Engineered Magic

37 AL: Grandmother

“We need to pick up the pace,” Grandmother instructed. They reached the end of the greenspace and stood before the same ground level exit she used just days before. Grandmother taught each of them three different cast spells. Their practicing slowed down the group's progress. Alex took the lead, followed by Grandmother then Ellen and Sarah. Todd brought up the rear. It struck Grandmother that this was getting to be their default traveling order. Grandmother called directions out to Alex, having him climb stairwells and head in a roughly northeast direction.

It was evening when they got near the gallery. When Sarah started to lag behind, Grandmother slowed her own pace to match. Since she knew where they would spend the night they could travel far past the time Grandmother would have usually stopped to set up camp. Grandmother opened her map to confirm the last few turns. Her companions were surprised by the appearance of the glass doors.

“We will stay here for a couple days,” Grandmother told her companions. “I left a hide here I want to cure.”

“What is it?” Todd asked. He was keeping watch on their back trail. He couldn’t identify the space from his brief glances through the glass.

“When I was here last it was a secure gallery,” Grandmother said. She made up the term on the spot. “We should do a sweep of the space and confirm it is unchanged,” she advised.

Todd and Alex entered together, watching each other's back as they swept the space. Grandmother instructed Ellen and Sarah to step inside before she made her way up to the central pond. A quick check of the pond showed the protection crystal still in place under its splash of water. Even though she was certain the space was still secure she let the boys finish their sweep. It was good exercise for them. She waved at Ellen and Sarah, indicated they could come join her.

One thing changed in Grandmother’s absence. The small table in the furniture arrangement in the center of the gallery was no longer empty. The tables in the first three arrangements were still empty when she passed them. She would check the other three tables on the far end of the gallery later and find them empty as well. The central table now held an abstract sculpture of stone, glass, oxidized bronze, brightly polished stainless steel and dark cast iron. Grandmother sat on the couch and studied the object.

Sarah came running up. Only a few minutes of waiting by the door seemed to have completely recharged the girl. Sarah danced around the table with the sculpture studying the piece with intensity. Grandmother looked up to see Todd, Alex and Ellen walking calmly to join them.

“It’s a bear!” the girl exclaimed, with the absolute certainty that Grandmother was convinced only the young could possess. “See this is it’s claws,” she said to her sister, pointing at some bits of glass. “That is its rumbled fur,” she said as she moved her finger to the spears of oxidized bronze.

“What’s this part here?” Ellen asked, pointing to the ribbons of dark cast iron.

“That’s his snarl,” the young girl said.

“I see it now,” Ellen said to her sister as she sat down in one of the chairs. Todd and Alex sat down too, although no one joined her on the couch. Grandmother thought the spreading violet stain was probably unnerving to them. She refused to look. Sarah spotted the fish in the pool and ran over to look at them.

“Look there’s fish!” the young girl exclaimed. “They are so pretty!” She began running along the edge of the pool, chasing the fish with her shadow. Grandmother thought it was only a matter of time before the girl ended up in the water. The water wouldn’t hurt her. Grandmother smiled at the young girl's joy.

“Is that a protection crystal?” Todd said suddenly. Grandmother remembered how she didn’t spot it at first either.

“Yes,” Grandmother replied. “That’s why I want to stay here. There is a greenspace not far to the east. We can hunt and gather there and use the cooking facilities here to prepare travel food. I am going to craft myself a new set of leathers. When I finish them we will head northeast.”

“How many days of travel should we prepare for?” Ellen asked.

“The next greenspace is one and a half to two days away. It is a ruined green, so it is open to the sky and extra large. It will take us at least a day to cross it. It may be longer if we have to avoid hunting parties. There was no one there last time I went through but that was some time ago. As a ruined green it shouldn’t host anything larger than a boar. From there it will be between three to five days to navigate the edge and find the exit,” Grandmother said, outlining the travel route.

“The edge!” Alex exclaimed.

“You didn’t think the wizard’s tower was part of the structure did you?” Grandmother said to the warrior. “It stands beyond, in the mountains to the east.” She thought maybe she had finally put a scare into Alex. Then she looked over to find a huge grin of joy plastered on his face that could have won in a competition with Sarah’s.

“How far into the mountains?” Ellen asked.

“A day,” Grandmother responded.

“So nine days,” Todd said. “Let’s pack for twelve.”

“We could purchase pre-made rations from the vendor,” Ellen suggested.

“You can,” Grandmother replied. “I don’t care for the flavor. With the facilities here it will be easy enough to prepare my own.”

“I don’t like them either,” Alex announced.

“I don’t think anyone actually likes them,” Ellen said. “It was just a suggestion. What about prize meat? Is it all right to start with that?” Ellen asked.

“Sure,” Grandmother replied. “But prize meat won’t give you experience or teach you new spells. I suggest we hunt in the mornings and cook in the afternoons. If we fail to gather enough meat we can top it off with prize meat.”

“We should have collected the squirrels,” Alex observed.

“Maybe,” Grandmother said. “That would have made our load a lot heavier and we may have been caught in the halls at night. Fresh meat spoils rather quickly and attracts attention. The good thing about prize meat is that it has no weight and does not spoil.” Grandmother pulled her backpack over from where she set it down beside the couch. She leaned forward to open it and pulled out a squirrel. “Since I knew where we were heading I did decide to bring dinner along,” she said. It only fit inside her pack because she left most of her possessions here before heading to the square.

There was a loud splash and Sarah came out from behind the side of the inscription wall wading through the water. She was trying to catch a fish. It darted away far too fast for the girl to even get near. There were far fewer fish in the water now. There must be a spot someplace that they could hide in. The girl discovered the jets of water splashing the crystal and began to play in them. The crystal remained clear, even when the girl brushed against it.

“Sarah, put your hand on that crystal and let us see what color your magic has,” Grandmother called to the girl. Sarah paused in her play and looked at the crystal as if she was seeing it for the first time. She set her hand on it and it remained clear.

“So she can try to pick her color,” Ellen commented.

“Yes,” Grandmother agreed. Sarah turned to look at the older woman.

“You have fish too!” the girl exclaimed. She jumped out of the pool streaming water behind her.

“Don’t get Grandmother wet,” Ellen warned, jumping to her own feet to intercept the girl before she reached the sofa. Grandmother wondered what the young girl was talking about and looked back at the fabric of the sofa. “Come I will help you dry off,” Ellen said, leading Sarah away. The water the girl spilled drained back into the pool.

Instead of a spreading violet stain the surface was transformed into a tapestry of blue water with green plants. Seeing it she wondered why she expected just a violet stain. True this very sofa turned purple the last time she sat on it but that was before the flowers on the sofa in the small rest area beside the greenspace.

Grandmother studied the design. Swimming through the plants were fish in copper, silver and gold. At the bottom of the panel were creatures in bright red that looked surprisingly close to lobsters. Six rows of scales adorned the bodies of the fish. It was with a start that Grandmother realized the count of scales on the gold fish matched her primary hand’s part in the spell she used against the bears. The silver fish held her off hand’s part. The copper fish held the coding of a sequence she was unfamiliar with. Like the primary hand sequence it started with two, which was the force tree. The sequence after that reminded Grandmother of higher tier shield spells but it wasn’t one she knew.

The way the copper fish always led its silver and gold companions made her think it was supposed to be cast first. The fishes’ eyes were all violet, which indicated that she should have cast it. Did the builders have three hands? Grandmother didn’t think so. Crafters created integrated clothing using base patterns supplied by Control. The clothing patterns all had two arms and two legs, even if they were oddly proportioned. Luckily the proportions could be changed as the pieces were crafted using integrated equipment. The finished product also possessed a resize property. They would stretch and shrink to fit the longer they were worn. Although not enough for child’s clothing to fit an adult or the reverse.

“It is really eye-catching,” Todd commented. He stood to pick up the squirrel Grandmother set out. Grandmother studied him for a moment. “I will cook it,” he said, answering her silent question. “I enjoy cooking.” Grandmother liked that he volunteered and decided to share her thoughts with him.

“The number of scales on these two fish represent the spell I used against the bears,” she said, placing her hand over the gold and silver fish. Then she pointed to the copper fish. “I don’t know this spell,” she commented.

“Can you tell what it does?” Todd asked.

“No,” Grandmother replied. “That is why learning new spells can be so dangerous. This fish is just a teaser. From the drawing I can guess that it is a companion spell and should perhaps be cast first. It doesn’t give the timing between the symbols or the finish move. This spell,” Grandmother said, moving her hand to cover the gold and silver fish, “is a tier five spell. That means to contain it you need a tier five training yard and those are not easy to find. I think this new spell is a lower tier, since it only has six symbols but with it coupled with this higher spell, I can not be certain.”

“What do you do to figure it out?” Todd asked.

“I keep my eye out for a repetition of this symbol pattern in other places. Each occurrence should tell me a little more about it,” Grandmother explained.

Todd left to start cooking the squirrel. Alex trailed behind him. Grandmother remembered the apples she put into storage. She pulled them out and delivered them to the food preparation area. Todd and Alex already gutted and skinned the squirrel. Grandmother took the squirrel skin and went to look at the unfinished hide she left behind.

While she worked on the boar hide, Ellen joined her and started processing the squirrel skin. Ellen demonstrated each step to her sister, who watched on. The young girl seemed tired now that the fun of the new place was wearing off. Sarah slipped away. When Grandmother and Ellen went to join Alex and Todd for the evening meal, they found the girl asleep in a stuffed chair beside the pool.

They shared a meal of roasted meat, flatbread and sliced apples as the overhead light dimmed into night. The others went off to find couches of their own, leaving the fish covered one to Grandmother. They left Sarah where she was after Grandmother assured Ellen it was fine. As the last of the light left the high ceiling, Grandmother pulled up her interface.

The Mosaic script was gone. It was replaced by Egyptian. It was official, she was now tier six. She considered what that meant. She hadn't seen anyone of her generation in the structure for years now. That didn’t mean there weren’t other survivors. She was never the fastest nor the most powerful. She was the most fearful. Her caution may have kept her alive but it also held her back. She spent a lot of time outside of the structure.

For the last few years, it seemed like Control was trying very hard to push her south and deeper into the structure. Perhaps that happened to everyone who reached tier six. Could the reason she didn’t see anyone in the human settlements from her age group be that they traveled further in?

Grandmother pulled her knife and inspected it. She thought it looked dull. She fetched her sharpening stone and a little oil and ran it across the edge. The smooth familiar gesture was comforting and gave her a sense of control.