City of gods - Hellenica (11 page)

Saoirse left her quarters and went out into the night.
The “night,”
she thought.
This place is completely underground, yet still they make it night.

The lights in the high ceiling were dimmed, and the courtyard was dark. Saoirse crept past the teachers’ quarters to where her hyaena lay in wait. She felt the strange plants and looked up at the ceiling and saw the trees stretch a hundred meters into the sky. She thought it to be magic, but Tommy had told her computers on the ceiling analyzed the foliage below and put out the right amount of water and artificial sunlight.
Science is powerful,
she thought,
perhaps more powerful than the gods
.

She came within a few meters of her hyaena, but he bristled his fur, whimpered and crept backwards.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

The hyaena gave her a high-pitched whine and then looked into her eyes and winked.

Just follow me
, he seemed to say.
Follow me.

And in a flurry, the hyaena burst off into the darkness. Saoirse froze for a moment and then realized that he wasn’t going to slow down for her. So she sprinted after him through the tall trees.

They ran through the artificial forest, the courtyard, and onto the tiled floors. The hyaena slowed down even more, but Saoirse could still barely keep up. They sprinted past the elevator from whence they all arrived, and they went by several lecture halls. They hurried beyond the labyrinths, and she could still hear the echoes of the strange creatures within.

They ran past the labyrinths through a door and opened it to find a staircase. She jumped down the stairs, four steps at a time. The hyaena had a hard time navigating the staircase, yet still he was faster than Saoirse. She followed him down the steps, around and around.
Each floor has ceilings a kilometer high
, she thought,
so the stairs are endless.

The hyaena bounded by a large door. When Saoirse passed it, she couldn’t help but peek through. She saw a long trimmed field, with stars in the moonlit sky. The stars and moon were artificial of course, but it looked real.
This is the field where they train the warriors,
she thought.
Gunnar will know this place soon.

She slammed the door shut and continued to follow the hyaena. Down, down, down he went, so far down that she could no longer see him. He let out a high-pitched laugh:
I’m here
.

She went to the sound of the laugh and it was another door, smaller than the one that led to the field. She opened the door and they were in another room with high ceilings. It wasn’t endless like the room above, but it was still vast; a contained hangar. It was bright, white and sterile.

The hyaena was just inside, waiting for her. He came up to her waist, nuzzled her arm, and began to gently gnaw on her leg. She looked into his eyes.
No more running,
she thought,
just let me follow you.
The hyaena looked her in the eyes for a moment and then turned around. He walked elegantly through the hangar.

She ascertained that they were in some sort of lab, or rather a
group
of labs. Each room was connected to the ceiling, but self-contained, like giant metal yurts. Some were five meters in diameter, and some were the size of castles. Some had their windows sealed shut, and some were completely exposed to the air.

She peered in one window and saw two well-muscled men, both mercenaries, strapped into gurneys and covered with monitor wires, jerking as if in spasm. One of the men burst out of his wires and then started screaming. He relaxed a bit, saw where he was, and then voluntarily strapped himself back into the chair. From the darkness came a tall, hairless being, too tall to be a human. The tall creature put his hands over the mercenary, and the mercenary fell asleep once again, and soon began to shake. The tall creature turned around, and Saoirse noticed that his eyes were completely black. He was completely hairless and his arms were like pale sticks as he put his hands on the mercenary. Behind him was another god, even taller. This god was larger than Gunnar, and Saoirse noticed that he was floating several centimeters above the ground. His eyes glowed red, he had a thick mane of grey-black hair, and his body was cloaked in shadows.

This hairless creature is Phobetor, god of dark dreams
, she thought.
Behind him, the god Mantus. These mercenaries are doing voluntary research on nightmares.

She passed another room filled with pools that contained large, flat translucent eggs, illuminated with UV light. She looked closely and saw the outline of small squid.
Kraken eggs,
she thought.
This is a nursery.
They cannot breed these creatures in an open-ocean tank; adult Krakens will sense them and come from the depths to violently take them away. So they breed them down here.

Other rooms held other infant monsters: there were Minotaur calves, young salamanders crawling through fire, and juvenile Aurochs, still two meters tall at the shoulder.
These creatures can’t all be for our training labyrinths,
thought Saoirse
, but what are they growing them for? What other purpose can monsters serve?

She passed by a section of laboratories where they were doing simple materials testing. She saw a mercenary wearing a strange thin armor, and another mercenary was shooting the armor with some sort of high-powered rifle. The mercenary saw her peering in and didn’t seem to mind; he winked at her, pointed to his armor, and mouthed the word
adamantine.
 

I’m not trespassing,
thought Saoirse.
With Mnemosyne here to erase our memories, there are many open doors in this place.

When she turned around, her hyaena was ten meters ahead of her, heading around a corner. She rushed forward to catch up and when she did, he was sitting by the door of a large, windowless laboratory. He squeaked once and she opened the door.

It was dark inside, humid and just a bit foul-smelling, though she couldn’t quite identify the odor. She saw the outlines of cages; her hyaena was sniffing them.

What is this scent?
she thought. It was wet, musty, and stale, but tolerable. Her eyes were adjusting to the dark, and she could see that there were animals in these cages. She could hear them breathing, asleep; whatever they were, she and her hyaena were either unnoticed or ignored. Her hyaena gave the slightest chirp, and she followed the noise. She felt the wall and noticed a light switch.

Should I awaken these creatures?
she thought.
What if there’s a baby Minotaur running about
,
or a hive of poisonous asps?
What if these cages aren’t locked?
She felt her hyaena and he bit her leg playfully again, and then gave a small whine.

Turn on the lights,
he seemed to say.
Nothing will harm you here.

She turned on the lights, and saw the cages were filled with dogs. Upon closer inspection, they looked a bit different than dogs: they had larger heads; strange-looking necks; and odd, thick tongues. As they woke up, they sniffed at her intelligently and then exchanged glances with each other. They didn’t explode into a sea of barks like kennel dogs normally do; it was more akin to if she had walked into a troop’s barracks at night.

They began to make some whispered noises, until a dog in the middle gave a giant bark, and then they were all quiet. He seemed to beckon Saoirse forth.

“
Ari-khana, ntaka,”
he seemed to say.

Saoirse came to his cage and looked at him. He was sleek, regal, and clearly the alpha of the group. His thick tongue looked odd on a dog, and he looked at her straight in the eyes as he spoke.

“
Tange, ngane Kaiser,”
the dog said.

Saoirse couldn’t understand, but this dog was speaking real, tangible
words
.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t follow you.”

The dog seemed to understand her words, or at least her tone. He paused to think and then motioned to her hyaena.

“
Ntaka
,” he said. “
Yoye
.”

Saoirse’s hyaena was calm, as if he understood the dogs and was one of them. Saoirse looked around the room and observed all the other dogs; there were all shapes and sizes, from lapdogs to Bull Mastiffs.

“
Ntaka Kaiser,”
repeated the alpha dog, pointing at the hyaena with his nose. “
Oonda yoye
.”

She stared at the dog uncomprehendingly, and then heard a voice come in through the door.

“He’s saying that his name is Kaiser,” said the voice, “and that the hyaena is yours.”

It was Indra, the headmaster of the school. He strode in, glowing and tall, his same overcoat covering a different suit. Though Indra was golden and nearly twice the height of most of the students, he made an effort to appear normal, and if you ignored his size and color, he looked almost human. Saoirse noticed that his tailored overcoat was perfectly sized for him and hid his extra arms quite discreetly. Still, Indra commanded a presence, and when he came near, all the dogs bowed to him in unison.

“
Ahaa-le,”
he said. “
Kara. Tangi
.”

The dogs all sat at ease, and Indra shifted his attention to Saoirse. The hyaena came up and sniffed him. Indra knelt down and held out his palm; the hyaena sniffed his giant hand and then sat, looking like a housecat next to Indra’s large frame. After a moment the hyaena came back to Saoirse and knelt by her side again.

“There’s a strong connection between you and the hyaena,” said Indra. “He’s smart too; that’s why he led you here.”

“He likes me,” said Saoirse.

“No, it’s deeper than that,” said Indra. “The average
pet
likes his owner but will abandon him as soon as the food runs out. This hyaena sees you as an extension of himself, and him of you.”

“Perhaps,” said Saoirse.

Saoirse looked at the hyaena and noticed that he stood between her and Indra, his eyes trained on the golden god. Though Indra was no threat, Saoirse felt that the hyaena would protect her if need be, even from a foe four times her size.
The hyaena shows no fear, even when facing a god,
thought Saoirse.
He’s more than just a pet.

Indra stood up and walked around the room, deep in thought.

“You’re a mystery to us, Saoirse, and your powers are too. Gunnar fights, Tommy infects, and Kayana kills. But you? What’s your ability, Saoirse?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“We accept this. Of the Four Horsemen, you’re the White Knight. And the White Knight’s always been a mystery,” said Indra. “The other Horsemen’s abilities are clear, but you seem to be able to communicate with animals, with nature. But to what end?”

“I don’t know,” said Saoirse.

“Once again, nor do we,” said Indra. “We understand War, Death, the Elements, but know little of your Class. We know the
power
of nature, as evidenced by Poseidon’s ocean, the Ragnarok, and the endless Manitou to our northwest. It could be our salvation, or perhaps our destruction. What say you to this?”

“I’ve no say over the storms,” said Saoirse, “nor the ocean, nor the Ragnarok, nor anything else. I listen, that’s all.”

“Precisely,” said Indra. “You listen, you intuit, you translate what nature tells us. You and your Class are our link to our natural surroundings. But that’s not enough to fight our enemies outside Hellenica.

“We’re but a handful of gods here, outnumbered by the conurbation’s deities a hundred to one, outnumbered in population a hundred
thousand
to one. And our enemies aren’t burdened by any semblance of morality. So after maximizing your powers and teaching you to work together, we’ll give you the one thing our enemies lack:
technology.

“Look around you,” he said. “These dogs aren’t from the gods. They’re from
science
and nothing more. We augmented the neurons in their brains and gave them thicker tongues. We couldn’t give them lips though, so we invented a language for them, one with no
Ps, Ms, Ws
and so on.”

Saoirse didn’t know what to say in response.

“The White Knight’s power is to communicate with the natural world, and we will use science to magnify your abilities a hundredfold. You’ll learn these dogs’ tongue and communicate as coherently as you are speaking with me.”

Saoirse peered at the hyaena that was apparently
hers
, and then looked at the alpha dog, who seemed to have understood the whole conversation. Indra let the dog out and gave it some instructions in its sibilant tongue.

“This dog
Kaiser will take you back to your quarters,” said Indra. “With your permission, we would like to keep your hyaena.”

“Keep my hyaena?”