Sang the Setari

26. On the Move

"Meanie....Meanie, wake up." I said, shaking Gabriel. He was muttering in his sleep, song lyrics maybe, but he was also tossing restlessly and sweating despite the cool air. "Gabriel!" I called out louder and his eyes fluttered open.

He sat up, running his hands through his tangled hair. I had tried to finger-comb my own after waking earlier, but it was a matted mess.

"How long did we sleep," he croaked out.

"I think about ten kasse according to the time stamps on my internal recording," I replied, adding, "and still no signal."

He sighed and stretched his arms.

"Looks like morning," he commented, taking in the faint light filtering down from the skylights in the ceiling.  The lanterns that had lit the bathhouse last night were now dimmed. I guessed they must have been on some timer and powered with solar energy or whatever source the ancient Muinians had harnessed.

Gabriel was gingerly poking at his side, but stopped when he noticed me watching. I'm pretty sure he was trying to distract me from asking about it again, when he said, "We need to get moving. Time to start following protocol for Setari lost on mission. Do you have any more of those energy bars? Our nanosuits can filter some of this water for drinking."

We ate the last two protein bars and modified our nanosuits with pouches that carried water. Then we worked out a tentative plan to explore whatever village lay beyond the blocked door.  Neither of us were expecting the grand city that we discovered after venturing out.

"Wow, is this..."

"I know...I wonder if it could be..."

"Kalasa?" I finished our excited exchange.

"I don't know...It's possible," he replied.

We had emerged onto an empty porch walkway. The right edge was cracked and partially crumbling steps led down to cobblestone sort of street.  We gazed out at three mountains in the distance with a valley between that was covered in grand white buildings with swooping arches interconnecting and crisscrossing it all.

"What's up with sky?" Gabriel asked dubiously.

"It looks like a pearly dome covering the entire city.  Maybe it's what blocking the Interface connection," I said.

"Maybe," Gabriel replied surveying the cityscape. There were cracks and rubble, but it looked like many buildings were fairly well preserved, probably by that shielding dome. 

"Which direction do you think we came from?" Gabriel asked.

It took me only a moment to point at a circle of small buildings in the center of the valley. I had always had good sense of direction wandering the woods at my house back on Earth. "There."

"Hmmm. Path Sight gives me the same sense in that direction as the village platforms we've visited. So I think there might be other platforms in those buildings that lead to other villages, like Nurioth. Since the platforms seem to be more of a transport system than a communication device, then a circle of them in a centralized city makes sense. Just like Rada Junction leading to everywhere else on Unara."

"But...why couldn't we return to Gorliath on the first platform...what if they are only one way?"

"I think they fucking did something to the Gorliath Platform so you couldn't take us back. They knew eventually your ability would activate the transport and they were waiting. Fuck, what if you had been alone?" Gabriel's eyes widened in terror at the thought.