The Touchstone Trilogy (110 page)

I just wanted to hug them all, but settled for catching up to them to point out the tower I'd lived in – well off to the north – and agreed to take them there after lunch (a trip made much easier by having a Setari escort who could fly us there).  We headed down the stairs to Moon Piazza, where many of the buildings in the bracketing half-circle have been completed, and the residential areas just beyond are far less raw and un-lived-in, more like a place which might be a living town.  The interiors of the museum and the art gallery were coming together, and some of the fancier shops.  The area beyond the Piazza particularly surprised me, since it had just been paths and residences when I'd last been here, and now there were several new buildings in places which had been reserved for non-residential structures.

The biggest change was a school just past Moon Piazza's outer circle – they grew an entire huge school in a week.  Maze says there's actually four of them, spaced out among the sprawling residential sector (and that's still two thousand students per school – the closest one was for the oldest students).  It's something of an open-air school because they haven't fitted the windows yet, and it follows the circle theme of most of the new structures in Pandora by being a full crescent shape, with rising smaller tiers going up five levels – once again merging with the slope of a hill.  The circular school yard and the open part of the crescent face south so it will get a lot of sunlight during the day.  Opposite the building is a much lower structure in the same shape – a huge two-tiered crescent around a lot of what will be flat, grassy areas once they finish removing boulders and bushes.  This seems to have been designed as a 'youth recreation centre', with sections marked out as courts for different games, a small amphitheatre, lots of whitestone benches and tables, and – the entire reason for our trip – Pandora's first store and café.

The store part was larger than the café part, and still mostly unstocked – just whitestone shelving everywhere.  The café had opened two days ago (with plenty of teething problems, but a lot of good-humoured support), and I liked it straight up because it was playing actual music – from speakers instead of over the interface.  It just makes all the difference.  Whitestone everything does lend a certain sameness to the décor, helped along a little by a gorgeous desert scape filling one long wall in the interface, and some decorations hooked on the wall above the servery hatch.  There were also a seemingly random bunch of painted handprints on the other wall, but before I could get a good look at them the fifteen-ish boy (impressive in an ankle-length black apron) who was seating people saw Raiten.

He whooped, reminding me of when I visited Isten Notra's house, then reeled off welcometoMuina'sfirstcaféandpickanytableyoulike in a single stream of noise before turning and running into the kitchen.  This was soon followed by a rather large crash.  We all had to laugh a little at that, except Ys and Rye, who looked highly suspicious.

There were only a couple of tables which could seat a group our size, and we slid around one, ignoring the handful of other restaurant patrons, who were almost all openly staring.  The tables were covered with the thin 'plastic' tablecloths which were the next generation along from flat screen computer monitors – Kolar's current level of technology.  Each table cover was running a fancy patterned screensaver, but when we touched it, it shifted to a "Welcome to Café Crescent" message and then showed us menu selections.

Raiten recommended dishes, since most of the choices were Kolaren, and Sen had a wonderful time stabbing random selections and seeing pictures of food come up.  I told her her eyes were bigger than her stomach, which sent her into peals of laughter (and Kaoren quietly cancelled most of her selections, and prodded Ys and Rye into picking something).  We simply didn't look at the crowd of faces cramming into the servery window, and I appreciated that the staff didn't all come and squeal over us or anything, but instead carried out their usual duties except with a great deal of delight and huge, trembling smiles.  The entire family took turns to bring us out glasses of water, and appetisers, and every serving separately.

It was definitely a good idea to bring Raiten along – he drew the majority of the attention, and I was able to concentrate on my lunch, and enjoyed my dessert almost as much as Sen (who enjoyed a bit of
everyone's
desserts).  The café staff invited us to put our handprints on their customer's wall and write our names, and I glanced back as we left to see them all clustered around the wall comparing their hands to Raiten's print.  He's a serious megastar on Kolar and I think it says a lot about how skewed my perspective has become that it's never even occurred to me to fan girl him.

After a quick glance at my still-sealed tower, we went to look at the island where Kaoren has been practicing his enhancement.  It was well out into the lake, and big enough that you would need an hour or more to walk around it.  Really nice trees – tall and black-barked with fat flower buds all over them, but no leaves yet.

A tiny waterfall ran from a spring on the small central hill, and we followed the stream which drained the pool at its base, paddling in the shallows.  Rye was in his element, forgetting to be shy as he and Sen searched the water for fish, and spotted tiny flowers and the occasional fleeing animal.

A definite holiday day, and all four of my captainly escort were looking refreshed when we flew back to the Setari building.  I'm feeling – I don't know – protective.  Not just of three Nuran children, but all of them.  Kaoren, Maze, Mara, Zee, Nils, Isten Notra, Tsur Selkie, my endless horde of medics.  Every squad member.  Planets' worth of people.  Even Forel and Kajal.

It's too late for us all to skip off into unicorns and roses, crisis solved, no bones broken.  Nuri's not coming back.  But I just – yeah.  I keep seeing the title of that news story.  If fixing this means letting KOTIS risk me over and over in the hopes that they'll learn something before they kill me, I guess I'm going to do that.  Maybe not the most heroic approach, but I don't have any better ideas.

Training with Mara tomorrow.

Sunday, September 7

Toughening Up

I continue to exhibit my lack of parenting chops by guessing the kids' ages totally wrong.  I was reading through a comprehensive report provided by the school and found the age estimates according to their physiological development.

Sen I'd been right about – the estimate is twelve (four).  Rye, though, is estimated as twenty-nine to thirty-two, and Ys as thirty-one to thirty-four.  Ten to eleven, when I was thinking of them both as twelve.  I can't imagine myself at ten (let alone seven or eight) having all the responsibility of looking after a little girl.  I so much want to find out more about them, to know how they ended up with only each other, but I think it's going to be a long time before they're at ease enough with me to talk about things like that.

I think they're a bit like I was when I was first assigned to Fourth Squad, starting to feel like I fit in and happy to be near Kaoren, but knowing that I'd eventually be transferred, sure that I was just an assignment to him.  Except for Ys and Rye it's a thousand times more uncertain.  They do like being read to, though, and the routine Kaoren's established continues to please them.  We finished the book I'd been reading and I've asked Rye to pick the next one.

Fifth and Eighth were swapped out for Sixth and Ninth today, and tomorrow is another starting people with self-enhancement session, and also an attempt to visualise the location of any other malachite marbles.  Lacking any clearer direction, KOTIS has decided to make establishing malachite marble numbers and locations their highest priority.

I spent my day at Mara's mercy, while Fourth was off doing more intensive training.  Mara's working getting my fitness up into her rehabilitation (and Lohn's given me strict orders to wimp out and have an attack of vapours whenever it looks like Mara's pushed herself too hard).  She's a lot better now, though, and could probably have run rings around me, but instead focused back on the basic combat stepping exercises, and then amusing herself throwing balls at me.  We had lunch together sitting on the hill roof of the Setari building.  It's become a favoured spot already and someone's put a couple of whitestone benches up there under the cluster of trees which survived a building growing beneath them.

Our visit to the café had sparked some questions about the three children who'd been with us, which in turn led to a wide range of news stories, the worst of which was about over-pampered me treating traumatised Nuran children like dolls.  And yet another irritating expert talking about my isolation, and coping mechanisms, and how I was plainly trying to create a sense of stability and normality by building myself a family.

Fortunately there were also a lot of broader articles on how the mass of Nuran children were adjusting, the weight of the loss they would continue to feel, and the percentage which had been – officially and unofficially – made part of Taren and Kolaren settler families.

I was skimming some of the nastier articles when Mara said: "Nominate Lohn and I as replacement guardians."

Since Mara hadn't seemed to approve of my connection with the kids, I had to hide my surprise.  "Maze told you we're making wills?"

She nodded.  "I'd like to pretend that you needn't think about such things, but it's only sensible.  And I'm..."  Her mouth curved in a wide, bitter smile.  "I'm so jealous I could strangle you."

There wasn't any bite to her words – thankfully – so I only panicked a little, then slapped myself mentally and said: "Because you..." then paused, thinking it over.  "Would you still be in the Setari if Maze wasn't?"

"No.  Or – perhaps.  The situation has changed and retirement is out of the question until this crisis is over.  But these past few years, since Helese, we've stayed because we couldn't walk away from Maze.  Which means putting our lives – so many things – on hold because the cycle of rotations and training and injuries leaves no time or energy for anything else.  Even though I'd hardly want to be in your position, I'll take leave to resent you just a little for the way those three have come to you."

"I hadn't even thought–" I began, then blushed and said, "Sorry.  And thank you.  It really helps to know you'll be there for them."

Then I asked her what the crisis being over – 'winning' – would mean to the Setari program, to all those kids who've been living rigidly strict lives so they could grow up and kill monsters.  What would they do if the monsters weren't a problem any more?

Mara just gestured around her and of course the answer was completely obvious.  And the way she smiled as she looked out over the lake was a proper Mara smile – warm and thoughtful and sure.

Monday, September 8

Secession

Last night (or just before dawn, rather) about a hundred of the older Nuran kids and a couple of the adults decided to leave Pandora.  They took a bunch of tools from the old town gardens, and also a bucket of unformed whitestone, and went off north along the lake.

KOTIS Command knew straight away, of course – even before their ID tags flagged that they'd gone out of the town zone.  But they simply informed the Nuran Setari, and Korinal and Inisar went for a talk.

Except for a lone ten year-old who they considered too young to make this choice, and who is now ensconced in the talent school to make it easier to keep an eye on her, the two Nuran Setari made no attempt to bring the group back.  Instead they pointed out the Ddura's usual range (which is about four days' walk if you could keep to a straight line, and means I either was walking in circles or was very very lucky) and gave them an emergency beacon which they could use if they wanted help returning to Pandora.  Not for if they just wanted to call for help, mind you – only if they wanted to return.  It was how the Nurans decided to handle it, and nobody is sure if it's the right thing to do or not.

KOTIS held off making an announcement about it until mid-afternoon, saying its position was simply that it wasn't in the business of holding people against their will.

There was a lot of back-and-forth discussion in the Setari common room about whether the splinter settlement would make a success of it, and why they went (not liking to be told to go to class and learn Taren reading and writing seems to have been a major factor, though it sounds like a few of them would have left no matter what).  Muina's a lot easier to live on than Tare or Kolar, but it'll be a huge challenge compared to being looked after in Pandora.

Lohn asked me what I thought, being the resident expert in wilderness survival on Muina.

"Huge disaster," I said.

Inisar (who, like all the Nuran Setari, tends to keep his opinions to himself and just listen to these conversations) asked me why.

"Because you had to tell them how far Ddura's protection extended.  Whoever is leading them is idiot if he didn't find that out before they left.  And if idiot's making decisions, they'll keep doing silly things.  I don't understand point of building settlement a short flight from Pandora anyway.  Wouldn't it have been more sensible to demand be taken to one of the other platform villages, and re-establish it?  It's like they don't really mean it."

"Their intention was for us to force them back," Inisar said, with the faintest nod.  "There are two who wish to have a stronger voice in our decisions.  A subsistence existence is not what they desire, nor would it preserve our culture and values as they claim to want.  The young among them who are angriest at the new conditions of their lives would have been infuriated if they were brought back against their will, increasing support for those who drove them to this move.  We will post one to observe them secretly, although it is not a good use of our resources, and protect them if absolutely necessary.  Any return which is not entirely of their own choosing would create a true fracture."

I could see that Maze and Raiten had already known this, and Kaoren as usual looked wholly unsurprised.  But even Ys and Rye didn't so much as blink, so I asked them about it later after I'd finished the first chapter of the (long and dramatic) story Rye chose to have read next.