Sispyhus Rising
Slow motion sparks…
"Do you like ice cream?"
Taylor paused in sifting through a pile of very tangled necklaces and bracelets, and he looked back over his shoulder at Sarika. The Sisyphus had docked at a waystation just past Aphrodite to refuel and pick up supplies that had been running low since leaving Greenleaf. With the refuel and restock all finished, Jared and Shannon had retreated to the ship to work on their newest problem – how to get Taylor home to his own time and planet. It was proving to be a lot more work than any of them had anticipated.
Taylor and Sarika, on the other hand, had been set loose to explore the waystation, and had spent the last few hours wandering around the bazaar that took up a decent amount of the third level's floor space.
"Of course I like ice cream," Taylor replied. He set to untangling a necklace he liked the look of from its fellows, placing it with a pile of others he was considering once it was separated. "Why?"
Sarika's response was to hand over money, in the form of a number of folded-over brightly-coloured paper notes. "There's about one hundred credits there," she told him. "You buy whatever you want from this stall and bring back the change when you're done, and I'll show you something special." She gave him a wide grin, blew him a kiss, and headed off to another stall that sold colourful scarves and shawls.
"Tama de," he mumbled. He had decided not long after arriving that no matter what happened or who he met, he was sticking by the vows he had made one Saturday in September many hundreds of years earlier. It didn't matter to him that Caroline was long gone. For all he knew, more than a few of the people in the ‘Verse could well be his descendants, something he wasn't about to risk finding out the hard way. Being around Sarika so much was making keeping to his vows very difficult – he'd always had a thing for redheads.
He paid for his new jewellery and pocketed the change, slipping the little paper bag holding the four necklaces and two bracelets he had bought into his messenger bag, and headed off to find Sarika. She had finished perusing the stall and was stowing her own purchases into her satchel. "We good?" she asked as she took the money Taylor handed her and quickly counted it. It went into a separate pocket of her satchel as soon as she was satisfied.
"So long as you tell me why you asked if I like ice cream," Taylor replied.
Sarika gave him a very mysterious smile and led him through the bazaar to a café area, weaving her way through the tables and chairs to what looked to him like an old-fashioned ice cream stand. An LCD screen above the stand displayed all of the flavours that were on offer.
"It's my treat," Sarika told him. "Pick your favourite flavour, and I'll show you why I asked you about the ice cream."
"I don't have a favourite flavour, really," Taylor said as he studied the screen. "Rocky road," he decided.
"You got it," Sarika said with a smile. She stepped up to the stand and spoke to the vendor. "Ni hao," she said.
"Ni hao," the vendor replied with a smile. "What'll it be?"
"One rocky road, and one strawberries and cream, please," Sarika replied.
The vendor opened what Taylor had to assume was a below-counter freezer and took out two balls wrapped in aluminium foil. Each of the balls had a long piece of string dangling from it, to which the vendor tied a long stick that had a notch cut into one end.
"One rocky road, and one strawberries and cream," the vendor said as she handed the sticks to Sarika. "That will be four credits, please."
Once Sarika had paid for their ice cream, she led Taylor back out into the bazaar. "Unwrap it," she directed, and began to tear the foil off of her treat. Underneath the foil was a ball of ice cream, presumably strawberries and cream flavoured.
"What is that?" Taylor asked. He still hadn't unwrapped his ice cream.
"This is an ice-planet. You've had ice cream cones, right?" Sarika asked, and Taylor nodded slowly. "It's just a variation on that. Only difference is that ice-planets don't melt so quickly. Come on, try yours."
"Okay," Taylor said unsurely, and began to carefully unwrap his ice cream. Soon he had a ball of rocky road ice cream hanging by its string from the stick. "Now how do you eat it?"
Sarika grinned somewhat ferally. "That's the fun part," she replied, and started licking at hers like it was ice cream in a cone, dangling it over her mouth and tipping her head back to catch any drips. Taylor watched her for a little while before following her lead.
The two of them arrived back at the Sisyphus a couple of hours later, both of them having finished their ice-planets at last. "We're back," Sarika said unnecessarily as they wandered into the kitchen.
"We can see that," Jared said. "Have fun, did you?"
"Yep," Sarika said happily. "Any luck on the time travel thing?"
"Some," Shannon replied as he stretched. "Someone we know back on Athens works for Leviathan, and we're hoping to see if she will talk with us about the possibility of making any modifications to the tech you mentioned." He looked over at Taylor. "It would mean telling her that you're a Traveller."
Taylor waved Shannon's warning off. "I don't mind. If it means I can find a way home, then it's fine by me. I mean" he sat down at the table across from Shannon "I've started to feel at home here in the future, as much as I still feel like an outsider, but I do miss my proper home."
"He didn't even know what an ice-planet was until I bought him one," Sarika added helpfully.
"Yeah, okay, thank you Sarika," Taylor said. "How far from Athens are we?"
"Not too far, but we'll be making our stop in Three Hills before heading that way," Jared answered. "Rika, you're okay with tagging along?"
Sarika shrugged. "Not much choice is there? Seeing as we're halfway across the ‘Verse from Paquin an' all." At Jared's raised eyebrow, she dropped her gaze. "Duìbùqi. Yes, I'm okay with tagging along."
"It's settled then," Shannon said, sounding quite pleased with himself. "We'll set down on Three Hills for a day, let Rika post her letter and see if there's anything we need, then we'll head through to Athens."
"What's so special about Athens?" Taylor asked in a low voice as Jared and Shannon left the kitchen.
"That's their home planet," Sarika replied. "Their ma still lives there."
"How many planets are there?" Taylor asked. "I arrived when you guys were on Greenleaf, and while I've been here we've been to Jiangyin, passed by Aphrodite, and next we're headed to Three Hills and Athens. And I heard you mention sun systems, as in there's more than one. My home solar system, we've got one sun, eight planets and a bunch of dwarf planets. And even then only one of those planets at any point has been capable of supporting life." He shook his head. "This is a lot to take in, that's all."
"That's totally understandable," Sarika said. "So I take it you want a bit of an astronomy lecture then?"
"If you absolutely must," Taylor said.
"Oh yes, I must." Sarika stood up and straightened her skirt. "I need to grab my tablet for this one, so I'll be right back." She dashed off through to, Taylor assumed, her bunk, returning with what looked like a futuristic tablet computer. She set it down on the table and sat down next to Taylor, and started her fingers to dancing across its display. Within moments a hologram had popped up.
"This is the ‘Verse," Sarika said, beginning her lecture. "At its heart it consists of five sun systems." She touched the middle of the hologram to magnify it at its centre. "This is the White Sun System, or Bai Hu, and is essentially the Core. It's orbited by two protostars, or artificial suns, called Qin Shi Huang and Lux. Planets are Bernadette, Londinium, Sihnon, Lian Jiun, Gonghe, Rubicon, Osiris, Santo, Valentine, Bellerophon, Ariel, Albion, Persephone, and Pelorum."
She touched White Sun again, removing the magnification. "Moving on now to the Border worlds…" She magnified one of the suns that sat a little way out from White Sun. "This is the Georgia System, one of the two Border systems. Mandarin name is Huang Long, and it's orbited by the protostar Murphy. Planets are Ezra, Regina, Boros, Kerry, the twin planets of Ithaca and Priam, Prophet, Elphame, Di Yu, Athens, Daedelus, Newhope, Three Hills, Meadow, Hera, Aphrodite, and Shadow.
"Second Border system is the Red Sun System, or Zhu Que, orbited by the protostars Himinbjorg and Heinlein." She magnified the second Border system. "Planets are Jiangyin, New Melbourne, Greenleaf where we found you, Harvest, St. Albans, Anson's World, Jubilee, Aesir, Moab, Brisingamen, Anvil, Triumph, my homeworld of Paquin, Lazarus, and Silverhold."
Lastly she moved on to the two sun systems out on the furthest edge of the hologram. "And lastly we have the Rim. Two sun systems, just like the Border. Closest in is the Kalidasa System, or Xuan Wu, with the protostar Penglai. Worlds are Sho-Je Downs, Verbena, Constance, Glacier, Vishnu, Heaven, another set of twin planets called Angel and Zephyr, Delphi, New Kasmir, Whittier, Beylix, Newhall, Oberon, Ghost, Aberdeen, Zeus, Beaumonde, Djinn's Bane, and Salisbury.
"The final Rim system is the Blue Sun System, or Qing Long. That system has the protostar Burnham. It's suicide to go out any further than the moons of the planet Deadwood, New Omaha in particular, because of the Reavers. Worlds are Meridian, New Canaan, Muir, Fury, Highgate, Dragon's Egg and Deadwood."
Taylor let out a low whistle of awe. "Damn…"
Sarika nodded. "Daunting, I know. And that's just the planets. There's more than double that when you start looking at all the moons as well." She tapped away at the display again, turning off the hologram. "All told, the ‘Verse is made up of five suns, seven protostars, seventy-one planets, and one hundred and fifty moons. Mind you, not all of those planets and moons are settled – a fair few are still being terraformed, and one of Hera's moons is so small that it's never been terraformed or inhabited."
"How many people live in the ‘Verse?" Taylor asked.
"Billions. I'm not sure of the exact number. Excluding terraforming crews, at the last census two years ago I think there were almost fifty billion people living in the ‘Verse. Almost eighty percent of the people in the ‘Verse live in the Core Worlds." She gave Taylor a smile. "Impressive, yeah?"
"I'll say…"
"How many people were living on Earth-That-Was when you left?" Sarika asked.
"Nobody knew for sure, because a lot of countries were extremely secretive about that sort of thing. But the world's population was estimated to be just over seven billion at the beginning of 2012."
"I can't imagine living on just the one world and never leaving," Sarika said. "Most people here have gone off-world at least once by their mid-teens. And a lot of people never set foot on a planet or a moon – they spend their entire lives in space."
"Now that is something I can't imagine," Taylor said as Sarika turned off her tablet. "Before coming here I'd never even flown before – we always drove everywhere. I suppose that's one good reason for staying here if it turns out I can't go home."
"I'm sure that there are other reasons as well."
Taylor grinned and stood up from the table. He bent down to whisper in Sarika's ear, "I can probably think of a few more good ones."
And with those words, and an even wider grin in Sarika's direction, he headed off to his room.
From the air, the city of Five Points definitely lived up to its name. It was laid out in the shape of a pentagon, with houses and other buildings settled on each of the shape's five sides, and crisscrossed by five major streets that formed a straight-sided, five-pointed star. In the very middle of the city, inside the pentagon formed by the star itself, was a park was divided by pathways that formed another star. The airspace above the city was thick with various types of craft – sleek-looking hovercars, a couple of shiny new Dragonfly-class pleasure crafts, a number of dangerous-looking Hornets, and even a few newer-model Fireflies.
The Sisyphus' destination was an estate on the north-eastern side of the city, set a little way back from the makeshift border of houses and backyards, with a front yard large enough to land a Firefly in. Which was quite lucky, for that was where the ship set down.
As Taylor followed Jared, Shannon and Sarika down the loading ramp into the yard, he could see someone standing on the mansion's front porch, one hand shading their eyes against the bright winter sunlight. The moment his feet hit grass he fished around in his pockets for his sunglasses, unfolding and sliding them onto his face once he had drawn them out of the pocket against his left leg. The world went darker than it had been, much to his relief, and he quickened his pace.
The person standing on the front porch turned out to be a woman with long, light brown hair who looked strikingly similar to Jared and Shannon. Just from that Taylor knew she had to be their mother – and was proved right when she hurried down off the porch and into the yard.
"Oh my boys," she said as she hugged first Shannon and then Jared. "It is so good to see you both."
"It's good to see you too Ma," Jared said. "We missed you." He nodded over to Sarika. "You know our little Rika?"
"It has been some time but yes, I daresay I do." Sarika went in for a hug of her own, and then the woman's gaze about skewered Taylor. "Now this is a face I don't recognise or remember…"
"This is Taylor Hanson, Ma," Shannon said in introduction. "Taylor, this is our mother."
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Leto," Taylor said, his voice sounding unsure even to his own ears.
"Please, no need to stand on ceremony – it's Constance," she said. "Come on, inside with you all. I'm sure you're all hungry after your journey."
"Starving," Sarika said as she followed Constance into the house. "Shannon decided he was going to cook last night, and he near burned out one of the pots." As Shannon fell into step behind Sarika, he swatted the back of her head. "Ow! Wo de ma Shannon, that hurt!"
"Well if you would stop insulting my cooking I wouldn't have to-"
"Hao le," Constance said sharply, and both Shannon and Sarika fell silent.
The long front hallway opened out onto a large kitchen and dining area. Its ceiling was at least two stories above the ground floor, and a series of glass globes on long chains hung from the ceiling far overhead. A long table paired with mismatched chairs took up a good amount of floor space in the dining area.
"Sit, all of you," Constance instructed as she headed into the kitchen, flicking switches and turning dials on the complicated-looking stove. Jared, Shannon and Sarika did as they were told, but Taylor followed Constance.
"Can I help with anything?" he asked.
"No, no, I got a good handle on things," Constance replied as she stirred the largest pot on the stove with a long-handled wooden spoon. "Guests don't cook in this house, you go and sit."
"If you're sure," Taylor said, and Constance nodded before waving him off.
"I always forget how big this place is," Sarika was saying as Taylor took a seat next to her. She was looking every which way, craning her neck to see as far up as she could. "Why is it so big anyway, if your ma's the only one who lives here?"
"It's a school, remember?" Shannon told her. "Class won't be in session until after Chinese New Year, so until the teachers come back next week it's just her and us."
"How long are we going to be here for, anyway?"
"As long as we need to be," Jared replied, not looking up from the tablet he was working from. "I'll be waving Sia after we eat to see when we'll be able to meet with her." Now he glanced up and down the table at Taylor. "And I think we should drop by the clinic at some point soon, see if you're healed up enough to start weapons training."
"I probably am," Taylor replied. He lifted his shirt on his left side and prodded experimentally at his ribs. "I'm not hurting anymore anyway."
Lunch was soon on the table – a large pot of stew, with thick buttered slices of wheat bread to go with. It reminded Taylor of his grandmother's cooking, and he felt a small sharp stab of memory go through him.
"Ni meí shì bà?" Sarika asked in a low voice when she noticed that Taylor hadn't touched his meal.
"Yeah," Taylor replied quietly. "I'm fine. Just remembering."
"Well you'd best get to eating, else Constance will wonder what's up."
Sarika's words dislodged something deep inside, and Taylor gave himself a mental shake before beginning to eat. Around him Jared and Shannon were talking in low voices with their mother, their speech shifting so fluidly between English and Mandarin that Taylor knew it couldn't be anything more than second nature to them. Only having been in the ‘Verse for three weeks now, he was beginning to get a grasp on the Mandarin part, but it would take him a long while to be fluent – and even longer to be able to shift back and forth between Mandarin and his native English as effortlessly as those who had been born to both languages.
Taylor and Sarika insisted on cleaning up after the meal, neither of them taking no for an answer. While they did so Jared slipped through a door in the right-hand wall, heading through to his mother's office. He closed the door behind and seated himself at the large cherrywood desk, directly before the desktop Cortex screen. Unlike the shipboard Cortex screen, which transmitted waves in monochrome, his mother's Cortex was a much newer colour-screen model. The difference mattered none – a Cortex screen was the same no matter which way you looked at it.
"Jared Leto at Merewether Academy Five Points, waving Sia Blackburn at Leviathan Technologies Cobbham," he said into the microphone, and waited for a pickup on the other end of the line.
+++
Translations
Mandarin:
tama de: damnit
ni hao: hello [formal]
duìbùqi: sorry
Bai Hu: White Tiger
Huang Long: Yellow Dragon
Zhu Que: Red Phoenix
Xuan Wu: Black Tortoise
Qing Long: Blue Dragon
wo de ma: mother of God
hao le: okay, that's enough
Slang
Rim: the outer border of the ‘Verse