Engineered Magic

48 AL: Grandmother

In the evening, three days later, Grandmother concluded that no one else saw the door with the tree on it. This gallery with its surrounding bear free rooms was like a vacation zone for their party. They spend the days scavenging the rooms and the evenings cooking and crafting.

Grandmother sat on her sofa and looked at the inscription wall. Since she used her interface to decrypt it, she no longer saw the inscription itself. Instead she saw the decrypted image. This effect was how Grandmother confirmed her decryption of an inscription was correct.

“Have you got it decrypted yet?” Todd asked. Grandmother turned to look at the young man. She was surprised he didn’t ask before this. She thought he was enjoying the break. Asking now was an indication that he was getting bored. Ellen was keeping herself busy trying to learn stone sculpting. She roped Alex into translating for Companion.

The first morning in the Gallery, Grandmother awoke to her sofa transformed. The wooden legs were replaced with bronze set with cut stones. The tapestry was a masterpiece of stone. There were stones of all sizes, shapes, color and finishes. There was even a rock with a hole in it and one that was roughly shaped like a standing bear. The bear was laying on its side half hidden behind another rock but it was still recognizable. Normally the tapestry on the backrest would be repeated on the seat as if the same fabric was used for both. This sofa didn’t have any repetitions.

Ellen quickly deduced that each stone was encoded with a different spell on it. Many of the spells were incomplete. Rocks in the foreground blocked part of the spell coded into the background stones. These tapestries were not tutorials. Instead they were hints. There was nothing in the picture to indicate which tool was needed or how to cast the spell. Compared to an average sofa which would yield one or two hints, this one was a treasure trove of information.

Ellen could not be happier. As a crafter she already knew how to cast a spell on or with a tool. With experimentation and the appropriate tools she was confident she could figure most of these spells out.

Sarah recorded every scrap of information she could squeeze from the sofa into her spell diary. With that done, she returned to enchanting. These activities kept the other three members of the party occupied.

“I decrypted it the first night,” Grandmother replied. “I am still uncertain what I should do about it.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Todd asked.

“Actually,” Grandmother replied, “could you push on the wall right there?” She pointed over the back of the couch at the door with the tree on it. Todd looked a little confused, but readily agreed. He went behind the couch and randomly pushed on the wall.

“Here?” he asked.

“About a foot to the left,” Grandmother instructed. Todd’s hand came directly down on the push plate on the door, although he seemed completely unaware of it. The door didn’t move.

“Hmm…” Grandmother murmured. “Can you touch the crystal and try again?” Even more confused, Todd agreed. He stepped out onto the sand and laid his hand on the protection crystal. The crystal turned a darker shade of red than Todd remembered. It was further proof that his tier was higher. Afterward he pushed on the wall again. This time he didn’t accidentally line up with the push plate. Grandmother ended up getting up and joining him at the wall in order to align his push.

“As fascinating as this is,” Todd said, after Grandmother seemed satisfied with where he pushed on the wall, “I am not really understanding the point.” Grandmother looked at the young man and reached out and pushed the door open. She stepped forward into the room beyond. Todd stared at her, not making any move to follow her. Grandmother realized from his astonishment that he was seeing something very different from what she saw.

“What do you see?” She asked him. He didn’t answer. Instead he reached out and touched the wall again. He ran his hand across the surface of the glass like he could still feel it. Grandmother thought it might be another example of the higher integration of people born in the structure.

“Can you hear me?” Grandmother asked. Still there was no response. Holding the door open with one hand, Grandmother grabbed his wrist and using her superior strength, she pulled him into the room.

“‘I’m blind,” Todd said. Grandmother could hear the fear in his voice.

“Well that is a problem,” she responded. She guided him out of the room, stepping out behind him herself. She allowed the door to swing shut behind her.

Todd blinked and gave a sigh of relief. “What was that?” he asked her.

“I see a door,” she said to him. “It revealed itself when I solved the inscription.”

“What does it lead to?” Todd asked.

“I think it is a transportation system,” Grandmother responded. “That is only a guess. I could use your opinion.”

“So I need to solve the inscription,” Todd concluded.

“That is the next logical step,” Grandmother replied. “I was hoping that if it was obvious you knew the room was there, Control would reveal it to you. It took me a long time to solve the inscription,” she said to Todd. “It was really late when I finished. I can try to walk you through it, but you know I can’t actually see it anymore, just the solution.” The two of them moved to settle on the sofa facing the inscription. Todd braced his spear against the armrest where he could retrieve it quickly. “I am a little worried you will spend all the time decrypting it and we will find out the travel room is tied to ownership of the crystal,” Grandmother commented.

“That would be a disappointment,” Todd said. He was stretching his neck in preparation for the attempt. The interface automatically closed if the user moved too fast. The behavior cleared the user’s vision quickly if they felt threatened. The result of using an interface too long was headaches and stiff, painful neck muscles.

“Have you ever heard of anyone sharing a solution?” Grandmother asked.

“No,” Todd responded. “I think our home square is the only one who even knows how to decrypt these.” Decryption of the wall inscriptions was a skill that Grandmother taught the team. The team passed it on to their families and friends in the square. Grandmother swore that at one time it was commonly known, but Todd had his doubts. Grandmother tended to assume people knew the things she did, when there was actually no evidence of it. Todd remembered something from his childhood and wondered if he was doing the same thing to Grandmother. Assuming she knew something that he felt was obvious. Even though they called her Grandmother, Todd knew she didn’t have any children of her own. She was already an adult when she entered the structure for the first time.

“Maybe you don’t know this,” he started out hesitantly, “but parents can see their children’s interface if they hold their hand. That is the closest I can think of.”

“Really?” Grandmother asked. “How does it work? Does the parent open their interface too?”

“The parent and child hold hands. The child opens their interface. When the parent goes to open their interface there are two lights. One is their own interface and one is the child’s,” Todd said, ticking off the steps in his memory.

“Let’s try that,” Grandmother responded. “I will play the role of the child. That way we can try letting you look at my solution for the inscription.”

Sitting side by side, Grandmother offered her hand. Todd accepted it. As he did he recognized how rarely any of them touched the older woman. He wondered if she was lonely. Although ancient by the structure born standards, she was still not that old by the standards of the Speedwell. She was still younger than her parents were when she herself was born. Todd didn’t think that she aged a day since he first met her. In some ways she seemed younger. After the trap in the stairwell, Todd thought all her regenerated skin looked fresher than the skin it replaced. Todd was getting close to the typical age of a grandparent in the structure and he still felt young.

Grandmother stared off into the distance, pulling up her interface. She used her off hand to push something up into her vision. “Ok,” she said to him. “I have mine open.”

Todd fixed his vision and waited for the flashing light in the corner of his vision to appear. When it did it was alone. He waited for a minute or two to see if another light appeared. “I only have one light,” Todd reported. “Let me open it,” He experienced some difficulty herding the light up into the center of his vision. He used his off hand, since his main hand held Grandmother’s. He managed to get it open. The opened interface was his own. Although not unexpected it was still a disappointment. “Nope,” he reported to Grandmother. “It is mine.” He dismissed the interface so he could turn and talk to Grandmother easily.

“Is it because we are not related?” Grandmother asked.

“I doubt it,” Todd responded. “A lot of children are adopted. It could be because you are not tier zero. I can’t remember if I ever did this with my parents at a higher tier.”

“Maybe it is because I am a higher tier than you,” Grandmother proposed. “Control may not want you to get a peek at a higher tier interface. Let’s try again. This time I will play the parent.” They grasped hands again. Todd opened his interface, telling Grandmother when he was done.

Grandmother stared off into the distance. “Yeah,” She commented, “I do see two lights.” She awkwardly herded the second light on the opposite edge of her vision up into the center of her vision before selecting it. Once open she studied what she saw. “This must be your interface,” Grandmother told Todd. “It is written in the polygon font and I can’t alter any of it.”

“I will switch it over to the decode section,” Todd offered. He reached out with his off hand to flick through the obscure menu to the correct icon. He selected it.

“Interesting,” Grandmother said. “It is like screen sharing, I can see your choices, but I can’t make any of my own.” Grandmother was quiet for a moment. “Looking through your interface I can see the original inscription again, so I can offer you advice on how to go about decrypting it. I want to try something else first.”

“What do you have in mind?” Todd asked.

“I can still see the light for my interface,” Grandmother observed. “I am going to see if I can open it too.” She pulled the light over into her field of vision and selected it. Todd tried to wait patiently as Grandmother continued to play with her interface. He could catch a glimpse of the movement of her hand at the side of his vision. He couldn’t look directly at her actions without closing his own interface.

His image of the inscription transformed. The hundreds, if not thousands of individual carvings of numbers in the Egyptian font vanished to be replaced by a simple line drawing.

“Did it work?” Grandmother asked.

“The inscription changed into a line drawing. I am not certain what it is supposed to be,” Todd replied. “What did you do?”

“I dragged the solution from my interface to yours,” Grandmother replied. “I have been thinking of it as a tree with the branches above and the roots below. Is that what you see?”

“Yes,” he responded. He didn’t think it looked like a tree at all. It was more like the branches of a river collecting together and spreading out again into a delta. Grandmother closed her interface and released Todd’s hand. She stood and looked over the back of the sofa.

“Can you see the door?” she asked. Todd closed his own interface and looked back at the blank wall. Only it wasn’t blank anymore. One of the glass panels was etched with the same tree/river symbol. A brass push plate mounted on the side showed it was a door.

“Yes,” he said. “I see it.” He rose to his feet and moved to the door without thought. At his touch it swung open.

When Grandmother stepped inside before, it looked to him like she walked through the glass. He didn’t get any glimpse of the room beyond. The door opened to a small room brightly lit by light panels above. Both side walls contained a doorway blocked with stone. On the far wall was some kind of altar. Grandmother pushed the door open and jammed a wedge under it to hold it open. She followed Todd inside.

“What does the altar do?” Todd asked.

“The control panel allows you to select a destination and pay the fee,” Grandmother replied. “Touch it,” she instructed. “It will show you a map. You have to keep contact with the surface to keep it active.”

Todd touched the stone screen. A dark, dark purple crystal appeared in the center of the screen, surrounded by the vague outline of the local map around it.

“That’s interesting,” Grandmother commented. “I can see it too. I assumed only you would be able to see your map.” Grandmother wondered if the map was always public or if she only saw it because she owned the crystal. Todd quickly figured out that the usual map controls worked. He zoomed out to find the southern edge of his map, before scrolling northward. Grandmother noted that none of the smaller rest crystals Todd claimed over the last few weeks appeared.

The crystal representing their home square came into view. Its dark color matched the local crystal. Farther to the north was the blue crystal of Londontown.

“Why haven’t you touched the crystal in the other gallery?” Grandmother asked.

“How do you know I haven't touched it?” Todd countered.

“It should be here,” Grandmother said, pointing at a position much closer to their home square than Londontown.

“It is in a pool of water,” Todd responded. Grandmother laughed.

“Well,” she admitted, “there are several crystals missing from my travels as well and I don’t have the excuse of not getting wet. Go ahead and tap the Londontown crystal,” Grandmother instructed with a gesture to the blue crystal. Todd reached out and touched the indicated stone. A pile of shadow coins appeared. Grandmother noted that the price requested was smaller than what the control panel wanted from her, but it was still a high price.

“That is pricey,” Todd commented.

“Tap it again to dismiss the price,” Grandmother instructed. “Select the crystal for our home square.” Todd did as Grandmother instructed. When he tapped the dark violet crystal another stack of shadow coins appeared. The price was twenty seven silver coins.

“Hmm…” Grandmother murmured. “Let me try.” Todd dismissed the price and lifted his hand from the control panel. The map vanished. Grandmother took his place at the panel. She laid her hand on the panel. Her map opened, centered on a dark violet crystal. She zoomed out to quickly verify that this was the crystal in this gallery. She scrolled northward to the pair of crystals representing their home square and the other gallery. She tapped the crystal for the square. The stone door on the left of the entrance transformed into a sheet of shimmering light.

“Did you pay the fee?” Todd asked even though he didn’t see her do that.

“No,” she said. “I think it is free because I own the destination crystal.”

“Own?” Todd asked. Grandmother realized she never explained the ownership of crystals to her party.

“The discovery bonus for the town crystal included a miniature version of a crystal. The mini-crystal doesn’t appear in my inventory, so I never knew what it was for. Before this I never saw any benefit. The discovery bonus for the galleries also included a mini-crystal,” Grandmother added as she decided to come clean on the whole subject.

“You were willing to let Ellen have the bonus on this gallery,” Todd observed.

“Honestly, I was kind of hoping she would figure the mini-crystal out,” Grandmother responded. Todd rubbed his face as he thought about her words. He left his spear by the sofa. He flexed his hand, missing its presence.

“If I step through that light door will I end up at Home Square?” Todd asked.

“I think so,” Grandmother responded. “I didn’t try it out. A couple second thoughts occurred to me before I stepped through.”

“Second thoughts?” Todd asked.

“I was visualizing something like a cart or an elevator, but it could be some technology beyond my understanding. What if it is incompatible with human biology? It could kill us. High enough acceleration can kill us easily enough and it would still be a type of elevator. Then I thought, what if it is a one way trip? If I couldn’t come back that would be bad news for the rest of you,” Grandmother commented.

“Those are good points,” Todd replied. “You're the one who told me Control could kill us at any time, but that it didn’t like that kind of narrative. I think the chance of it killing us outright is low. The one way trip seems like a real possibility. As long as we target our home square, anyone we send should be safe enough until we can join them. If we could use this to jump forward to this point in the future, we could travel a lot further from the Speedwell and still make it back for the maintenance cycle. It seems worth the risk to me.”

“What about Companion?” Grandmother said. “I am not certain taking them back to human territory is a good idea at all, and we can’t leave them here. I don’t see them making it back down that drop alone with their fear of heights.”

“True,” Todd replied. “Maybe we are overthinking it. Perhaps Companion can use this system to go back to their people.”

“Companion has shown no sign of seeing the door either,” Grandmother offered. “We would need to transfer the inscription solution to them too. We probably have a better chance since we figured out how to transfer the finished decryption, but do you think we can hand wave our way through that explanation?” Todd rubbed his face again.

“You have been really thinking about this one,” he commented.

“It has been three days,” Grandmother responded.