3. Under the Two Towers

A new day. The first full day outside the walls of Cerelon since the flight. The tiny group of refugees start exploring their new temporary homes in the hopes of finding useful items, discoveries and even answers.
 
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Fureva-Yung watched the others portion out their meagre breakfasts of dried fruit, jerky and cooked oats, and her stomach growled. She’d noticed the other refugees ate nothing else but the few provisions they’d brought with them. Fureva-Yung knew that other things were tasty too. Her stick was quite delicious but not nutritious. The tick had been good, and the few berries she’d found walking around that morning had gone down well, but they weren’t enough. At least there was her piece of synth, she enjoyed the wriggling sensation as she chewed it.
 
That morning Fureva-Yung wanted to investigate the towers, starting with the smaller of the two. She was curious about the buildings and their original purpose so close to town. She left the campgrounds and started towards the tower, chewing on her synth all the while.
 
Marius too, was keen to discover what treasures the old worlds had left behind in the old towers. Ever since learning about their existence, he’d wanted to explore this untouched piece of the past. Eating breakfast, Marius noticed 'Furry' leave the camp and head towards the smaller tower. With a quick excuse to Yitti and Orv, he followed after.
 
Temila had done what she could for Nox after the tick incident. She’d left the younger girl with a bowl of porridge, and a promise to check in on her after breakfast had been cleared away. Quietly thanking Temila for looking after her, Nox ate her breakfast, watching Marius from her hiding place under the caravan. He was standing with the other miners eating breakfast and chatting. She wasn’t sure why, but she found the older man fascinating. He was animated and friendly, interested in others opinions and always seem to have something positive to say. She remembered the feeling of his work-hardened arms, so different from her soft ones. As she watched, something caught his eye. He excused himself from the others and left the camp. Forgetting the rest of her breakfast, she scrambled under the hovering caravan platforms after him.
 
The tower was not in good condition. Even from the outside, Fureva-Yung could see the missing roof and the rubble blocking the door. Mostly rock and synth, the rubble was loose and tumbled as Fureva-Yung climbed over the top and into the tower proper. Inside, the framework for catwalks still clung to places, giving a sense that humanoids could climb to the very top of the structure at one time. Now all rusted and collapsing, the catwalk was good for nothing but holding up two ends of a synth sheeting that hung like a tapestry against the wall. Big enough to span the whole tower, the sheeting was too light and flexible to have once been flooring. Fureva-Yung went over to investigate.
 
When Marius arrived at the tower, his eyes alighted on the pile of rubble. An expert scavenger and hunter of Numenera, he knew that such piles could contain dozens of iota or, if he was lucky, an intact cypher.
“Hey, Furry, what are you looking for?” He called as he picked through the pile, putting aside anything that could be of worth.
Fureva-Yung, as usual, said nothing, just shrugged her shoulders.
“She says, Something...anything,” Said a small voice from beside the door. Marius spun around and spied Nox, a little paler than usual but doing better than last he saw her.
“Ur...thanks, kid,” He acknowledged the translation and went back to the rubble. As he shifted rocks that took two hands to lift, he noticed two tiny lines of animated pebbles moving either to his sorting piles.
“Are you doing that?” He asked Nox, who ducked around behind the door, a slow grin lighting her face.
 
Fureva-Yung had reached the sheeting and poked it with her stick. It waved gently under the action and settled back to where it had been. She reached out a hand and made a huff of surprise as the surface of the sheeting was much colder than the surrounding air. She tried the other side and discovered it was warmer, at least ambient temperature.
 
Marius was also discovering things. He’d cleared an area in front of the door of rubble and revealed a thick root. As he and Nox watched, the root slithered back into the rubble pile.
“Hey, Furry, come and look at this?” He called, and Nox projected an image of what they’d seen to Fureva-Yung.
Maybe it wants to be left alone, Fureva-Yung said to Nox, Why do you want to look at it?
I don’t know. You should ask Marius, Nox replied before realising, Oh, you can’t speak.
Fureva-Yung rolled her eyes.
“Um...Marius. Fureva-Yung thinks it should be left alone.”
“What? No!” Marius was bent over, pulling aside rocks and rubble without concern, “This is incredible!”
Fureva-Yung shrugged and started digging beside Marius.
“Don’t speak much, huh?” Marius asked. Fureva-Yung looked at him in silence a moment, then continued the digging. Marius was about to continue his train of thought with his silent compatriot when an ear-piercing scream rattled out from under the rubble. Everyone clutched their heads, trying to block the sound. Nox reeled back, screaming herself against the sound as it echoed through her mind.
 
From the pile, a root reached out and sought the cause of its disturbance. It found Marius’ leg and pulled. Before he or Fureva-Yung knew what was happening, Marius was yanked off his feet and dragged waist-deep into the pile of rubble. Fureva-Yung snatched out with one meaty paw and grabbed Marius by the collar. At the resistance, the root let go, and Fureva-Yung carefully placed Marius back on his feet.
 
“Well, that was an adventure!” Marius said, noting the still cowering Nox, hands pressing into her head, “Hey kid, are you okay?” His step closer to Nox alerted the creature to his presence, and once more, a root lashed out and caught him around the legs.
 
Over at the camp, Jaden was starting the day looking at the plans for her caravan, a land vehicle that would be vital for the survival of the small community of survivors. With the materials she’d saved from her workshop, and those gathered from the broken servitors, she was confident she could at least make a start. She was about to find Nox to help when a shrill screaming rang from the smaller ruined tower to the southeast of the camp. Without another thought, she grabbed her light spear from the night before and ran to investigate.
 
She found Nox crouched outside the tower, her hands pressed over her ears. Just inside, Fureva-Yung held Marius under the arms as he was dragged into a pile of rubble. Now chest-deep in the rock and synth, Jaden could just see the root that was twisted around his legs, drawing him in. Grabbing a sharp piece of scrap from the pile, she tied it expertly to the shaft of her light spear. Using it as a makeshift axe, she hacked through the root, freeing him once more.
 
“What is that thing?” She asked, looking from the now calmer Nox to Fureva-Yung and finally Marius. Nox focused her thoughts on the rubble, looking for the living creature within. Following the roots back, back within the pile, she found a mass of roots, a tangle that formed eyes, a snout and beak of sharp teeth. It was a skull, made entirely of root and vines, twisted and knotted. Eight large tentacles radiated from the skull like the arms of a giant octopus.
“It...it’s a...skull! In the rubble...the roots make a skull!” She said out loud to Jaden’s query, providing an image of the creature to Fureva-Yung.
“Figures,” Marius replied, “An ambush predator like this could have been doing this for years.”
 
The enemy now revealed, Fureva-Yung grabbed one of three snaking roots peaking from the rubble and started pulling the creature from the pile.
“You can do this!” Marius encouraged the warrior woman and went to help as something else slunk through the pile towards him. Another two roots reached for him and Jaden, and though ready for the creature’s sneak attacks, both were caught up and dragged off their feet. Having twice escaped the creature’s grasp, Marius was flung up in the air by the root and slammed down onto the rubble-strewn ground, the wind knocked out of him.
 
Seeing Jaden in trouble, Nox tried starting a fire against the root holding her friend with Hedge Magic. The spark did nothing to the root, but the spot of bright light and heat surprised the creature into letting Jaden go. They scrambled back as Fureva-Yung skidded against the rocks and rubble under her wide feet. She needed more traction, more weight. The root wrapped around one strong arm, she reached into her pack with the other, pulled out a growth harness cypher, and quickly threw it on. Fureva-Yung grew, doubling her size and weight. Now she grabbed the root with both hands and pulled. Against the larger mass, the creature could not hold, and she slowly pulled it out of the rubble to the empty ground outside the tower.
 
Now everyone could see the twisted knot of roots that made up the maddening skull of an unknown beast. It snapped its beak full of teeth-like roots and whipped its tentacles at its four attackers.
Augh! It’s cute! Fureva-Yung said, making Nox shake her head in silent disagreement. It was not cute, but horrifying as the root holding Marius once more pulled him up into the air.
 
“Sorry, Mother!” Marius cried, pulling out his sword to try cutting away the root making paste out of him. Something glinted from the rubble pile he swung by, “Oh shiny!” Marius lost focus, and his sword missed its mark. The root pulled back as if ready to throw Marius against the wall. Jaden used her distance to get up, grabbed a useful looking rock and tried clubbing the rock holding Marius. The root’s change in tactic meant she missed her mark, but Marius, sensing the change, twisted in the air and grabbed hold of the tentacle as it let him go.
“Not today, Mother!” He cried as he flew back through the air, trailing the root. With one hand on the root, the other hand swung his sword and cut the appendage in half. Now only under momentum, Marius landed and rolled to a stop, turning to see Fureva-Yung take off her chain.
 
The enemy was out in the light, Fureva-Yung wrapped the ends of her heavy chain around her fist. Bringing all her extra height and strength to bear, she leapt up, swung it overhand and brought the chain down on the skull. The creature, reacting simultaneously, lashed out and smacked Fureva-Yung, both blows sending whipcrack shockwaves through the battlefield.
 
Marius was free. Sprinting the short distance back to the skull, he plunged his sword hilt deep into the root ball that made up the skull. Nox lit another spark, this time in the eye socket, giving that eye a semblance of malevolent intelligence the creature didn’t possess. Jaden once more picked up her spear and tried plunging it into the rootball.
“Ah-ha! That’s shedding some light on the situation!” Quipped Marius as the creature moved to make another attack.
 
Rearing up on four sturdy roots, the skulls exposed the beak of teeth-like roots. It snapped out at Fureva-Yung, sinking its fangs into her skin and injecting a sticky green sap. Fureva-Yung could feel her senses slow, her limbs becoming heavier. It made her feel weak and stupid, and she hated it. Grinding her teeth, she snorted. Her eyes bulged in anger.
 
Marius swung again, this time at the beak. The blow made the creature squeal again, sending both Jaden and Nox reeling back as if hit by blow themselves. Forgetting her weapon, Foreva-Yung brought her two massive fists down on the skull in a double blow. Something deep within the skull snapped like broken branches, and for the first time, the creature looked in bad shape. Grabbing for a disorientated Nox in one root, it started dragging itself away into the forest. With just enough presence of mind, Nox rolled away and out of the root's clutches. Now, without even a snack, the empty root lashed out at Marius. Marius once more plunged his sword down deep into the skull, severing vital roots holding the whole thing together. The creature slumped to the ground, where Marius put a foot on its head and struck a heroic pose.
 
“Well done, team! We killed it!” And as he spoke, everyone in the group felt reinvigorated, their wounds and bruises healing.
 
Nox rushed to Jaden’s side, who was still dizzy from the sonic attack.
That thing was scary! Are there more things like that out here? She thought, giving the impression she meant the whole world outside the gates of Cerelon.
“Yes, you get used to it,” Jaden replied in her no-nonsense way.
“Yes, you get used to it, or you die,” Marius laughed out of the sheer joy of being alive.
“Marius, I wasn’t going to say it like that!”
“Well,” Marius now a little chastened, “Those that don’t get used to things, die.”
Nox sat silently, eyes wide, looking at the dead beast in wonder and awe.
 
Fureva-Yung, her anger cooling and the poison still making her move slower than she’d like, went for a closer look at the dead thing. Though the roots looked like normal tree roots, the material was heavy and more like rock than wood. She put a broken piece in her mouth to taste and had to spit it out. It was like eating rock!
Fureva-Yung not feeling well, She said, as she swayed on her feet.
“I think it was when the thing bit her,” Nox suggested to Jaden, who pulled out a Cypher scavenged from Cerelon and handed it to Fureva-Yung.
“Try this. If it was a poison, this should help.”
 
Fureva-Yung took the vial of liquid and container and ate it. Soon, the warrior was feeling better and nodded her thanks to Jaden. Now more herself, Fureva-Yung went back into the tower to check out the sheeting she’d found.
“Fureva-Yung has something to show you,” Nox translated as Jaden got up and followed Fureva-Yung into the tower.
 
Fureva-Yung had already pulled the sheet off the crumbling catwalk as Jaden came over to examine it.
 
“Extraordinary. There’s an energy transfer here,” Jaden gestured to Nox to come over, “Feel the heat difference from front to back. And here, if you look closely, it’s made of tiny tubing. What do you see?”
 
Nox scanned the material closely and followed the flow of energy up the sheeting. Between her intuitive knowledge of the Numenera and Jaden’s engineering skills, they deduced what the sheet could do.
“Moisture from the surroundings is drawn into the tubes by the movement of energy through the sheet. At one end, you could have a contaminated water supply on the other, clean water. This could solve one of our problems. How we would secure clean drinking water?” Jaden explained excitedly.
 
 
As exciting as Jaden’s discovery was, Marius and Fureva-Yung had other things on their minds. Marius was collecting those ‘shinys’ he’d seen in the rubble pile, making a good stack of iotum. Fureva-Yung was setting her sights higher, straight to the top, in fact. With her extra height from the cypher and a good running jump, she made it to the bottom of the catwalk. Slowly, picking her places, she climbed up to a vantage point where the wall had broken away with part of the roof, and she could see over the treetops for miles around. Past the forest towards the mountains, she could see the brown smudge on the landscape that was Cerelon. Though she could see no details, there was movement from the Buckles to Highside Redoubt. When a glint of metal showed the servitors were organising the movement, it became a little clearer what was happening.
Humans. Humans being gathered.
“What?” After Nox informed them of what Fureva-Yung had seen, Marius asked, “There are people still in town?”
“Seems like it, “ Jaden replied, looking up at Fureva-Yung, “How many do you see?”
More than ten
“Where are they taking them?”
Top bit.
“So, the servitors are still running and are now under some control,” Said Marius as Furea-Yung started her climb down.
 
Fureva-Yung and Nox rolled the sheeting, making a tube four metres long.
“We can probably cut that up for use,” Jaden mused, seeing how cumbersome the sheeting was to move, “We could have several water purification stations running at the same time.”
 
Without too much discussion, the small group walked across to the second and larger tower. Here time and the elements had been kinder, and the building was mostly intact, at least from the outside. Marius and Jaden entered first, followed more tentatively by Fureva-Yung and Nox.
What are they looking for? Fureva-Yung asked her young friend.
Useful things. Like your sheet, Nox replied, pointing to the roll.
Like chew? Fureva-Yung pulled out the black piece of synth and proudly displayed it to Nox.
Yes, Nox smiled at her big friend’s enjoyment.
 
Inside the tower, the catwalks were in worse condition than the first. At one time, three rings of catwalks had climbed up through the inside of the tower. Now remnants of the three and their connecting staircases survived, the lowest an impressive seven metres off the ground. Small white cubes were attached at regular intervals on the uprights of the catwalk, making Marius’s scavenger senses tingle.
 
“I could probably rig up a simple ladder, “ Jaden thought and left the tower in search of materials.
 
Tell the one with the sword I can throw her up, Fureva-Yung thought to Nox, who nearly laughed at the image of Marius as a woman.
“Marius, would you like to be thrown up there by Fureva-Yung?” Nox translated for Marius turned eagerly from examining the heights above him.
Fureva-Yung laced her fingers together and gestured to show the action she intended to do.
“Looks to me to be just the ticket. Okay, Furry, we can do this!”
Yes, we can, she is very small.
Now Nox did laugh, the tinkling sound echoing through the tower.
 
Fureva-Yung placed herself under the lowest piece of the catwalk and bent her knees, ready. Marius stepped back a few paces, then sprinted for Fureva-Yung. Marius stepped up, and Fureva-Yung lifted him straight into the air. At the top of Fureva-Yung’s lift, Marius sprung up another metre. Even then, the catwalk was only just in range, and Marius caught it like they’d been practising this trick for years. Using his momentum, Marius lightly swung himself up onto the catwalk, waving to the others from the ground. Above him, the white boxes glowed, coming to life.
 
Suddenly, instead of seeing his friends below, Marius could see an image of Cerelon from above. Numbers and coded information streamed down the sides of the image, which was a birds-eye view of the town and the surrounding area. Marius’ eyes focused on the Temple of the Devotees with a cross symbol above it, three lines radiating out into the wilderness beyond.
 
“It seems to be analysing something,” Marius said after he’d explained to those below what he saw. Fureva-Yung looked to her forearm, revealing the cross symbol tattoo.
“Does the cross look like this?” Nox translated for Marius. It was hard to tell at the distance, but he thought that the cross on Fureva-Yung’s arm and that over the Temple looked similar.
 
The worn and rusted catwalk had held Marius with protests up to now. Suddenly, the metal started giving away, sagging at the unexpected weight and breaking altogether. Marius was tipped backwards from his perch and spared a crash onto the dirt and debris only by Fureva-Yung’s strong arms. A cube on the same piece of catwalk also came free and was caught by the quick hands of Nox, who held it in two hands like a fallen baby bird. The holographic image had disappeared with the collapsing catwalk, but the small cube, pulsed blue and from under her shirt, a blue flash responded.
 
“What did I miss?” Jaden was standing in the doorway of the tower, a rope ladder partially constructed.
“My...my…” Nox tipped the cube into one hand as she scrambled to find her pendant with the other. The pendant was, as usual, black and lifeless, the inside swirling against the black exterior under her scan.
“I saw this,” Marius quickly pulled a small notebook from his backpack and started sketching what he saw, “It was Cerelon, but from really high up.” He gestured to Nox, who was looking from the cube to her pendant, “Show me that cube? Let's see what we can get out of it.”
 
Like she had been electrocuted, Nox jumped out of Marius’ reach, hiding the cube behind her.
But if it is broken… Fureva-Yung started before Nox replied.
“It’s...sleeping.”
 
For the moment, Nox was left with the cube as Jaden’s ladder was completed. She’d added scrap metal to the top to act as hooks to whatever was left of the catwalk. The rest was twp ropes with branches and flat scrap for treads woven and tied into it. With a few practise swings, Fureva-Yung was able to hook it a little higher up than Marius had been standing, and she started climbing up to take a look herself. The ladder made for someone more Marius’ size than Fureva-Yung’s, swayed and groaned. She tried to speed up her climb but only created sympathetic vibrations to pulse through the whole fragile catwalk. When she missed a step, falling a short way, the shock was finally too much for the whole system, which was yanked out of the wall and crashed down to the ground. Jaden was outside the tower, and Marius could get out of the way, but Nox, who had been closest to Fureva-Yung, was caught under scaffolding. Fureva-Yung battered and scarred from the day’s activities, quickly picked herself up and threw the scaffolding off the tiny Nox, still clutching the cube.
 
From a pouch she kept at her side, Fureva-Yung withdrew a cypher. Activating it, she pressed it to the crumpled form of Nox. Nox’s eyes fluttered open, and she saw the big woman’s concerned expression floating above her.
You saved me. You didn’t need to. That was your cypher.
Fureva-Yung shrugged. The infant was hurt—my fault.
But you are our strong woman, and you’re even more hurt. Nox laid her hand on Fureva-Yung’s, barely stretching over two fingers and extended their telepathic link with a push of her mind.
Now, if you even need me to get out of the way, you can.
Fureva-Yung shrugged again. She helped Nox up as Marius ran over and pulled out his first aid kit.
“I’ll go get Temila. She can help you,” Nox said out loud before running back to camp to find the healer.
 
“You look like you could do with a little more than just first aid,” Marius said, as the mysterious pulse of health radiated from him, healing many of Fureva-Yung’s wounds. An odd popping and wheezing sounds suddenly came from Marius, and he bolted in surprise for the door. Behind him, amongst the tower’s rubble, three mushrooms began growing at an impossible rate and were seemingly sprouting legs.
“Oh good, you found dinner. Well, that’s our food issues sorted out for today!” Jaden said, looking pleased with the proceedings.
 
Fureva-Yung looked from the mushrooms to Marius, who was outside the tower, looking guiltily in at what he’d started.
Did she make this happen on purpose? Fureva-Yung thought. Certainly, as she watched him, Marius did not attack the Mushroom people, clearly now sprouting arms.
Jaden did, however, try to skewer one on her spear. In response, the four mushrooms shook in unison, and a cloud of spores floated up and into the air around them. Fureva-Yung, closest to the fungus, took in a lungful of the spores, but with the cypher to counteract poisons still flowing through her veins, the spore had no effect.
 
“Okay, everyone out!” Marius called Fureva-Yung did as suggested. The mushrooms, now with fully functional limbs chased after, flailing stubby limbs. One tried hitting Jaden and Marius, both missed, but the bigger target of Furvea-Yung was being pummeled from two directions at once. With the swing of her light spear, Jaden got lucky and struck an arm off the one attacking her. Marius was less lucky when his mushroom shook once more.
 
Suddenly the fight went out of Marius, and he stood looking dazed and concerned for the mushrooms.
“They just want to be friends,” He said, slow and disconnected, “I wanted to make stew, but they didn’t want me to,” Marius continued to rant as Nox returned with Temila. Unsure what to make of Marius’ words, Nox tried making a telepathic link with the mushroom advancing on Jaden. She found nothing, not even the flicker of animal intelligence. Instead, she slunk around behind the mushroom and, without her little knife, started slicing it up.
 
Jaden and Fureva-Yung soon had the three mushrooms cut down to size. Temila, by this time, had pulled the swooning Marius out of the fight. With a clumsy stumble, he fell into her arms. It was only as she gently lay him on the ground that she saw Marius grinning up at her, completely lucid.
“Oh, you!” She complained, checking for injuries before moving to the others.
 
Good food? Fureva-Yung asked as the last mushroom was cut down.
Nox nodded excitedly. Yes, these are very good food once the bitter skin is peeled. She had helped take down Jaden’s mushroom, and the adrenaline sent her mind spinning.
She giggled, I guess we’ve already done that!
 
Fureva-Yung and Nox looked inside the tower. No more mushrooms.
Why did Marius make the mushroom men? How?
I wasn’t here, Nox replied as the two of them silently picked through the litter of broken catwalk. What happened?
He was healing. He does something, makes the pain go away. But this time, it made a noise.
Like what?
Fureva-Yung recollected the snapping noise, and Nox nodded.
Like electrical discharge? Maybe Numenera discharge?
Fureva-Yung shrugged, Don’t know.
 
They looked through the rubble and found another white cube. Nox put both side by side in her hands and thought.
He’s very clever, though, She thought, remembering that Marius had seen the potential within the rubble from the start.
They look very good to eat, Fureva-Yung said, her mind on something else.
What? Marius? Nox found the thought odd but darkly intriguing. She kept it to herself.
 
She looked down at the two projectors in her hands. If a whole group of these cubes could work together up on the catwalk, she wondered if these two alone could work together. She put a cube in each hand and slowly pulled them apart, always trying to keep them on the same plane. Suddenly an image flickered between the two cubes, a view of inside the tower from above. Fureva-Yung waved her hands, and they both saw a tiny Fureva-Yung in the hologram waving a few seconds later.
“A little delay, but no more than you’d expect,” Jaden said matter of factly as she came up beside Nox. She pointed up to where the image seemed to be coming from. The tiny Jaden also did, but her finger wasn’t pointed at the camera but slightly to the right. She adjusted her position, and everyone, including Marius, now looked up at where she was pointing.
 
Nothing. Two metres above the second walkway, almost 15 meters up, there was nothing but an empty catwalk. At least that's what the others saw. When Nox looked up at where the image must be projected from, all she could see was a ghostly blue face and amorphous blue light body. She squeaked in surprise, realising she was the only one to see the humanoid and tried to keep still.
Slowly, the vantage point of the hologram changed to be just above Jaden’s line. Everyone looked, following the movement, all eyes searching for something to give away the presence of a robot or living being. Nothing.
 
The remaining white cubes in the catwalk flashed blue and slowly started disappearing. The two cubes flashed and slowly disappeared in her hands, taking with them the hologram and the blue humanoid. Nox cried out as if in pain as her hands closed on nothing, taking from her the most beautiful Numenera she had ever seen. She snatched at the air around her, but there was nothing there to grasp. What had been the most exciting find of her young life had evaporated in thin air. Once more, the black sphere around her neck flashed again before returning to swirling black.
 
“Come on, guys. I think we’re done for today?” Marius said, suddenly sounding tired for the first time since the group had fled from Cerelon.
 
To be continued…