Page 58 of The Surviving Sky
Then Chaiyya spoke.“Iravan—whathapp—”
“I take it you know what occurred at the Academy?” he asked, cutting in.
The others exchanged a guarded look across the table.
“We’re aware,” Airav said slowly. “The reports are back, and the affected citizens have all received healing. We intend to speak to them further, eventually.” Airav’s voice grew milder. “You were at the Academy at the time, weren’t you?”
Iravan didn’t bother to answer. They had been tracking his citizen ring since the investigation began; they must have seen him with Ahilya, two dots on their map of citizens. Besides, he had sent them a message asking for reinforcements. They had certainly been involved in the reconstruction. Naila didn’t know their dust motes in the Moment, but Iravan had recognized all three Senior Architects in the movement of the earth, the build of the platform, the way stonenut had created edges along the crater.
What would have happened had he been in the Moment himself? If he had trajected?If there’s any indication at all, the slightest rule-bending—
Airav tilted his bald head, his eyes piercing behind his glasses, waiting for a response.
“How could this have happened?” Iravan asked. “Where were the Disc Architects?”
Airav tapped at his wrist and swept a hand so a map of the city hovered over the table. Several portions were yet under construction, with little access to water, sungineering light, or moving architecture. They were all citizen spaces, to be sure; architect spaces stood lush andcomplete—andanger stabbed Iravan’schest—athimself and Ahilya and the council, and the fact that this imbalance was not the fight he could fight right now.
“The Disc Architects are exhausted,” Airav said, by way of explanation. “Their constellation lines are becoming weaker, and they’re making mistakes. They’ve been taking shortcuts, unable to patrol the Moment as they should. This is to be expected. We wasted a lot of trajection energy with landing and taking off.”
“Shift duty,” Iravan began.
“—is a precaution; it’s not a guarantee ofrest—”
“—negates the possibility of architects becoming exhausted,” Iravan completed, the same thing he’d said to Bharavi not two weeks earlier, when they’d landed in the jungle. “This is happening because trajection is getting harder. Because of an interference.”
“You keep saying that,” Airav said solidly. “Yet all three of us have examined the Moment and haven’t found thisResonance.”
“You might not believe my theory, Airav, but this is not about me anymore. If trajection fails, we’ll crash into the earthrage.We will all die. It’s an end to civilization.”
“Calm yourself, Iravan,” Chaiyya put in tiredly. “We’re aware of theconsequences—”
“Then take me off this ridiculous trial, and let me help.”
“Youarehelping,” Airav said coolly. “By investigating your theory.”
Iravan’s sarcastic laugh echoed around the luxurious chamber. “Without trajecting? Without examining the Moment?”
“No one,” Airav replied carefully, “is stopping you from trajecting.”
A charged silence greeted his words.
Iravan stared at the others. Kiana frowned, and Laksiya looked mildly curious as though waiting to see what he’d do next. ButBharavi—hisclosest friend andmentor—remaineddeadpan, her fingers tracing the notebook in front of her.
He could see in her face a warning. This was a trap, though an unsubtle one.He gave you vine to see if you would crawl out of this pit or hang yourself. Iravan’s heartbeat grew faster. He licked his suddenly-dry lips. With an effort, he controlled himself.
“I misspoke,” he said, inhaling deeply. “I only meant I shouldn’t traject in my condition.”
They continued to stare at him. Chaiyya shook her head at Airav, a secret message. The two had always been close, their relationship much like Iravan’s own with Bharavi. Chaiyya would decide what Airav would. They would not listen.
Iravan turned to Kiana. “Did any of the other ashrams land during the lull?”
Senior Sungineer Kiana frowned and pushed up her glasses. “We haven’t tracked that; it would take too much power. But I can show youourlanding data.”
She tapped at her own rudra bead bracelets and replaced Airav’s hologram with a record of dust patterns in the jungle and the use of trajection during the last earthrage. Unlike flight, a command given by the uncontrollableearthrage—acommand that every ashramobeyed—landingwas a cost-benefit analysis. It was contingent on each ashram’s architecture, its core trees, how much energy their Discs expended in landing and taking off again. Nakshar had chosen to land the last time because its architects had needed a reprieve.
“Exactly what is your idea here?” Kiana asked from across the table.
“I think the Resonance interfered with the magnaroot watchpost,” Iravan said at once. “I want to know how many other ashrams registered the same.”
