Chapter 15
TL found Shen in the music room, playing the Bogányi. Technically, their piano was a recreation of Gergely’s Bogányi, created by him and Hungarian engineers to deliver unparalleled precision in tonal quality, while at the same time as giving a look that was ultra-modern. It was made of Carbon Fiber and wood. It was not affected by changes in humidity. Likely, most people would not be able to discern the disparity in scope between this and a Steinway, as most people could not discern between digital records, an LP’s played through vacuum tube transistor technology. Shen found the wild curves of the instrument erotically provocative, but then, he found most curves affected him so. It the very curves that gave increased clarity to the tones that emanated out- and increased their range. The original was built from scratch, 18,000 components, while this one was printed piece by piece and assembled.
Shen was performing Liszt - Concert Etude no.2 "La leggierezza.” TL did not interrupt him. She admired how far along his technique had come in this new life. Solitude and smart tech could allow for this. His eyes were closed. He was not using VR or even Heart Light to see. The last tones dissipated into the silence of the room. The walls that had shimmered in coherence to the music settled, light ‘ripples’ reflected off a pool that eventually stilled. He became aware of TL and nearly came unglued.
“Fuck! Don’t do that?!” Shen said.
“Sorry,” TL said. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You and Loxy both sneak up on me all the time,” Shen said. He got up and retired to one of the chairs that was available for listeners. He sat down and took up his tea. It was now just cool enough to drink. He held it to his lips, feeling the warmth of the cup, breathing the fumes. He drew his legs up into the chair, lotus position. TL sat on the arm of the chair and leaned into him.
“Ginger tea,” TL said. “Smells great.”
“You made it for me,” Shen said.
“Want to talk?” TL asked.
“I am broken,” Shen said.
“You’re out of practice being social,” TL said.
“I have always been difficult,” Shen said.
“Not always. Context is important,” TL reminded him.
“Why does everything come to fighting?” Shen said.
“Not everything,” TL said.
“Fighting or sex,” Shen corrected.
TL touched him affectionately. “There’s a balance,” she said. “You can’t be a push over. You also can’t be too aggressive. You have experienced enough extremes that you know what the ‘sweet spot’ is, but have yet to find a way to sustain it. Individuals and groups have desire to declare their boundaries and set forth expectations. That is something that must be continually negotiated. People who can’t negotiate with physical strength or emotional or spiritual intelligence, usually result to duplicity. That, too, is a form of negotiation, though it tends to be more destructive.”
“Yeah, I get that. But why am I...”
“Angry?” TL asked. “Sad? Lonely?”
“Yeah,” Shen said.
“Because the battle you are avoiding on the surface is full on rage inside you,” TL said. “Most the time, you’re pretty reasonable in the external world. Master the internal, and everything else will come together.”
“I have been working on it,” Shen said.
“You have. You have made huge strides,” TL said. “But now, it’s time to take what you have learned through our engagement out into the real world. You need friends. You need experience and practice. These are good people. I would like you to forge an alliance with Arne and his friends.”
“I like them, too,” Shen said. “I like Arne.”
“I bet all of their women are tall,” TL said.
“Compared to the Tamorians, yeah. Compared to me, yeah,” Shen said.
“And likely reflecting the beauty found in Icelandic women,” TL offered.
“And more reason not to go there,” Shen said.
“No, more the reason to go,” TL said. “If someone wants to hook up, I expect you to accommodate her. If someone wants a relationship, I want you to explore it.”
“No one there is going to want me. Tall people don’t want short men,” Shen said.
“Contrary to popular belief, there are tall women who like shorter men,” TL assured him. “Your belief otherwise tells me you’re processing that from your culture of origin, not theirs. You need to update your paradigm so you can do better math. You don’t know theirs well enough to do math. You like taller. You and I are the right difference in height that we have eye contact when intimate. I don’t want to see your chest in my face when we’re coupled; I want your eyes in line with mine. I want your lips on mine. A super tall guy, chest blinding my face as he hits the headboard with his head, that’s boring. If I wanted that, I’d get a robot.”
“Is that why we have a butler name Rock?” Shen asked.
“Oh. I like the Rock,” TL said.
“Me, too,” Shen said.
Shen’s eyes went distant.
“What?”
“Just day dreaming. I wonder if I’d get along with the real Rock.”
“It’s hard to say. We don’t know the real Rock. We can divine the personality through the gestalt of his work, his appearance on talk shows, maybe even from his appearances on the lip-sync battles- but public face is not private face,” TL said. She slipped into the chair with him. He adjusted his legs out to accommodate her desire to sit with him. They stared at the pool, an alcove that was design to amplify sound and reflect it back into the room. “I find it more interesting to understand what it means about you by who you entertain in you daydreams. The people you admire, the people you vilify- that’s about you, not about the others.”
“Yeah,” Shen said. He flicked his hand at towards the pool doing ‘tech’ magic. A drip began, hitting the center of the pool. A water metronome pinged the water. Ripples moved out, hit the boundaries and returned in time to catch the next drop. “Should I have lingered with the guests?”
“Don’t do that,” TL said. “You needed a time out, you needed a time out. That’s it. No one asked you to linger. They respected your need. That was meaningful.” Shen nodded.
“If someone did hook up with me, it’s probably because they see a way to prosper from our wealth,” Shen said.
“Oh,” TL said. “So you’re wanting a hookup?”
“No. Yes. It’s in my head,” Shen said. “If I needed strange, I could ask you to alter your appearance.”
“You could,” TL said. “Not the same.”
“It is the same,” Shen said.
“It’s all the same in the dark philosophy?” TL asked.
“Pretty much,” Shen said.
“No, it’s not. Taste isn’t the same. Smells are not the same. Sounds are not the same. Touch isn’t the same,” TL said. “Hell, even I have a variety of toys because I like variety. You think that means you’re inadequate because my toys span a continuum, and you can’t change your size or girth?”
“I don’t care about that…”
“Jon, intimacy with others makes us stronger as individuals and as a group. It binds us. The problem with polygamy in your world of origin is there is no long term allegiance to the group, but then again, there is also no long term allegiance to a single partner. Your world is so compartmentalized that neither monogamous nor polygamous groups are sustainable. There is too much competition and coupled with high expectation of idealized other that tolerance for quirks or perceived flaws keep people locked into the searching. You…”
“I don’t want to trade wealth for intimacy,” Shen interrupted.
“Stop doing math. Even if everyone was equally affluent, we are not equal in assets. The variance in intelligence, physical attributes, health, emotional and spiritual essences, in the ability to communicate our strengths and weakness without harming or belittling others- this all goes into it. There will be people who connect with you and people who don’t. You have more positive attributes than most people. Many people will want to connect with you, with or without wealth. You have more value than what you believe.”
“I know,” Shen said.
“Intellectually, yes. Emotionally, you are not there yet,” TL said.
“I know,” Shen agreed.
“You keep saying that, but you don’t. You need Robin Williams to tell you a hundred million times, ‘it’s not your fault.’ You’ve had past lives where you were dirt poor, lives where you were wealthy. You were lonely in both. Here, you live like a king…”
“King Midas,” Shen said.
“A king’s a king,” TL said.
“It’s all the same in the dark,” Shen said.
“Oh, fuck me, how do I circle trap with you?” TL said.
Shen smiled, kissed her. “I hear you. I am processing. Let’s change subjects. Did you learn anything from their book?”
“Yes!” TL said. “I am so happy you asked. The Walking Bears are real! They’re giant Lemurs.”
“Really?” Shen asked.
“People and Lemurs living together in communities,” TL said.
“I want to go there,” Shen said.
“Me, too,” TL said. “Come to bed. Tomorrow might be a full day.”
“Did you notice Arne’s bracelet?” Shen asked.
“The opal,” TL said. “They have Sleeper Immunity.”
Shen and TL were dressed in matching outfits, less ‘space uniform’ feel, but still alien enough to their new friends. Shen was in dark jeans, a long sleeve, turtle neck sweater, and over shirt that had the feel of a hockey jersey, and a jacket. TL was the same, only skirt and colored hose. It was in actuality the same uniform, self-modified. Erico asked if they had any real clothes and there was laughter; Yaffa was interested in the fabric and colors. ‘Star Trek,’ the original ‘Power Rangers;’ Shen kept his humor to himself, smiled at his own thought.
The gate room was noisy with a dozen goats, tied together. Eight of them were pregnant, their bellies on the verge of popping. There were bags with honey jars, wrapped in paper, and surrounded by Irk feathers. There was bags with fruit and vegetables, fresh and dried. There was spices. There was salt. There was goat, fish, and Irk jerky. Some of this was bundled in Irk hides, tied to bamboo poles to facilitate carrying.
“This is way too generous,” Yaffa said. “I don’t trust it.”
“This is not generosity,” Shen assured her. “I am that wealthy, this is merely a token. Seriously, I have so many salt bricks in storage I could build you an entire castle of rock. Stay for breakfast?”
“We need to get back,” Arne said. “The sun will be setting soon and our people will be worried.”
“How do you know what time it is there?” Shen asked.
“How do you what time it is here?” Torny asked.
“Okay, so, you want us to send you to Matsu’s temple?” TL asked.
“No. We have decided, you will know our gate. We would like you to come with us, and introduce yourself to the Elders,” Arne said.
“Shen accepts,” TL said.
“I am not prepared…”
“You will have no needs while my guest,” Arne said. “Come with us.”
TL gave Shen her serious look.
“Apparently that’s settled. I accept,” Shen said.
“May I see your runes?” TL asked.
Arne nodded to Torny. Torny handed her a bag that was attached to her belt. TL sat on the floor, sitting on her legs, and gently spilt the contents onto the floor. She turned them where all the markings were face up. There were 17 runes in the bag, all of them with color tones, all softly illuminated, and all with markings. She started sorting them, lining them up in groups. Torny knelt and the others circled around them.
“Oh! I know this one! Same marking, I call it the ‘ohm,’” TL said.
“Yes,” Torny said. “That’s how we say this.”
TL held another up, looking through it. “I have this flavor, but not the same symbol.”
“May I see yours?”
TL met Torny’s eyes. She made a decision. “Rock?! Bring my stones.” she yelled. She yelled that for the benefit of the guests, providing perceived continuity. Too many discrepancies in reality could slow progress by being inundated with questions- questions neither she nor Shen were ready to address. The butler Rock entered, accompanied by Abby. He brought a box and set it on the floor. In the upper compartment of the box was a book, an ink well, and a collection of crystals, stones, runes, and die- all laid out and arranged in dark felt, indented to accommodate the shapes. There were empty spaces. The die reminded Shen of Dungeon and Dragon Dice. Each side was numbered, like D&D dice. There was a space that held an assortment of unassigned gems. Beneath the upper compartment were three drawers, only revealed when the top was unlocked and lifted, unfolded back.
“How do the stones always seem to be glowing?” Shen asked.
“They’re inner structure is in harmonic resonance with the prevalent spiritual field surrounding the planet,” TL said.
“Do you have a less metaphysical response?” Shen asked.
“No,” TL said. Direct to his ears only: ‘Not in front of guests and I doubt even you would understand the science of it.’ It was not a disparagement. Humans struggled to hold clarity on reality. ‘Quantum stuff. Even my explanation would have you default to metaphysical.’
“Fair enough,” Shen said.
Abby handed a book to Torny. Most of it was empty pages, but what was written was descriptions of crystals, energy signatures that were referenced in multiple ways, including musical tones, colors and frequencies, math, and words. The explanatory descriptions seem incongruent, but were each defining attributes that could only be understand from a different relational reference point. TL held a copy of the book that was in the box. If Shen were to guess, it was a modern day alchemy coupled with quantum physics couple with music theory. Shen found some of the pictures resembled a coupling of an Einstein-Feynman subatomic, particle decay energy binding flow chart diagrams. Beyond that and the musical notations, the math escaped him.
Torny sat on her butt studying the book. She understood some of the symbols, none of the word, a few of the numbers. She was trying to relate to the graphs. TL settled further to the floor, her legs splayed out. There was a key page that had the numbers zero through ten written in a three languages, English, Chinese, and Tamorian. There were multiple musical scales- Western, Eastern, ancient Sumerian and Egyptian. Torny gave up on the book and focused on the stones, touching them in the box, suspecting the arrangement wasn’t random.
“You have a lot of friends,” Torny commented.
“I don’t understand,” TL said.
“How else would you have come into possession of so many stones?” Torny said.
“Where do you get yours?”
Torny seemed confused by the question. TL didn’t follow it because the stone she held was suddenly more fascinating.
“Oh, this rune is damaged!” TL said. She lifted it up to the light.
TL opened a drawer in the box and brought out a candle frame. She placed a candle and lit it, ‘magically.’ She sat a tripod over the candle, set a plate on the stand, and set the crystal in the center of a plate. The crystal once placed was brilliant. The transparent plate took on rainbow pattern- radiating out in concentric circles; holographic, like looking at the data side of a Blue Ray. TL wrote the signature and started doing math. “Master, I want to stay and learn from you,” Torny said. TL looked at her. “Master, I wish to learn from you.”
“Sister,” Torny said.
“Sister,” TL said.
Erico sighed, put down his bag.
“Quiet,” Torny and TL said together. The two of them smiled at each other and went back into their work.
“Do you see the deviation?” TL asked.
“No,” Torny said.
TL removed the rune and placed another rune from her collection; same color, different mark. The pattern was subtle. Shen saw it. “Half tone down?”
“Bflat,” TL affirmed. “It’s one of the flavors in our gate. Do you see it?”
“No,” Torny said.
TL took up a quill and with the sharp end pointed to the separation in spectral lines. She replaced the other rune. She pointed to the discrepancy. She swapped it out. She repeated. Erico complained, ‘you seen one rainbow you’ve seen them all’ to which Torny snapped ‘make another sound and the by goddess tree herself, I will sleep you.’ Yaffa asked ‘have you not heard him sleep?’ Tane said: ‘the whole village hears him sleep.’
“Would you all please be quiet?!” Torny demanded. “Loxy, can something that subtle really send you a world away?” Torny asked.
“A universe away.”
“A universe?” Torny said.
“May I add a mark to this stone to denote its change?” TL asked.
“Yes,” Torny said.
“How did it change?” Arne asked.
TL shrugged. “I don’t know. It got dropped? It was damaged in a magical fight?”
The Vikings exchanged glances. They did not share their understanding of it. TL and Shen could only imagine. “Should we throw it away?” Torny asked.
“Not if you want to come back here,” TL said. “Here let me write our gate recipe…”
“No!” Arne and Torny said.
“I mean, no,” Torny said, softer. “Unless you want all the seers to know your home address, potentially discern ours.”
“Show her, she’ll remember,” Arne said.
“She doesn’t have to,” Torny said. “It should be our address, minus this damaged one.”
“Oh!” TL said, grimacing. “I am so smart I am stupid sometimes.”
“What?” Shen asked.
“I hadn’t considered half tone steps. I have only been considering three dimensional properties- the geometric structures as related to a full tone, not the myriad of potential harmonics,” TL said. “Even one degree of deflection… Again, where do you get your runes?”
Erico pulled at his face. Torny gave him a look. He backed away. Tane was sampling the honey.
Torny looked at Loxy. “You’re not making fun of me?”
“No,” TL said.
“All raised masters can make a single rune,” Torny said.
Torny demonstrated. She took a colorless, unmarked rune from the box, closed it in her hand, and closed her eyes. Light illuminated her hand, escaped from her fingers, bones were silhouetted in glowing flesh, and then the light faded. She opened her hand and dropped the stone into TL’s hand. It was warm.
“I can make this,” Torny said. “This stone now carries a reflection of my light. I am told that with an increase in knowledge and wisdom, my light will change, and my stone will change. I hear that significant events can a change a person’s light. We have an elder who reports having had four changes in light. No one will trade with me because my stone is common. My light is common. Yaffa can make one, a third off mine. Also common. Our Sister can make one, a fifth. Less common. People will trade with her before me.”
“It takes twelve stones to open a gate,” TL said.
“Twelve sisters,” Torny said. “What stone do you make?”
The arrangement of gems on the floor seemed familiar. “It reminds me of a periodic table,” Shen said.
“Shh!” TL said.
Shen had a slight emotional reaction to having been ‘shushed.’ TL had never done that. She was capable of holding two conversations, and could have come at him internally, but she was that focused. Arne was amused, probably happy to see a normal human interaction pattern between them. He touched Shen’s shoulder and nodded. Shen recovered.
TL sorted the pile on the floor, pushing them into patterns. She was studying another crystal that she didn’t recognize and didn’t own. She changed her mind, rearranged the groupings. She examined individual’s stones illuminating their spectral patterns on the plate. She laughed and made notes in her book. She took the book Torny had and made the same notations and gave it back.
“You have more keys than I do,” Torny lamented.
“No,” TL said, studying the floor and her new arrangement. “We have the same.”
“No,” Torny said. “I don’t have any of these…”
TL looked at her. “We have the same. This box is yours.”
Torny cried. She bowed, her head touching the floor. TL touched her head.
“Sister, no,” TL said.
“This is too much,” Torny said.
“Sister,” TL insisted. “Come up. Eyes.”
Torny sat up, made eye contact. “I cannot give you everything I know in one sitting. Even this book will require explanation before you can read it well. This gift will increase our ability to communicate. This is reciprocity, not benevolence. We rise together, we fall together.”
“We are one,” Torny said.
“On the ship,” Arne added.
TL removed another glass plate from the drawer. It had a place for a candle. It had an indenture for three stones. It was etched in gold. She placed it on the floor, took one of the stones from Torny’s collection that she didn’t have and placed it in the left indention. She took an unmarked, transparent rune and placed it in the right indention. She then took one of the shaped die and placed it in the third indention. Nothing. She removed it and tried a twenty sided die. There was a shimmer. She turned up the intensity by rotating the twenty sided die to a higher number. The stone became too bright. She dialed it back. The plate emitted a sound. The crystal on the right vibrated, took on the color of the first. TL opened up the bottom drawer and removed what looked like a nail polish jar. She chose a sparking gold, took out a thin brush, and duplicated the symbol on the newly entrained stone. She return Torny’s stone back to her pile. She did this procedure until she had a copy of each of Torny’s stones that were not in her collection. She handed these to Abby who took them away and returned when she was finished. While Abby was gone, TL made notations in her book. She frowned at the book. She took Torny’s book and duplicated her work, and handed it back.
“I may have to start over. If I do, I will provide you with an updated version,” TL said.
“And throw away this work? We must show our work, so the path is clear for all who follow,” Torny said.
“Fair enough,” TL said. “Do I understand correctly, the only way to get new stones, or missing stones, are from masters?”
“Yes,” Torny said. “In the beginning, before the fall, it is said that all gates had all the stones, and there was always an attendant to speed people on their way. After the fall, most of the relics, especially the gems were looted.”
“Well, of course,” Shen said. “Everyone should get stoned.”
TL frowned at him. “This is serious business, Jon.”
“It was a joke,” Shen said.
“I don’t get it,” Torny said.
“Ignore him. Continue,” TL said.
“There are legends of abandoned temples that still have all the stones. Arne has been determined to find them. He has pushed further out to sea than any Captain before him.”
“We found a ruin and the gate worked. We were returning home to gather supplies and check on our families,” Arne said. “It is my intent to return to that gate, explore the ruins further, and then push on to the next shore.”
“How do you navigate?” Shen asked.
“I always know where I am. I always know where home is,” Arne said. “I will always return.”
“May you always return,” Shen said. “But if you are killed…”
“My crew would be lost,” Arne said.
“We know the risks,” Torny said.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if the missing stones could only be made by men raised to Masters?” Shen asked.
Torny scowled. “What an appalling thought.”
“Balance in all things,” TL said.
“There is that,” Torny bowed to TL.
“Are you the only culture that tolerates men shamans?” TL asked.
“We are not sure about the Dragon riders,” Arne said. “They are stingy with information and will not trade.”
“You can’t trade with people that own the sky,” Yaffa said. “They have everything.”
“No one has everything,” Shen assured her.
“The Walking Bears are tolerant to everything but violence,” Torny said. “But I have not met one Master, male or female, in their community with a single ounce of talent, common sense, or a stone to trade. They play like kids and will give you river stones thinking it’s a good trade.”
“Can we go home now?” Erico asked.
“Got a hot date?” Shen asked.
“We don’t cook dates,” Erico said.
“We should be going,” Arne said.
TL returned all of Torny’s gems in the bag. TL also placed everything back into the box and surrendered it to her. Including the book that came in the box.
“But your book,” Torny said.
“I have another. Keep it, share one with your wisest rune expert,” TL said. “If there is insight, please share.”
“Of course,” TL said.
TL went to the foot of the ramp. She knelt, touched one of the hexagon tiles with the flat of her hand, and it raised from the floor. The raised tile revealed a pedestal. There were open pockets contained on the side of pedestal. In the upper most pocket was a touch screen, complete with all the known runes. TL modified the display, adding an icon below one the existing icons; she adjusted three, sliding scales until she found the tone she needed. She dragged and dropped twelve ‘stone’ icons into the slot- and waited for the signal to take, the resonance to build. There was every indication on the pad and on the portal itself that it was going to take. The lights in the room dimmed, and amber light in each of the corners began to flare.
“Did you kill giants to take this gate?” Tane asked.
“Why, yes. Yes I did,” Shen said.
“Jon,” TL corrected.
“There might be giants,” Shen protested.
“Jon!” TL snapped.
“We acquired the gate, peacefully,” Shen said.
Arne was amused. His new friend could lie.
“So, no giants?” Tane asked.
“You are the tallest people I have ever met since this birth,” Shen said.
The portal snapped to life, shimmered. TL took an orb from the pedestal, walked up the ramp. It brightened, rose up from her hand, and proceeded through the gate, flying on autopilot. TL received telemetry. “What did you do?” Arne asked.
“I am assessing the area for safety,” TL said. “It is safe to proceed. Your invitation, was it limited to Shen, or may I, Rock, and Abby join?”
“You are all welcome. Please,” Arne said.
“Then we should go. They’re a little worried about the scout-orb,” TL said.