Babylon let himself back into Mistral, glad again to be out of the storm, and headed down to the knight’s quarters on level thirteen. Knowing that the doll was still on the loose made him walk a bit quicker, and when he made it to the elevator, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had to be safe here, right?
Well, spoilers, yes he was, and nothing terrible happened to him on his way down to reunite with Mistral. She was more or less exactly where he’d left her, busy with something. “I brought everything you asked for,” said Babylon, going over to the workbench and unloading his pockets. “We’ll have to figure out some kind of sciency thing to do with the forever lamps,” he added, setting them down carefully. “I don’t know how to transport Light any other way.”
“And here’s the piece de resistance,” he added, not even bothering with the French accent as he held the compass out to her. “This’ll do, yeah? I found it in the study. Totally busted, but we can work something out of it, I bet.”
Babylon took a seat. “So,” he said, grinning lopsidedly. “I believe I was promised tea. And considering I’ve walked, like, two miles in a blizzard today? I would really, really like some.”
Shibrogane
“That’ll do,” she said, looking at his bounty. She took the compass and examined it as, somewhere, something dinged. As she crossed the room to the little apartment’s kitchen, she said, “Like, I can’t live here for long. The oxygen filters would need to be cleaned, and the… I think it’s a fridge… does work, but it sometimes freezes… everything. I have to fix that. And of course, it’s not like I can drag a bunch of food here with me.” She poured water into a mug of tea and passed it to Babylon.
Back at the bench, she picked up the compass and examined it, critically. “This will do,” she declared, pulling off her gloves to dig her nails into the seam of the halves. It took her a few tries, but eventually she levered the casing open and discarded the original innards. “Its lodestone got knocked loose,” she said, setting the small piece of magnetic stone off to the side before hunkering down over the compass’s original dial. Off to the left was a small square with some of those arcane scribbles on it, and she paused again.
“Is it okay if I open one of these,” she asked, pointing to a forever light. “Like, it exists independently of your lantern now, doesn’t it?”
Back at the bench, she picked up the compass and examined it, critically. “This will do,” she declared, pulling off her gloves to dig her nails into the seam of the halves. It took her a few tries, but eventually she levered the casing open and discarded the original innards. “Its lodestone got knocked loose,” she said, setting the small piece of magnetic stone off to the side before hunkering down over the compass’s original dial. Off to the left was a small square with some of those arcane scribbles on it, and she paused again.
“Is it okay if I open one of these,” she asked, pointing to a forever light. “Like, it exists independently of your lantern now, doesn’t it?”
“We could fix it up,” he said, taking the tea. He hadn’t yet discussed his weird end-of-timed dream with her, but it seemed like a safe topic to broach, now that everything else was more or less settled. “A lot of people,” he said, “They’ve been having these weird dreams about the future? I don’t think - I don’t think it’s the future, just a future, but anyway, in mine, Mistral and Babylon were self sufficient. We were planning to live here. Long-term. We could fix the air filters and the fridge - it’s not going to be any technology we recognize, but if it’s totally toast we might be able to drag something up from earth and get it working.”
He’d been meaning to figure out how to patch electronics into the grid up at Babylon, anyway.
“Yeah, go ahead,” he said, rolling one of the lights towards her. “They’re independent of the lantern, but I’m not sure how well they’ll work outside the glass. They’ve got a habit of dissipating if the globe breaks.”
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Mistral shrugged. “I haven’t had any dreams,” she said, carefully twining the gold away from the globe it was set into. “But if you think it’s a worthwhile effort, sure.” She poured the Light into one of the halves of the compass--by some miracle, it didn’t dissipate. “I think it’s just if the globe is broken,” she said, carefully placing the shell of glass further away, and then--
She turned when she heard a familiar voice, one that wasn’t Finn’s. A ghostly image of Menachem stood behind her, one of the forever lights in his hand, and she watched her mother reach out and take it from him, pouring it into what looked like the pieces of an old clock-face. Freely given, freely taken, said Raziele, and in the memory, Asimov echoed it. It had the sound of ritual about it.
Raziele sealed the face of the clock shut, and said, Don’t worry, brother mine. I’ll have this fixed before you know it, now that the battery’s replenished…
--she said, “Freely given, freely taken.” And she carefully took a tiny pinch of the light and placed it carefully into a circular depression in one of her sheets of weak metal. A thin wire hooked from the end of the chain to what looked like a top sparked blue. Mistral balanced it on the palm of her hand, carefully, and pointed it towards Babylon. It spun, lazily at first, until it stopped on its point, unwavering. The Sharpie-scribbled symbol for Mercury pointed directly at him.
“You should tell me how much of a genius I am,” she said. “Or I’m not going to finish this.”
She turned when she heard a familiar voice, one that wasn’t Finn’s. A ghostly image of Menachem stood behind her, one of the forever lights in his hand, and she watched her mother reach out and take it from him, pouring it into what looked like the pieces of an old clock-face. Freely given, freely taken, said Raziele, and in the memory, Asimov echoed it. It had the sound of ritual about it.
Raziele sealed the face of the clock shut, and said, Don’t worry, brother mine. I’ll have this fixed before you know it, now that the battery’s replenished…
--she said, “Freely given, freely taken.” And she carefully took a tiny pinch of the light and placed it carefully into a circular depression in one of her sheets of weak metal. A thin wire hooked from the end of the chain to what looked like a top sparked blue. Mistral balanced it on the palm of her hand, carefully, and pointed it towards Babylon. It spun, lazily at first, until it stopped on its point, unwavering. The Sharpie-scribbled symbol for Mercury pointed directly at him.
“You should tell me how much of a genius I am,” she said. “Or I’m not going to finish this.”
Babylon laughed, reached over, and scratched Mendel behind his floppy ears. “Are you an Earth knight, buddy?” he asked, letting the dog flop his head into his lap. “I always knew there was something special about you. Good boy. Do you have any T-R-E-A-T-S for him here?”
Mistral passed him a box of Milkbones, and he passed one down to the dog. “I can come more often than I used to be able to,” he said, “But not more than once every three days or so. So it’s going to have to be a little later than tomorrow - Whatever you think is going to be best for you, honestly. It’s not like I can test this on anyone in Destiny City yet, so it doesn’t make sense to rush it. If I’m coming back in a couple days, though, do you need any supplies?”
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She considered her provisions, and shrugged. “Yeah,” she said. “Three days is fine, too. You should pay me for this in delicious foreign snacks, if any of them are gluten and protein-free.” Mistral made a face, rummaging through a drawer to find what looked like a roll of carving tools. Maybe she could practice using that circular script that the journal seemed to diagram out, if she was going to be here for three days? And catch up on her sleep. The bed here wasn’t uncomfortable…
“Take your time,” she said, finally, as she flipped the empty side of the compass casing over and traced the circle onto one of his pages of sketches. “Mendel and I will be okay up here.”
Mistral looked up at him, and said, “I don’t suppose you’d be able to track down something Chaotic for me, while you’re gone?”
“Take your time,” she said, finally, as she flipped the empty side of the compass casing over and traced the circle onto one of his pages of sketches. “Mendel and I will be okay up here.”
Mistral looked up at him, and said, “I don’t suppose you’d be able to track down something Chaotic for me, while you’re gone?”
Babylon was pretty sure he could fulfil that shopping request, even if it just meant bringing her a fruit basket and some corn chips. He didn’t want Mistral to starve on his behalf. “What about you, buddy?” he asked Mendel. “You all set on kibble?”
Not that he expected him not to be. Mistral loved her dog more than life itself. So that meant he only had one last question. She’d made a sort of odd request, it seemed. “Chaotic? Like, a youma?” he asked, not really sure where he was going to find one of those in the Galapagos, or how he was going to get it back to Mistral. Maybe he’d put it on a leash, walking-dead style. “What are you working on?”
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“A hunch,” said Mistral, which was not as helpful as it might have been. “Chaos is inimical to life, isn’t it? So why are they managing to create something alive?” She leaned back in her chair, and said, “I mean, don’t worry about it while you’re in the Galapagos. And don’t seek out trouble on my behalf. But someday. It’s something I’d like to look into.”
They had the facilities to restrain Chaos here, after all… “Have a safe trip back,” she said, and then she turned back to her work bench.
They had the facilities to restrain Chaos here, after all… “Have a safe trip back,” she said, and then she turned back to her work bench.
“I was gonna make a Walking Dead joke before,” said Babylon, draining the rest of his tea, “But now I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t.”
He set the mug aside and got up from his seat. “I’ll just leave from here, if that’s okay?” It didn’t make sense to walk back through the blizzard when he didn’t need anything from there. “Catch you later.”
And he paused for a moment, and a moment later, he was gone.
