Chapter 6 - Superposition

The room was devoid of life and the must of dusty books had regained control of the air. Greg moved over to the hearth and piled half a dozen chunks of dried wood into it. He stared at the wood for a moment then turned to Mari. “Have you been able to get your flame yet?”

Mari came over next to Greg at the hearth and sighed. “Well, I was working in the pyrokinetics lab but only ever was able to make a spark while the rest of the class was shooting flamethrowers out of their eyeballs.”

Jerro sank down into the big corner chair and closed his eyes while Phlip laid next to the cold hearth.

“I can give it a try I guess.” Mari said reluctantly.

She reached in with her paw and focused on the feeling. The emotion of fire, dancing lights that warmed their home through the cold winter. The uncontrolled rage that reduced everything it touched to ash. Her eyes filled with red and yellow energy that licked at her brow. A spark fell from her fingertip and fizzled on the wood.

“Just use the lighter.” Jerro said with closed eyes from the cozy chair.

Mari threw down her paws and looked across the dark room at Jerro. “Yeah, just use the lighter Greg.”

She walked back to the short hall and noticed Rufus’s door was cracked open. She pushed it a crack more, enough to peer into the heavily shadowed space. A lamp was knocked over in the far corner, producing a sideways light across the study. His desk was a mess of papers. The drawers were spilled out on the floor, books from his personal collection lay open with their bindings up.

“Hey guys…” Mari said from the hallway. “Something’s definitely not right here.”

The fire kicked up in the hearth behind her, causing her to look back over her shoulder. “Got the fire going.” Greg said as he turned and got up to join Mari. Jerro lagged behind but made it over as well, he was now chewing on a short bit of wood as they all stacked at the door observing the disheveled space.

Mari was first to take a step into the room. She moved over to the desk while Jerro and Greg spread out towards the book shelves. A sheet of worn parchment was spread across the desk. One end was held down by a bleach white skull with sharp canines and a smooth shard of black stone. Mari pulled the chair up which had been knocked over while Greg straightened the fallen lamp, while still quite dark, the lamp was now properly illuminating the lower half of the room and projecting a lesser light upward.

“It looks like there may have been a struggle or something?” Jerro said, running a paw over deep scratches in the book shelf and looking down at a disorganized heap of books.

Mari cautiously stepped through the room towards the off canter desk. Her feet found refuge in small open islands of floor amongst the sea of refuse. “Rufus isn’t exactly a neat freak… but I’d have to agree.”

Greg joined Mari at the desk. A diagram with a series of nested triangles forming a star contained in a circle was featured centrally on the paper. “What is it?”

Mari traced her paw around the central symbol. This symbol connected in a web to other circles, each containing unique geometric figures. The ink morphed within the thick parchment, drawing towards Mari’s paw as it smoothed over the forms. She withdrew her paw quickly, shifting a sideways glance at Greg where their eyes connected. “This writing…” She said, drawing a finger along top where bold symbols formed into a line of text. She dropped her pack into the chair and pulled out the rubbing she had taken in the cave. While the circumscribed stacked triangle symbol from her rubbing was absent anywhere on the diagram, she was able to match some of the individual letters up in the writing. “This is definitely a language.”

“Where’d that come from?” Greg asked.

“This was inside of that cave I woke up in. There was more, but most of it was scratched or damaged and I couldn’t make it out, but I was planning to show this to Rufus to see if he knew anything.” Mari explained.

“Seems like he might… Now we just have to find him.” Greg said.

Jerro joined them at the desk. “Wait… I’ve seen that before.” he said pointing to the central figure on the worn paper that covered the desk.

“Where?” Mari asked.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, I swore to the Ordinate I wouldn’t.” Jerro said and continued. “You have to promise that what I’m about to tell you stays between us and only us,” Jerro said while bouncing striking glares at the two of them and then at Phlip who had snuck into the room and was sitting in the corner. 

Mari stood up straight and held an empty paw up at her side making a sharp angle with her elbow as if she were about to swear an oath. “Phlip won't say a word, promise!” she said with a straight face that was quickly betrayed as a smile escaped her followed by a sneaking laugh. Jerro and Greg maintained an overly serious composure. 

“And neither will we, on our friendship I promise,” Greg added, and Mari nodded, pursing her lips and personally reassessing her comedic timing.

Jerro hesitated for a moment. “Alright, listen, there were some sort of… creatures in Deepworks.”

“What?” Greg and Mari both said simultaneously, their eyes widened and mouths hung. Mari’s laughing expression had been wiped clean. “You mean this wasn’t a failure or something?”

“Exactly!” Jerro continued, “They weren’t from The Burrow. They weren’t anything I’ve ever seen before. They were something sinister… you could almost feel the evil and hatred seeping from their pure existence.” Jerro trailed off, losing focus on both Greg and Mari.

“Jerro, what are you talking about? Who did this?” Greg said, trying to snap Jerro back from his empty stare. 

“I don’t know…” Jerro replied softly. “They weren’t burrowing rodents. They wore cloaks and moved quickly, it seemed like they knew the layout of Deepworks. When we finally got to them, it wasn’t like we were having a picnic or something. There was a larger one and three smaller ones. It was as if they had… as if they had grown the larger one somehow. There were these cables attached to the generators, and when the Keeper and I got to them… they… they were able to resist our psionics, and they…” Jerro stopped and restarted. “They started doing something to the Keeper, draining her life force or something.”

“But you stopped them?” Mari confirmed with a sure nod.

“No… well, sort of. I was able to force a pipe burst that distracted them and infiltrated the mind of one of the small ones. The big one obliterated it before I could implant a suggestion.” he froze again, staring into the distance.

“And then what?” Greg encouraged Jerro to go on, placing a paw on his shoulder again in reassurance.

Jerro looked at him, his eyes driving through Greg. “They killed her, they killed Keeper Aleese, then…” he trailed off, he blinked slowly and looked down, shoving his face into an elbow to muffle an escaping whimper.

“I’m sorry man, I didn’t know.” Greg said with his paw still on Jerro’s shoulder. “I was too caught up in my own stuff to even ask.”

Mari leaned in on the desk next to Greg and Jerro. “We’re here for you buddy, I know you’ve lost a lot already and this isn’t new to you, but you’re not alone.”

Jerro shook his head, blinking rapidly and drew in a sniffle, his gaze shifted back to the map. “I think they went through some sort of portal, I was knocked out so I’m not sure, but that symbol,” he said pointing at the paper, “Was on the floor where the big one was standing.”

“They knocked you out, I wonder why they didn’t kill you too?” Greg asked.

“Yeah I don’t know how I survived. They messed me up pretty bad, threw me across the room, probably thought I was dead. Those… things had psionics too, powerful abilities. I know my leg was broken and I passed out. The next thing I remember I was with the doctors getting patched up. They gave me this experimental regenerative tech.” Jerro explained and gave his now healed leg a good smack.

Mari looked down at the menagerie of symbols and lines on the paper spread before them. “Jerro, this changes everything, what if this is connected to what happened to me in that cave somehow?” she said, gesturing with her arms widely and pointing in a direction presumably towards the cave.

A wave of whispering swept over the room as the air was pulled around them. A book flipped open and papers swirled upwards in a whirlwind. The room went dark. The light from the hearth failed to illuminate the hall and silence overwhelmed the space, stretching throughout Tailweaver’s. The heavy front doors creaked open. Soft footsteps could be heard from the reading room. Mari, Greg and Jake hid behind the desk and Phlip became a statue in the corner. They were all motionless except for their eyes and ears which darted and twitched to receive the limited sensory input.

Mari peered around the side of the desk to check on Phlip, exposing only half her face at most. The light sounds grew until a pointed nose broke the door frames boundary and slowly progressed into her view. A singular sharp white fang could be made out against the shadowed layers that defined the angular head. In an instant the head snapped sideways looking into the room and paused. The remainder of the cloaked body slithered into view. It looked back down the hall into the main room and released a stream of screeches. Mari quietly withdrew and tucked under the desk where Jerro and Greg had already tightly nestled themselves. They swept into the space, the sounds of their cloaks whisking along the open books and paper clued the friends to their motion.

A dozen soft thuds dropped onto the floor and a sweet grassy stench permeated the room. Mari sighed audibly, recognizing the sound and aroma. The creatures shuffled quickly and screamed. Mari tapped her friends and whispered. “Time to do something!”

She jumped out from behind the desk grabbing her helmet from the bag. Greg split to the other side and Jerro stood behind the desk. There were three cloaked figures in the room now all looking at Phlip.

Greg rushed the one nearest to him and tackled it into the wall next to Phlip, tangling in the robes and darkness. Jerro placed a paw on his temple and the central cloak froze in place. Mari motioned towards the bookshelf, reaching out her arms, palms forward towards her target. A pile of books levitated off the shelf and she sent them in a barrage across the room.

The final unaffected creature held out a paw from a loose sleeve. As the books tore through the space, they deflected around the creature and its frozen companion. Each point of contact created a rippling crackle of red energy that arched around the impact and quickly faded. It turned towards Mari and Jerro, clenching the air with its free paw. Their feet picked up and they were drawn into each other like gravity had shifted to a midpoint between them. They slammed hard and slumped to the ground behind the desk.

Mari and Jerro’s view of the room was obscured now, and they could only observe from the ceiling down as Greg was launched upwards into it. He stuck there for a moment then fell to the ground as crumbles of shattered earth rained down onto him.

Mari stood back up, regaining her view of the room. The three cloaked figures stood over Greg and outstretched their paws. Blood red energy began swirling and coursed from their outstretched paws. She straightened her helmet, repeating the success she had in the cave she began to focus, her face straining.

Nothing came from her effort. Greg began to loft off the floor led by his broad chest. Phlip sat paralyzed in the corner opposite of this ritualistic scene.

Jerro was just coming to his feet when the blood red was extinguished, replaced by a series of precise blue orbs zipped through the room, impacting the cloaked figures and sending them reeling into the emptied bookshelves. Greg dropped back to the floor, rolled over with a moan and grasped at his head with both paws.

The lamp light returned along with the fire in the hearth that ripped back into full flickering brightness. Standing in the doorway was an old mole-rat, which is hard to distinguish from their general appearance. The wrinkled hairless skin formed smooth flat spots that rose into creases. A grid of tattoo’s rose out of the tattered brown robes while a wide thickly beaded necklace rested over the thin frame of a body. Several long silver hairs wove together to form light eyebrows above stormy opaque eyes. A blue diamond faded from his forehead where it had formed the apex of a triangle with his eyes and their normal light blue.

Mari’s paws fell to her side, her eyes widened as if to accommodate what she was seeing. “Rufus?”

“Yes, gather your friends and move quickly, we’re already behind time.” He turned his head hard right. “Batten down the hatches ye scallywags!”

“Uh… Rufus what’s going on? Who’s out there?” Mari asked

“No one.” Rufus said and disappeared to the right of the door where the hallway ended in the bookshelf.

Mari helped Jerro up, who in turn gave Greg a hand. Phlip was still in the corner, a pile of pellets at his feet.

“And grab that map on my desk while you're at it.” Rufus called out from what sounded like far away.

“Oh it’s a map?” Mari asked.

Jerro shrugged and retracted it into the case, tucking it into his builder issued bomber jacket. “Guess so, that actually makes a lot of sense.”

Greg was slow to get moving and Jerro came back over, pulling Greg’s arm over his shoulder to guide him out of the room. Greg groaned and turned a shade lighter with a tinge of green.

“Hang on…” Greg said, reeling over and heaving up a pile of thick chunky white slime. “I’m sorry Rufus, I’ll clean it up.” he slurred and wiped the corner of his mouth with his paw.

“Let me get 10 coins and a ticket to the cinema, see!” Rufus echoed from far down the short hall in an odd nasally voice.

“What the heck is going on out—” Mari poked her head around the corner, pausing, then turned back to the office. “Guys, let's go, come on.”

They all shuffled out of the room and stacked behind Mari and Phlip. The book case had swung open revealing a set of stairs led down into a stone lined hall. Candles lit the way every so often. They descended following Rufus as he continued in the distance.

As they reached the end of the hall they heard Rufus again. “Sector twenty seven has been lost, the galactic fleet is scattered between systems. Our forces are in–” he stopped abruptly.

The hall opened up to a short ceilinged rounded chamber. The floor was segmented into grey slices that joined in the center. Rufus hovered on the far side, legs crossed, paws rested in his lap, assuming a circle between the index and thumb fingers as if he were holding an invisible ball.

“Ah, wonderful, I’m glad you all were able to join me on this fine evening. We don’t have much time.”

“Yeah… you mentioned that already.” Mari said.

“Oh did I? Apologies.”

Jerro stepped out from behind the group. “Rufus, what were those creatures out there?”

Rufus’s eyes rolled back and his paws outstretched in front of him palms down. His fingers moved deftly side to side as if he were playing a set of keys. His eyes returned to normal and he froze, looking at the trio.

“I must speak quickly, I don’t know how much longer I have. There has been a fissure in the fabric of time. The three of you are critical in repairing the damage caused. The events that occurred to each of you in the last lune are connected and I will explain in time.”

Rufus paused and the three furry friends all looked at each other then back across the space to Rufus. His eyes rolled back and he dropped his legs to the ground and started gracefully fencing an invisible opponent. “En guard!” he shouted, dashing forward, a quick riposte then a flurry to finish as he bowed and pulled a nonexistent mask up off his face. He paused, slowly turned back to the group and picked up where he had left off.

Rufus moved out to the center of the circular space, and gestured with open arms. “This is a transit station, it will take us to a pocket of isolated space time where this malady will not be able to affect my mind and we can assess the next steps. Quickly, we only have moments remaining.”

Mari took a quick step forward. “Wait, we will be able to come back right, my father needs me!”

“It cannot be certain.” Rufus said as his face shifted into a sly smile. “However, I can tell you that by taking this step you open a door to reunite with others you thought to be lost.”

A hustle of soft footsteps could be heard in the connecting hallway. The three friends plus Phlip ran onto the platform.

Mari looked away from Rufus towards the hall as a small contingent of cloaked figures breached the room. She lifted slowly off the ground, her feet rolling from heel to toe. The creatures unleashed fierce screeches and powerful blasts that were drawn upwards and disappeared through the ceiling. A muffled roar replaced the repulsive screams. The world sundered and dissolved from view as they felt a rush of energy pulse through their bodies, tingles radiated from their core through the tips of their extremities. A final sound echoed dully in their ears, as if they had been in a distant explosion.

For a brief second before the shattered image of the short grey room fully dissolved, Mari saw it again—that face, the old marmot swirled in the residual particulate and disappeared as the only world they had ever known faded from existence.