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“Concentrate, Gabby.” Tony should have calculations spilling out of his ears by now after nonstop work on this laptop.
“I am concentrating.” She held the palm of her hand parallel to the keyboard and an inch above it.
Jaxxson stood to the side of where he’d set them up in his healing hut at a table with tree stumps for chairs. Jaxxson wanted to be able to monitor what happened with Gabby as she tried to power up the computer and to also be available for anyone in need of healing at the same time.
But right now, his hovering was getting on Tony’s nerves. “Yo, buddy. You got some herbs to mix or something?”
“If I had any that would improve your temperament, I’d gladly start mixing,” Jaxxson retorted.
“Very funny. Tell ya what. You spend all night trying to turn an inanimate object into something sentient instead of sleeping and we’ll see how cheerful you are.”
Gabby pulled her hand back and gave Tony her stink eye. “If you want my help, do not insult Jaxxson.”
“I didn’t insult him, Sweet Cakes.”
“Don’t call her that.”
Tony started to pop off at Jaxxson about playing caveman when V’ru made a throat-clearing noise, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Arguing at this point is unproductive.”
How did a pipsqueak like him manage to sound so full of authority at times? “You’re right, V’ru Man.” Tony took a calming breath and told Jaxxson, “No insult meant.”
Jaxxson gave a half smile. “None taken. Now what is it you expect Gabby to do with her power?”
“Heck if I know.” Tony washed a hand over his face and rubbed eyes that felt as though grit lined the inside of his eyelids. “When Rayen puts her hand on a computer, things just happen.”
Stepping behind Gabby, Jaxxson leaned down and reached around each side of her to put his hands on the sides of the laptop. “Try it now, Gabby.”
She passed her hand over the keys again. Lines furrowed her brow with her deep concentration.
Tony kept the sarcastic comment that came to mind locked behind his teeth, but what were these two woo-woos doing now?
Light flickered on the screen.
Are you kidding me? Tony sat up and leaned closer to observe.
Sweat pebbled above Gabby’s upper lip and muscles stood out on her neck from strain. Jaxxson’s hands gripped the sides of the laptop, white-knuckle tight. The monitor tried to come on twice then the keys glowed for an instant before turning dark again.
Tony rubbed his hands. “Keep going.”
Jaxxson pulled his hands back from the laptop. “That took all the power Gabby and I could generate combined as one force.”
V’ru asked, “Combined as one?”
Jaxxson was slow to answer the kid. “Yes.”
The shock hammering V’ru’s face confused Tony. “What’s the matter, V’ru Man?”
V’ru’s gaze ping ponged between Jaxxson and Tony. The kid’s little Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
Jaxxson must have taken pity on him and explained, “Gabby and I are bonded.”
Tony had questions, but not for V’ru’s ears. “How about you pull up the prophecy list, V’ru, and let’s get moving on it?”
The change of subject turned the kid’s discomfort into immediate relief. He jumped up. “Where do you want it?”
“Over on the far side.” Tony waved him back. “Make it big like a chalkboard.”
At the distant look on V’ru’s face, Tony saved the kid from digging through millennia of archived information stored in that little head of his and said, “A chalkboard is just a big display. So, make the prophecy list in a font size large enough to see it from over here.”
Nodding, V’ru walked several strides across the length of the hut.
While he did that, Tony whispered to Gabby, “Did you and Jaxxson, uh, do the horizontal tango?”
She wheeled on him with furious eyes. “No. Bonding is much more important than mere sex.”
Tony tried to wrap his mind around that and just gave up. “How can that be?”
“We blended our powers and made an eternal commitment. For the rest of time, our souls will always find each other.”
O-kay. Just a bunch of their weird mumbo-jumbo. He could go with that. She wasn’t leaving here pregnant. “Got it.”
“Is this large enough?” V’ru asked from across the room.
Tony gave him a nod of approval. “Looks good. You want to stand there and add or change things as we talk?”
V’ru gave a vigorous nod that threw clumps of black hair in his eyes. The kid needed a haircut. V’ru pointed a finger at the line that read A bond of two will set us free. Next to it, Gabby and Jaxxson’s names appeared in a bracket.
That explained the bonding part of the equation.
Gabby must have wanted to stay off that subject. She asked, “What does ‘three powers’ mean? Why is it in a bracket by Three must unite?”
V’ru explained, “I added that. I think it means that it will take three specific powers combined to make all of this work.”
“Why can’t it mean that Rayen, Tony, and I united?”
Gabby threw V’ru a curve with that. The kid studied the display, trying to find an answer. He lived for information and answers.
Tony hadn’t given that line much thought earlier, but if V’ru’s explanation was correct, then Tony was concerned. Jaxxson and Gabby had only been able to draw a flicker from the laptop. If this prophecy was all about MystiKs, then Rayen’s power was of no use.
V’ru wasn’t often stumped, but he turned to Gabby and shrugged his narrow shoulders. “Maybe it is you, Tony, and Rayen,” he allowed, thinking. He added, “but I think When three become one and Three must unite are tied together because they both reference an action that would require power. When three become one, the End has begun. Three must unite, for the scales to right. It almost sounds the same, especially if ‘End’ means the end of chaos and fighting.”
Gabby’s forehead was scrunched as she studied the list. “You think the line An enemy departs as a friend is Tony, right?”
“Yes. It’s logical since the TecKnati are our enemy and Tony carries TecKnati markers in his blood.” V’ru seemed to catch himself and hurry to add, “But Tony is our friend.”
Tony smiled at the kid to ease V’ru’s worry. “You bet, buddy.”
Gabby continued with her hypothesizing. “If that’s the case and Rayen seeking answers is part of this, plus my bonding with Jaxxson plays a role, then that would mean our presence is part of the equation, right?”
V’ru’s eyebrows drew together, which meant he was processing and trying to calculate Gabby’s answer before he shared it. But when V’ru replied, he only managed to say, “I suppose so.”
Gabby sat back, arms crossed and looking smug. “Then just to play devil’s advocate, here’s another possibility. When three become one could mean when Tony, Rayen and I joined as one to travel here through the computer portal. If that’s the case, our arrival here set the clock ticking on The End has begun.”
That sounded ominous, but Psycho Babe did have a point.
After studying on it a moment, V’ru lifted a finger he waved over his shoulder without looking at the holographic display. The words “three powers” were replaced with “Rayen, Tony, and Gabby.”
Just when Tony thought Gabby was on to something with deciphering the code, she admitted, “I don’t get that scales comment.”
Jaxxson mused, “For the scales to right would mean to balance something. Correct?”
V’ru said, “Yes,” but he didn’t rush in with any more ideas after Gabby had surprised him.
Gabby asked, “But what specifically is being balanced?”
The silence grew and expanded until Tony expected to hear crickets. He said, “Let’s start at the beginning. Why did Damian write this thing?”
Eyes lighting with excitement, V’ru warmed to something he could lecture on. “Damianus wrote it before he met Antonis, the TecKnati sent back to ancient Greece.”
Tony said, “Right. The guy who built an analog computer then sank the ship with it.”
“Correct,” V’ru said. “But Damianus knew a great deal about Antonis when he came to tell Antonis he was in trouble and had to leave. It’s thought that Damianus had a vision of what was to come to pass. It was never stated in specific words, but from all that our historians have gathered, Damianus believed Antonis really wanted peace between the MystiKs and the TecKnati. That led to the conclusion that Antonis was the catalyst for writing the prophecy.”
Gabby didn’t look the least bit confused. Tony had heard the story behind this earlier or he’d have been lost. Why wasn’t Gabby?
Jaxxson propped an elbow on his other arm folded across his chest. He supported his chin on bent fingers and glanced over at Gabby every so often. Maybe he was doing some Jedi mind trick with Gabby, keeping her up to speed.
Tony pushed his attention back to the prophecy list and took a stab. “Based on Damianus and Antonis, For the scales to right could mean to bring peace to your world, but it’s also a reference to justice. Maybe it means to punish those who created the chaos, too, like SEOH.”
“Good point,” Jaxxson noted. “I agree with Callan’s name next to Day of birth as Red Moon rises. I have always believed that Callan may have been the designated one to lead the Houses all along.”
Gabby stared hard then said, “You have BIRG Con next to Night of end when last Moon sets. I’d call that our deadline.”
V’ru quickly agreed. “Yes. I added the BIRG Con, because everything in the records I reviewed leads me to that conclusion.”
Or was it just the wishful thinking of a child who missed his family and home?
Tony had the urge to go hug this kid. V’ru might talk as if he was a tenured professor at a top academy, but underneath all that incredible knowledge was a little boy who needed to believe in something.
He needed to believe he was going home.
Tony had wanted to rip into Rayen earlier today for giving V’ru false hopes—because nothing in that prophecy list said anything about the MystiKs going home—but maybe she was right.
Maybe a little bit of hope went a long way.
Tony angled his head left then right, making a show of studying the list. “That could be what Rayen was talking about this morning, V’ru. Maybe if we figure this out, you’ll all go home tonight.”
Gabby turned a concerned look at Tony. Was she taking issue with the whole going home tonight part? “What, Gab?”
“You’re just throwing things out there.”
“So? We’re brainstorming here. Everything is allowed.” He gave it a beat then said, “Unless you have firm data we haven’t received.”
“No. Keep brainstorming.”
Jaxxson snapped his fingers and said, “The gateway will open. That might support the theory about the way home, too.”
Tony grinned at Jaxxson’s jumping onboard the Hope Train.
V’ru must have agreed, because he added Jaxxson’s suggestion then asked, “Now, what does A path will close mean?”
Jaxxson’s gaze slashed down at Gabby who looked up at him and blanched.
A path will close.
Crap. That had to be the transender sites.
Of course, that was assuming this prophecy was all about the MystiKs here in the Sphere. But if V’ru Man was anything, he was literal, and accurate. He and Jaxxson both thought this was about Callan’s Birg Day and the BIRG Con. Even Zilya and a few others Tony had overheard talking about the prophecy referenced the BIRG Con.
Plus, if Tony looked at this objectively, everything had seemed to change for the MystiKs here when he, Gabby, and Rayen came together to travel as one through the portal. Did that constitute the beginning of the end?
Lot of possibilities.
Gabby and Jaxxson were still staring at each other. Were they doing that mind-to-mind talking thing again?
Tony was starting to feel like the lowest animal on the food chain around these MystiKs, and he could get into Mensa any day of the week. He just didn’t need to sit around with a bunch of eggheads trying to prove who was the baddest when it came to crunching code and data.
He’d slam dunk them.
While Jaxxson and Gabby did their mental time out, Tony took in the list to see what they were missing.
The future is in the past [Prophecy]
One will seek and all will forfeit [Rayen]
When three become one [Rayen, Gabby and Tony]
The End has begun [end of chaos, return of peace]
The gateway will open [a way out of the Sphere]
A path will close
A friend enters as enemy [traitor]
An enemy departs as friend [Tony]
Day of birth as Red Moon rises [Callan]
Night of end when last Moon sets [deadline]
Three must unite [three powers]
For the scales to right [bring the world back into balance
and punish SEOH, maybe send the MystiKs home]
The last will lead when others cede [Callan]
All turn to the outcast
The past speaks to alter the present [Rayen’s ghost]
A bond of two will set us free [Gabby and Jaxxson]
Tony mentally added destroyed transender sites as a possible path will close since that was the only known way home for these kids. That left All turn to the outcast.
Who was that?
Jaxxson announced, “We’re done here.”
When Tony jerked around at Jaxxson’s stern words, it took less than a second to realize something had happened.
V’ru’s eyebrows lifted. “We haven’t figured it all out yet.”
Tony chuckled and said, “Hey, I need a break. V’ru Man, would you mind running back to your kamara and grabbing my backpack for me?”
“No problem.” The kid zipped out of the hut.
Tony gave him time to be out of earshot before turning on Gabby and Jaxxson. “Cut the woo woo crap and tell me why Gabby looks like she’s ready to toss her cookies.”
When Jaxxson frowned, Gabby said, “He means throw up.” She still looked punched in the gut when she turned to Tony. “Jaxxson just heard from the security inside the ward that the TecKnati are setting up some machine outside, but no one can get through the ward to take the kids out if we have to evacuate. Rayen used her power to help reinforce the ward so now we need her to open it.”
Tony didn’t like the idea of taking these kids outside the protective cocoon of the ward. “What kind of machine?”
Jaxxson answered, “Before Kenja left, she told me the TecKnati prisoners we captured this morning warned about Thylan building a weapon from his laser grid. And the ward is weakening again.”
“Thought Rayen and Callan shot it full of their juice.”
“They did, which means it’s being intentionally corrupted.”
A blast rocked the camp, shaking it hard enough to toss Tony and Gabby off their stools.
Tony jumped up. “Jaxxson, you call V’ru and tell him to stay put then come with me. Gabby, you get the other kids locked down in the safest place you can find in the village.”
Jaxxson followed Tony out the door. “What are you going to do?”
“You mean because I didn’t come with an internal power pack?” Tony didn’t wait for an answer. “I’m going to offer them a sentient computer in trade to stop bombing us.”
“We don’t have a working computer.”
“The TecKnati don’t know that.”
Jaxxson was striding with Tony step for step. “What good will lying do?”
“You’re thinking like someone who plays by the rules. I learned survival on the streets of Camden. When in a corner, bluff your way out or at least until backup shows up.”
The ward took another hit, sending Tony stumbling and Jaxxson falling to the ground.
Tony jumped and offered Jaxxson a hand. “All we have to do is bluff until Rayen, Callan, Kaz, and Kenja get back. If they can’t kick Thylan’s butt, then we’re out of moves.”
