The Myst Reader (42 page)

Aitrus stared at the Guild Master in astonishment. He had not even suspected that Telanis felt this way.

“It seems we were merely the pathfinders, Aitrus. Yet I, for one, had grander visions of myself. Yes, and of you crewmen, too. I saw us as explorers.”

“And so we were, Master.”

“Yes, and now we are redundant. Our part in things is done.”

“So why do they not simply send us home to D’ni?”

In answer Telanis handed him the paper. Aitrus quickly read it then looked up, surprised. “Then it is over.”

“Yes,” Telanis said quietly, “but not until the day after the capping ceremony. They want us there for that. After all, it would hardly be right for us not to be there.”

The slight edge of bitterness in Telanis’s voice again surprised Aitrus. He had always viewed Guild Master Telanis as a man wholly without desire; a loyal servant, happy to do whatever was required of him. This tiny fit of pique—if pique it was—seemed uncharacteristic. Yet Telanis clearly felt hurt at being brushed aside.

“They will surely recognize your contribution, Guild Master.”

“Maybe so,” Telanis answered distractedly, “but it will not be you and I, Aitrus, who step out onto the surface. That honor will be given to others.”

For a moment Telanis was silent, staring down at the letter on the desk between them. Then he looked back at Aitrus.

“Forgive me. I did not mean to unburden myself on you, Aitrus. Forget I ever said anything.”

Aitrus bowed his head. “As you wish.” Yet as he stood, he felt compelled to say something more. “It was not your fault, Guild Master. You led us well. None of us will ever forget it.”

Telanis looked up, surprised, then looked back down again, a dark shadow appearing in his eyes. Clearly he was thinking of Efanis.

“The excavation begins tomorrow. The capping ceremony will take place a week from now. Use the time well, Aitrus. Observe what you may. It may be some time before you return here.”

 

 

§

 

 

The next morning the major excavation work began. First into action was Old Stone Tooth, the picture-book illustrations coming to life for Aitrus as he watched the huge jaws of the machine lean into the ceiling, gnawing hungrily at the dark surface, a great fall of fine-ground rock cascading from three vents in its long, segmented underside into a massive open trailer that squatted beneath the ancient machine, the gray-black heap in its giant hopper neither growing nor diminishing as the minutes passed.

The noise was deafening.

For three long hours it labored, its long legs slowly stretching, its shoulders gradually disappearing into the great hole it was making in the roof of the chamber. Finally, with a deafening hiss, the great hydraulic legs began to fold back down. It was Grinder’s turn.

As the grand old machine backed slowly into the shadows at the north end of the chamber, its massive chest stained black, its great cutting jaws still steaming, Grinder eased forward.

As the huge machine hissed violently and settled into place beneath the hole, its maintenance crew hurried across, Aitrus among them, small half-tracks bringing up the six massive stone brackets that would secure Grinder to the floor of the chamber.

In an hour it was ready. The crew moved back behind the barriers as the five-man special excavation team—their stature enlarged by the special black protective suits they wore—crossed the massive floor of the great chamber, then climbed the runged ladder that studded Grinder’s huge curved back.

Another five minutes and Grinder’s great engines roared into life. Grinder raised itself on its mighty hydraulic legs, like a toad about to leap, its four circular, slablike grinding limbs lifted like a dancer’s arms. Then, without warning, it elbowed its way into the rock.

If Old Stone Tooth had been loud, the noise Grinder made was almost unbearable. Even through the thick protective helmet and ear-mufflers he was wearing, Aitrus found himself grimacing as the high-pitched whine seemed to reach right inside him.

Slowly the jointed arms extended as the rock was worn away, until they formed a giant cross that seemed to be holding up the roof of the chamber even as it ground away at its edges. Reaching a certain point it stopped and with a huge hiss of steam the arms retracted inward.

The relief from that constant deafening noise was sweet, but it was brief. In less than a minute it started up again, as Grinder lifted slightly, repositioning its limbs, then began to cut another “step” just above the one it had already made.

And so it went on, until the great hole Old Stone Tooth had made had been extended to form a massive vault. Not that it was finished even then: There was a great deal more rock to be cut from the walls before the shaft could be clad with nara and supported with cross-struts. Before Rock-Biter and The Burrower were brought in, they had first to build a platform two-thirds of the way up the partly completed shaft. Once that was in place, Old Stone Tooth and Grinder would be lifted up onto it my means of massive winches.

And then it would begin again, the two main excavating machines taking turns carving out the main channel, while below them the two slightly smaller machines finished the job they had begun, polishing the shaft walls and cutting the steps that would spiral up the walls of the giant well.

As guildsmen from the Guild of Engineers moved into place, ready to construct the platform, the young Surveyors began to drift away, their part in things finished for a time.

Aitrus was the last to go, looking back over his shoulder as he went. Their camp was a long way down the line, and walking back, through node after node crammed with guild tents and equipment, past endless troops of guildsmen coming up from D’ni, and units of the City Guard, whose job it was to keep the traffic flowing down the tunnels, Aitrus found himself sharing Master Telanis’s feeling of disappointment that things had been taken from their hands. In the face of such awesome preparations, he saw now just how peripheral they really were to all of this.

Yes, and in six days they would be gone from here.

Aitrus sighed. His fellow Surveyors were now some way ahead of him; the murmur of their talk, their brief but cheerful laughter, drifted back to him down the tunnel. They, he knew, were keen to go home. Whether it was they or someone else who made the breakthrough to the surface did not trouble them; at least, not as it troubled Master Telanis and himself.

Yet Master Telanis was right. One ought to finish what one had begun. It seemed only fitting. And though their whole culture was one of finely drawn guild demarcations and task specialization, there had to be some areas in which pure, individual endeavor survived—and if not in the Guild of Surveyors, where else?

Stepping out under the node-gate and onto the platform where their camp was situated, Aitrus looked across at the excavators where they were parked against the north wall and smiled fondly. He was almost of a mind to ask to serve on an excavator crew again. That was, if there were to be any new explorations after this.

Seeing Aitrus, Master Telanis summoned him across, then quickly took him into his cabin. He seemed strangely excited.

“Aitrus,” he said, even before Aitrus had had a chance to take his seat, “I have news that will cheer you greatly! The Council have reconsidered their decision. They have permitted a small contingent from the exploration team to accompany the Maintainers for the breakthrough!”

Atrus grinned broadly. “Then we shall get to finish the job?”

Telanis nodded. “I have chosen six guildsmen to accompany me. You, of course, shall be among their number.”

Aitrus bowed his head. “I do not know how to thank you, Guild Master.”

“Oh, do not thank me, Aitrus. Thank your friend Veovis. It seems it was his intervention that swayed them to reconsider.”

“Veovis?” Aitrus shook his head in amazement. He had written to Veovis weeks back, thanking him for the gifts, but there had been nothing in his letter about the Council’s decision. “I do not understand.”

Telanis sat, then took a letter from the side of his desk and handed it to Aitrus. “It appears that your friend and benefactor, Veovis, has been an active member of the Council these past two months, since his father’s illness. It seems that he has the ear of several of the older members. His suggestion that a token body of men from the Guild of Surveyors should be included was apparently unopposed.” Telanis smiled. “It seems we have much to thank him for.”

“I shall write again and thank him, Master.”

“There is no need for that,” Telanis said, taking the letter back. “Veovis will be here in person, six days from now. Indeed, we are to be honored by the presence of the full Council for the capping ceremony. I am told that every last cook in D’ni has been engaged to prepare for the feast. It should be some occasion! And all from the seed of our little venture!”

 

 

§

 

 

The next few days passed swiftly, and on the evening of the sixth day, at the very hour that the Guild of Surveyors had estimated, the great shaft was completed, the last curved section of nara lining bolted into place, the eighty great ventilation fans, each blade of which was thrice the length of a man, switched on.

It was an awesome sight. Standing on the floor of the great chamber, Aitrus felt a tiny thrill ripple through him. The great floor stretched away on all sides, its granite base paved now in marble, a giant mosaic depicting the city of D’ni at its center, the whole surrounded by a mosaic hoop of bright blue rock that was meant to symbolize the outer world that surrounded their haven in the rock. Yet, marvelous as it was, the eyes did not dwell on that but were drawn upward by the great circle of the walls that climbed vertiginously on every side, the spiral of steps like a black thread winding its way toward the distant heights.

Aitrus turned full circle, his mouth fallen open. It was said that some twenty thousand fire-marbles had been set into the walls. Each had been placed with a delicately sprung lamp that was agitated by the movement of the fans. As the great blades turned, the fire-marbles glowed with a fierce, pure light that filled the great well.

He lowered his eyes and looked across. Already the Guild of Caterers was hard at work, whole troops of uniformed guildsmen carried into the chamber massive wooden tables that would seat twenty men to a side, while others tended the ovens that had been set up all along the southern wall, preparing for the great feast that would take place the next day.

Old Stone Tooth had been dismantled and shipped back down the line to D’ni two days back. Grinder had followed a day later. While the guildsmen set up the tables and began constructing the massive frames that would surround the central area where the feast was to be held, members of the Guild of Miners were busy dismantling Rock-Biter and The Burrower on the far side of the great chamber. By tomorrow they, too, would be gone.

Aitrus, freed from all official duties, spent his time wandering on the periphery of all this activity, watching what was happening and noting his observations in his notebook. He was watching a half-track arrive, laden high with fine linen and chairs, when two strangers approached.

“Aitrus?”

He turned. A tall, cloaked man was smiling at him. Just behind was a second, smaller man, his body partly hunched, his features hidden within the hood of his cloak.

“Forgive me,” said the taller of the two, “but you are Aitrus, no? I am Veovis. I am pleased to meet you again after all these years.”

Veovis was a head taller than Aitrus remembered him and broad at the shoulder. His face was handsome but in a rather stark and monumental manner—in that he was very much his father’s son. As Aitrus shook the young Lord’s hand, he was surprised by the smile on Veovis’s lips, the unguarded look in his eyes. This seemed a very different person from the one he’d known at school all those years ago.

“Lord Veovis,” he said, stowing his notebook away. “It seems I have much to thank you for.”

“And D’ni has much to thank you for.” Veovis smiled. “You and your fellow guildsmen, of course.” He turned slightly, introducing his companion, who had now thrown back his hood. “This is my friend and chief adviser, Lianis. It was Lianis who first brought your papers on pyroclastic deposits to my attention.”

Aitrus looked to Lianis and nodded, surprised to find so ancient a fellow as Veovis’s assistant.

“Lianis was my father’s adviser, and his father’s before him. When my father fell ill, it was decided that I should keep him on as my adviser, so that I might benefit from his experience and wisdom.” Veovis smiled. “And fortunately so, for he has kept me from many an error that my youth might otherwise have led me into.”

Aitrus nodded, then looked to Lianis. “My paper was but one of many submitted from the expedition, Master Lianis, and hardly original in its ideas. I am surprised it attracted your attention.”

Lianis, it seemed, had a face that did not ever smile. He stared back at Aitrus with a seriousness that seemed etched deep into the stone of his features. “Good work shines forth like a beacon, Guildsman. It is not necessarily the originality of a young man’s work but the clarity of mind it reveals that is important. I merely marked a seriousness of intent in your writings and commented upon it to the young Lord’s father. That is my task. I claim no credit for it.”

Aitrus smiled. “Even so, I thank you, Master Lianis, and you Lord Veovis. I have found good use of the equipment you were so kind in giving me.”

“And I am glad it has found good use…though I never doubted that for an instant.”

The two men met each other’s eyes and smiled.

“And now I am afraid I must go. My father’s guildsmen await me. But I am glad I had a chance to speak with you, Aitrus. I fear there will be little time tomorrow. However, when you are back in D’ni you must come and visit me.”