Page 3 of The Enduring Universe
Still wretched, Ahilya waved away the apology.
“Do you see them now?” Eskayra said.
Ahilya shrugged. She was always aware of them in her mind, though true communication took place in the Etherium—but were the two things really very different? A shift of her vision—that was all it took to see the Virohi in the mirrored chambers.
they crooned, and she wrenched away. The mirrored chamber was where she attempted to persuade the Virohi to stay bonded to Irshar. Without that persuasion, pathways in Irshar became underwater caverns. Homes split into two, falling into chasms. When once a playground had changed into green rock, Ahilya had wrested control of the architecture back from the Virohi to save several children from being buried alive. It was a close thing—the children had escaped with their lives, though several were severely wounded. Irshar continued to suffer casualties, embedded as it was with the Virohi.
She tapped at her citizen-ring, a crude approximation resembling a rudra bead, a product of the sungineering they still had in the ashram. The bead chimed and Chaiyya’s face formed over Ahilya’s hand, the hologram flickering in and out. Once the Senior Architect of Nakshar, now one of the many councilors of Irshar, she looked tired as all of them did these days. Her round face was wan, her braid almost entirely gray.
In another time it would have been incongruous to see her dressed not in her regal architect uniform but in expeditionary clothes, a head lamp on her forehead and devices strapped to her wrists. Yet Chaiyya had been waiting ever since Ahilya had left Irshar. Along with Kamala and Meena, members of Ahilya’s personal medical team who hovered behind her even now, she was prepared to follow the expedition into the jungle as soon as given the signal.
“Ahilya,” Chaiyya said. “Did you find the site?”
“Just now. The builders have begun working.”
“Good, that’s good. Send us the coordinates immediately, please. We are worried about you.”
“Transferring now,” Eskayra replied. She tapped at her sungineering beads, and Chaiyya nodded in satisfaction.
It was bizarre that Ahilya needed her own medical team, to watch for her health every single day. When had she deteriorated so much? Or was it that she had always been in this space, but for once was getting the help she needed all her life? A part of her wanted to deny this assistance—she did not deserve such care, not after what she had done—but she could not even summon the will to fight this mandate from the council. Everything had changed. The ground beneath her feet was unsteady even while the world grew still. She could barely believe she was surrounded by so many people out on an expedition, where once she had fought to conduct one alone. Eskayra was sending latitudes and longitudes to Chaiyya—a method so archaic it was only remembered by sungineers. They had all returned to lost ways of living. Ahilya had no way to measure anything anymore, least of all the chaos of her mind.
Over the hologram, Chaiyya frowned. “You are not far at all. We could be there by sunset. Yet it took you three days from Irshar?”
The question was not meant as an accusation, but Ahilya still felt compelled to explain and smooth any impending trouble.
“We did not travel in the most efficient manner,” she said softly. She did not give voice to her mistrust of the Virohi—there was already too much suspicion within the group, indeed all of Irshar, regarding her and the cosmic creatures—and what would speaking of that achieve? One way or the other, to trust the Virohi and arrive here had been their only option. Chaiyya knew not to push further. The architect merelyhmmed, raising her eyebrows.
“How is the ashram?” Ahilya asked into the silence.
“Undulating all day,” Chaiyya answered.
The image over Ahilya’s ring wobbled into a map of the city. Several parts of the design glowed crimson, indicating architecture ready to break.
“We’re monitoring it,” Chaiyya said tiredly. “It looks worse than the last few days, but it ought to keep until you return.”
“I can get to it now. I just need a few minutes to rest.”
“No,” the other woman said at once. “Don’t start until I get there, Ahilya. That’s the entire point of us coming into the jungle. You’re tired already and you can’t make mistakes. Let me guide you through it. Just practice the initial exercises until then.”
“I don’t—”
“Promise me, Ahilya,” Chaiyya said, her voice hard. “You won’t attempt it until I arrive.”
Ahilya looked from the hologram over to Eskayra who watched silently. She sighed. “All right,” she said. “I’ll wait.”
Chaiyya relaxed, her relief palpable. “We’ll be there soon.” She cut the connection.
For the last three nights, Ahilya had resisted the call of the cosmic creatures, trying not to be pulled into the mirrored chambers, but she did not know how long she could avoid it, how long sheshould. Earthrages were not a threat, but what did it matter if the last survivors of humanity could be buried under their homes at any moment? Ahilya had invited the precursors of earthrages into their homes—a worse thing than being plagued by the rages themselves. Now there was no more time to waste. No more time to rest.
She tried to school her features and contain her shivering, but a shadow fell on her and Ahilya knew any subterfuge was useless.
“Do you need to return to Irshar?” Eskayra asked, touching her hand. “I can send you to Chaiyya instead of her coming here.”
Yes, Ahilya thought.It would be easier.The persuasion—and any exercise to calm her mind—was easier closer to Irshar’s core tree, the vriksh. But she shook her head. “We’ve only just gotten here. It’ll take you days to assess if this site works for a city. I can’t ask your architects to waste their energy on me.”
“None of us want you burdened anymore than you are. If Chaiyya knew how hard this has been for you, she would suggest one of my architects take you back too. I could have them make you a nest. Return you to Irshar within hours.”
Eskayra was being kind. Ahilya took in the locked shoulders of the architects and the stiffness of their jaws. It was not from exhaustion, she knew; it was from the idea of answering to her, of changing their plan forher, she who had brought humanity to its knees.
