Ortai Legacy: Arrival

12.4 Unexpected Call (L)

Rowan remained quiet as I finished my cup and left Weylan's quarters. Directly across the hall was a hinged door with "Source" carved into it. All the other doors I'd seen had seemed to be sliding doors, but the style of this one and lack of scratches made me think it'd been crafted from one of the metal sheets we'd bought. It had a disk-shaped doorknob that didn't seem capable of actually spinning. I tried twisting and pulling it, but it didn't move.

Butcher snuck up behind me. "Take handle." His voice was less grating than normal as he held out a sphere of metal with one flat side.

"Thanks..." I took the knob. "Is it a-"

He took out a second sphere, stuck it to the door's disk, and twisted. The door pulled open easily. When he twisted the orb the other way, it slipped off the disk, and he was able to escort me inside. The interior doorknob was normal. I popped the removable handle into my inventory.

"Are you safe on that ship?" Rowan asked.

Since I'd already told him I had a small army of mimics at my disposal, I could only assume he was asking out of a desire to fill the silence rather than curiosity. "Why'd you decide to talk to me when you know it'll upset Olivia?"

He let out a long breath. "I had to know—do you think it was a coincidence Olivia hooked you up with James right after I asked you out? It has to be, right?"

"Believe what you want. It's not like I can read her mind and find out." Though, I might be able to do so once I reached a higher Level.

I eyed the Source fountain—or rather, what used to be the fountain. It was now a column of metal painted with many Bontair runes. "Butcher, how am I supposed to get arka out of that?"

"Look!" He sounded almost giddy as he led me around the column to a faucet with a hand pump. He pumped some arka into a newly purchased one-gallon barrel, screwed on a lid, and handed it to me.

The lid had a little spout with a valve. I drank some arka before questioning what to do with the barrel. I already knew it wouldn't fit in my polearm's inventory, but I would've tried sticking it in my graxi's Void if not for Weylan's warning.

"Your graxi's Void is limited in space, and it's almost entirely filled graxi when you go out into the sun. If you store items that exceed the storage Void's capacity, they'll be expelled into the greater Void."

"Good to know." I tucked the barrel under my arm.

Butcher demonstrated how he put a solution—presumably the arka treatment solution Weylan had mentioned before—into an angled tube attached to the column. He covered the tube with a metal cap before opening a valve on the tube's side. After a moment, he closed the valve and uncovered the tube, which was now empty—much to his delight.

This seemed to be another safety measure to keep arkegy contained, which made me uneasy about the idea of fully activating the Source. I turned away and spotted the arka converter—a machine the size and approximate shape as an ATM—standing against the wall.

Rowan chuckled slightly. "You knew about arka converters already."

"I didn't know it could make edible arka." I turned back to Butcher. "Hey, could you escort me to the entrance?"

He started to nod but shook his head. "False Weylan says no."

[What's that about?]

"The path to the exit has been blocked off and cleared of threats. An escort is no longer necessary."

[Finally, good news.] I headed for the door that used to have a hole in it.

A violet line led me back through the door I'd entered. I followed it into Weylan's quarters and then to one of the bedrooms. Half expecting there to be an exit door in there, I glanced around. The line ended over a newly-purchased artifact that resembled a propane tank on legs. It had several knobs and a massive brown crystal peeking out of the top.