeling of –
floating, of lightness, of disorientation. And then the world stretched around
him, and he could see the roof of the Long-Travel center, but it receded away
as if attached to the end of a thin elastine-band, the curve of Gu’Anin also
forming and receding rapidly. Fantastical shapes flashed by him, and then the
star Anin’val that Gu’Anin revolved around was falling away also, then the
entire stellar system. Then he closed his eyes and tucked away his vuu’erio, or
at least, shut down his awareness, for there was too much stimuli coming in,
too fast, too fast and too plentiful for him to comprehend or vuu all at once.
He felt himself turn, if one could be said to turn in such a state, and when he
opened his awareness the tiniest bit, things were rushing toward him, and he
seemed to be going faster and faster, falling headlong to an enormous grey
pearl hanging in a star-glittered sky, and he screamed as the hard surface seemed
to drive toward him with implacable force.

     “Arrghhh!” he felt the
tail-end of the scream rip out of him, and he was crouching with his hands up
to shield against the impact that would surely splatter him thin and pastelike
against the side of the huge construct. But he was whole, though his heart beat
wildly in his chest, and his head pounded with the reaction to the perception
of danger. His elytra-pace pressed almost painfully to his back, the wing-nets
buzzing within.

     Thankfully, the chamber in
which he found himself was sealed, affording a bit of privacy for his fear
reaction. He saw that the glyph of the chamber included one of silence, so that
no one beyond heard his wail as he reincorporated.

    
So thoughtful. I wonder
how many of them still wail when they arrive, though they might use the
Long-Travel every turn?
he wondered with asperity, as he stood and wiped
his mouth and his brow. Someone had also thoughtfully provided moist wipes in a
dispenser, and he took one to freshen up. When he felt composed enough, he
touched the glyph gently with his Nil’Gu’ua, and it responded by opening the
chamber so that he could disembark.

     Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
smiled at him. “Well, you seem to have come through all right,” his father
said, humorously, as if still able to read his agitation in his glyph.

    
He probably can.
“Yes,
Father,” he said, smiling nonchalantly nonetheless.

Whorl Eighty Nine

     The Solidaris Orm was one of
a multitude of super-Hives located deep in the galactic core, where Nil’Gu’vua
was thickest, almost opaque to Kreceno’Tiv’s vuu-senses. He could almost see it
without readjusting his sight, for it pressed in on all sides, multiple
curtaining draperies parting before his waking eyes, and hovering just in the
corner of his vision.

    
Is this what Father has
to feel every turn?
he thought, dazed by the density of it.
Coming home
must be like leaving a vat of heavy syrup and returning to a shallow pool of
thin, barely sweet water! No wonder most Solidarim families relocate to the
Orm!

     “Here is the Observis,” Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
said, showing them into a round room with four entrances without doors, filled
with rows of seats arranged in concentric circles. “Here, we’re able to view
any of the wonders of the Totality. The Singing Rings of L’Loua, or the Cavroan
Ice Showers, the Synchronized Phthalene Moon Geysers, or even the Living Tishan
Star Flares. The things to be seen are endless – it would take a million
lifetimes to see them all. But phenomena near the Nil’Gu’dae stars and worlds
are more difficult to view, while those deep in Nil’Gu’vua are, naturally, the
easiest. We do not, as a rule, try to view the Whorl-core – even a glimpse can blind
you, temporarily, and prolonged exposure can burn out your Nil’Gu’ua
permanently.”

     Kreceno’Tiv hid a shudder.
Of course the fount of Nil’Gu’vua, the singularity at the Star Whorl-core,
would be too intense to look at, much less try to sense. He did not plan to put
the intensity of it to the test.

     His father indicated seats
in the inner ring, and he and his mother sat. Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv selected a
stellar phenomenon for them to view. He came to take a seat beside Vespa Kareni’Tiv.
The room darkened, even though there were no veils or entrance-screens to block
the doorways, and the Star Whorl came into view, seemed to zoom toward them. It
was like the Long-Travel, expect they were sitting still, and there was not the
overwhelming deluge of information, for the view was at one step removed,
merely the images of streaking stars rather than the actual streak of star
themselves.

     Kreceno’Tiv tried to follow
the flow of information, but there was just too much, going by too quickly, the
glyphs almost out-of-focus blurs.

     The scene settled on a world
with eight moons that seemed to box it in. They whirled like nothing he had
ever seen, and then in perfect synchronicity, as they faced the parent planet,
they shot pure blue geysers toward it, the hot water crystalizing almost
instantly as it hit the outerness beyond the minute atmospheres of the moons.

     He gazed in wonder,
speechless, letting the gyrating glyph and the visual panorama wash over and
over him, becoming a part of his glyph forever.

Whorl Ninety

     When the awesome experience
was over, the light in the room rose slowly, as if giving the occupants time to
reassimilate to their more confining environment.

     Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
smiled at them, gratification at Kreceno’Tiv’s appreciation evident in his
expression.

     “Come, there is something
else you should see, before we go to my lodgings here,” he said, getting up
slowly.

     Kreceno’Tiv and Vespa Kareni’Tiv
did the same, and he saw that others had joined them in the Observis,
unnoticed. The other observers also climbed to their feet and began to drift
away.

     “What are we going to see
now?” he asked, his head still whirling from the marvelous experience.

     “We are going to view the
Totality.”

     The simple sentence conveyed
many things. First, that the Observis that they had just left was not capable
of showing what Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv wanted him to see. Then, the new
location was probably more private, more conducive to what they wanted to tell
him, for they did want to discuss something with him, of that he was sure. And
third, that it would be a lesson in inference and implication, that he would
need to read into it all the things they wanted to convey – or find out later
all of what they meant. He would need such skills in the Ministries. Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
led them to a more enclosed Observis, one that obviously had restricted access,
and was just as obviously more detailed, and of a higher resolution, to be used
for study and analysis rather than entertainment. His father lowered the
lights, and called forth the glyph of the Totality. It spread out before them,
a panorama of glittering jewel-sparks against the black velvet of outerness,
both slowly turning, dancing around each other.

     Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv put a
warm hand on Kreceno’Tiv’s shoulder. Vespa Kareni’Tiv put an arm around his
waist. The overt gestures did not distract him from the utter beauty of the
Totality spread out before them.

     “Beautiful, isn’t it?” his
father said, as they gazed out at the foreshortened view of the Totality. The
Totality spanned two Star Whorls, two Galaxies, close in the weft of the
outerness. Their glyphs were almost solid spheres, they were so dense with
information, information expressing everything about what comprised the whorls
of stars. Around them, the false-pink haze of Nil’Gu’vua was spread unevenly,
showing almost opaque concentrations along the spiral arms of the Star Whorls,
and thin as tissue in the spaces between.

     “It is,” he said, smiling at
his parents. There was something there, something he could almost see, if only
he could – look closer, enlarge the view, have a moment or nine to contemplate
what he was seeing, for it teased the provoking, uneasy thought that had almost
formed in his mind a turn or so before.

     “You’ll be following your
sister to Tertius,” Vespa Kareni’Tiv said, scattering his concentration. “You
know you’ll be evaluated.”

     He gestured assent, tingling
with a new excitement, the foreboding thought again pushed roughly to the
outskirts of his thoughts.

    
I’m going to Tertius!
It
was official, he would receive training in the advanced forms of the use of
Nil’Gu’vua, and glyphics, politics, and governance. He contained his elation,
his first ambition realized. He knew that his Nil’Gu’ua level was high – he was
curious to see how high, and how he ranked in ability, compared to his contemporaries.
Now he would be able to get on the path to reversing the OSI, to effecting
positive change for the taken citizens of Gu’Anin.

     And perhaps I’ll get a
chance to return to the Long-Travel center and get to fully understand the
Long-Travel glyph,
he thought, wanting to laugh and share the moment with
Pavtala Ralili’Bax. He tried not to let the thought sour him. He missed her.
But she would have been excited for him, and he held on to that, finding that
he was not as depressed about her absence as he had been. He thought thinly of
also finding Pavtala Ralili’Bax again, but practicality raised its vuu’erio
tennae, telling him that by the time he matriculated from Tertius, she might
well have true-mated. He did his best to let the thought of her go. He forced
himself to smile.
I’m going to Tertius!

Whorl Ninety One

     “I know you’re excited to
go,” Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv said, squeezing his shoulder. “But – son...”

     Kreceno’Tiv looked at his
father, then his mother, and their words registered on his consciousness, dampening
his exhilaration. They both had quiet looks on their faces, quiet, intent
expressions that told him more than words, though he had missed the glyphs of
their thoughts. Their faces counseled caution, discretion. But what, exactly,
were they cautioning him against, he did not know.

     “Tell me,” he said, knowing
that he would have to work on understanding nuance and deducing answers more
diligently.
I really should not have to keep asking for clarification,
he
admonished himself.

     His mother did not sigh, but
gave him a tiny squeeze. A glyph of privacy surrounded them. “Never show
everything you can do,” she murmured. “We know you have very high Nil’Gu’ua
ability, but...”

     “Never show just how high
your skill level is,” his father finished. “If you have level eight, only
evaluate to level six.”

     Kreceno’Tiv gaped at him.
I’m
not supposed to show my full ability?
he thought incredulously, then
clamped down on his dismay. He took a breath and thought through his confusion,
looked for the reasoning behind their words. If his parents were telling him,
explicitly, to hide his true level of skill, then there must be a reason, and a
very good one. Which meant that they were also hiding their own true ability
levels, by at least two, if not three levels. Both of them rated at level
seven, which meant that they were either level nine, or even ten. So – they
wanted him to test at a respectable level, but hide just how powerful he really
was.

    
There’s some danger
associated with being evaluated at very high Nil’Gu’ua ability levels,
he
realized. Political, maybe. Or some very important advantage to hiding it. Or
both. Not being evaluated to his full potential also meant that if he wanted to
learn how to use his skills at the higher levels, he was going to have to teach
himself.

     He gestured assent, his excitement
blunted. But he understood, at least a little. They would not have brought it
up unless it was really vital.

     “My dear, we don’t want to
dampen your excitement of attending Tertius,” Vespa Kareni’Tiv said, regret and
chagrin on her face. “But this is important.”

     He smiled. “I know, Mother.
I understand. Don’t worry, I’m still excited.”

     He could almost feel their
dismay at having put a damper on his mood. But he was grateful for the warning.

    
Better to be dampened and
warned than excited and credulous,
he thought.

Whorl Ninety Two

     As they walked back to their
suite, Kreceno’Tiv found his steps arrested for a split moment – a glimpse of
one of the most stunning young women he had ever seen flashed across his
vision. The barest hint of her glyph was visible, and the subtlest hint of her chemi-scent
was enough to make him respond, his physique changing almost irretrievably to
match her. All thoughts and memories of Pavtala Ralili’Bax fled away, except a
mocking laugh and a reminder that she had said he would meet someone special.