Glassmage Oblivion

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Looking through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of her mansion-sized apartment, Kendra wondered at the world she now found herself in. It had taken days, if not weeks, to convince herself it wasn’t all a dream. Below, the river Ashera moved tortuously around multi-tiered buildings and other geometrical amalgams that comprised the city of Alhambra Minor. At first, she thought there were several waterways, but learned the great river Asherah was a single waterway fed by many powerful underground sources. Even during the warmer season, the water of the Asherah was icy cold.

Atoth was larger than Earth, but its local day was comparable to Earth’s due to a rotation cycle of twenty-six hours. In this manner, Kendra passed six months in extravagance. Within hours of meeting Applewhite, she had been given her own office with attached apartment. The thin, silver bracelet she wore gave her almost unlimited access to whatever she wanted. When she wasn’t with the XIP team (they had taken the name of the company she and William had created) she was free to explore the city.

The first thing she did was take a transport to Port Vesper. Her memory of the small, empty city felt dreamlike, a polar opposite to the unending energy of Alhambra Minor. The first thing she saw upon approach was the tower of the iconic Sphere-O-Dyne Theater. She even went inside. The current interactive movice was not My Sweet Marie, but instead The End of All Things Sacred. Aside from minor alterations, the interior was identical to her previous visit. From memory, she made her way back to the house Sabernatch had lived in as a child. She found it, but could barely see it through an eight-foot high metallic mesh fence.

She learned from Applewhite that the Port Vesper she’d visited with Sabernatch was no more than a technological manifestation. Infamously known as Truman Stitch, Sabernatch was a life prisoner of the distant planet Hellward Kottabos.

“He is in exile and will remain there for quite some time,” Applewhite explained. “You met the wretched creature in his early old age. We sent him there as a young man, but at a point in time nearly two thousand years ago.”

“But—?” Kendra began to ask.

Applewhite interrupted, “Those of us in the high families on Atoth have… extended lifespans.”

Kendra had also asked about the anomalous igloo back on Hellward Kottabos.

“Ah, yes,” her savior said. “It is the control center of Stitch’s prison. A troublesome young man of my acquaintance, who has been re-gifted with longevity, helms the technology behind Truman Stitch’s exile.”

“It seems as if you’re trying to drive him mad,” Kendra said quietly. She recalled the note from Stitch’s mother. Her “true man”. Truman.

Without emotion, Applewhite responded, “Quite. He has caused me a grave distress. Perhaps I will tell you his story one day and the reason behind the extreme nature of his imprisonment will be more evident.”

Kendra had known better not to question further. What truly bothered her was the fact that the technology used to create the false city and other landscapes on Hellward Kottabos was based on ideas she and the XIP crew were only now working on.

As was explained by Applewhite during one of their many meetings: “Our culture is based, in part, on cross-dimensional trade. Often, technology is gained from a point further along our current timeline. Oddly enough, specific knowledge that led to our own transposition medium can be traced back to you.”

“But finding my way here to you on Atoth is just a fluke,” she said, shaking her head. “An accident. I never belonged on that horrible planet with your Stitch prisoner. I was tricked.”

Nodding, Applewhite said, “I agree that your placement on Hellward Kottabos was unwarranted. But this mysterious person you spoke of? The one who led you into the portal?”

“Oanu Nox,” Kendra said between clenched teeth. “She brainwashed my own daughters into helping her.”

Holding his hand up as if to brush away further comment, Applewhite said, “This Oanu Nox is proof that our meeting is more than, what did you call it? A fluke?”

“How?” Kendra asked.

Applewhite smiled.

*     *     *

Her bracelet emitted a soft tone and she brought it up to her chest.

“Hello?” she asked, still unaccustomed to talking to a piece of jewelry.

“You have an appointment on the lower level, Kendra Sable,” a pleasant, female voice said.

“Thank you,” she answered, then sighed. This was possibly the only part of her new life that she did not enjoy.

Turning from the window, Kendra moved quickly across the large living area. The doorway recognized her and irised open. At the end of the wide hallway beyond, she stopped before the elevator doors. Each time she did this, she shook her head and smiled. With all the incredible advances around her, she couldn’t help wonder why they would use what she considered the “outdated” sliding elevator doors to contain the incredible transposition array.

“Containment level, please,” she said, then held up her bracelet. She knew she didn’t have to raise it, but did so unconsciously.

The door hushed slowly open and she entered. Closing her eyes, she braced herself against the feeling of vertigo and acceleration. Once it had passed, the door slid open to a dimly lighted corridor. She’d made the trip from the sixty-fifth floor to the sub-basement instantaneously.

At the end of this new, narrower hall, she stopped at a doorway on the left. There were no numbers, words or any other way to differentiate it from the others.

Kendra cleared her throat, then spoke into her bracelet, “Please go to your bed.”

After a moment, a friendly voice responded, “I am ready.”

“Initiate containment field,” Kendra said. A second later, the doorway irised open and she stepped in.

The room was nothing more than a large closet. No windows, of course, since they were far underground. Blank walls. No furnishing other than the utilitarian bed.

Kendra moved forward, staring down at the prisoner now held in place by an unseen force field.

Head turning (the only part of her body allowed to move), the woman said, “Hello again, Kendra.”

Kendra frowned. She hated the smile playing at the corner of the woman’s lips, as if she were about to smile at some private joke.

Sighing again, Kendra began her inquiry. The interrogation was a list of over forty questions she’d had to memorize. So far, the woman on the bed had not answered a single one. Each time Kendra left, she felt defeated. Applewhite, however, was never upset. He would gently pat her shoulder and say, “No worries, my dear. It is only a matter of time.”

Kendra shook her head.

The woman stared up at her expectantly.

“Whom do you work for?” Kendra asked, feeling anger rise again within her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” answered Oanu Nox.