Rian

Part 25

"So many birds." Satomi arched her gaze to catch the flock of crows soaring from one fountain to the next. From the library window Satomi had a hard time assessing the full scale of the aviary, but from the little she could see there seem to be no end.

"It looks like a jungle out there." Satomi eyed the palm trees and pockets of dense vegetation that bloomed into a three story waterfall at the center. Sunset flowers, moss filled stone pathways, and statutes of Rian's most beloved individuals. "There are aviaries all over Rian, but the largest one is here." Agnes answered from the center of the Department of Synergy's restricted hallway.

Agnes picked up Satomi from the hospital that afternoon and was now stopping by work to check her mailbox, which was what made her pause in the middle of the hallway in the first place, one of the letters had caught her eye. Shuffling through the handwritten letters, most of which were welcome back cards, she came across one that carried an all too familiar name. Clutching the odd necklace, what Will had once said looked like a broken harmonica, Agnes debated opening the letter wondering if it were a better move to rescind to a more private location.

"Why does the library have the largest aviary?" Satomi asked from the ledge of the window where she'd hopped up to sit and get a better look. The sunlight pouring in from the window and dancing on the floor refracted as millions of stars, dots of light across the walls.

"The birds are thought to help bring The Book to some equilibrium, to make The Book less inclined to leave." Agnes had the letter's edge at her lips, tapping it there over and over, considering. From a pocket hidden within a jacket she'd purchased at a used clothing store in Indiana Agnes removed what looked to be a compass. A golden bit of metal beneath thick glass moved slightly from side to side. Balancing it, Agnes pushed a button beneath the brass exterior, a quite beep followed, and then.

"Operator?" A man's soothing voice came from the device.

"Yes...it's Agnodice. Could you have Drakon and Daisy sent to the Reading Room?"

"Oh Agnodice it's good to hear from you! I'd love to chat, but you know how it gets during the busy hours." The man responded with glee, happy to hear a very familiar voice.

"I understand. Daisy and Drakon?" Agnes smiled over the device.

"Of course, of course. Right away." Stashing the device in a new pocket Agnes smiled to Satomi prepared to ask a question she knew she'd get a quick answer to. "Satomi would you mind staying with me a bit longer?" Satomi shook her head, those ebony locks waving with each move, and smiled.

In a room Agnes referred to as a 'closet', but what Satomi could have fit her entire home into at least twice over the librarian gathered herself at a long stationary table with a microscope in front of her.

"What's this about?" Two people entered the room only minutes after Agnes and Satomi. Drakon and Daisy, one at least gave Satomi a guarded smile and the other, the one who looked to be so much like Cassia, refused to even notice the small human who stood next to Agnes.

"I have a message from Caesarian." Agnes held up a small glass slide, like what might be used by a laboratory technician to read a biological sample. Nothing special about the thin piece of glass, but to Drakon and Daisy their eyes widened a bit.

"Brave of him to contact us." Drakon muttered as he pulled back his mahogany dreadlocks into a ponytail.

"Also, I feel you should meet Satomi. Satomi this is Drakon one of the members of my team and Daisy, a human just like you." Satomi smiled at the giant, but took the hint from earlier and didn't push her luck.

"I like your hair. I've always wanted to dye my hair." Satomi whispered and at least for Daisy it was the most endearing thing to see, so human.

"Thank you. Japan?" Satomi nodded to the question.

"You?" Satomi asked. "Mississippi, United State of America. I was born there in 1828, so a bit of different time period." Satomi's smile drooped and disappeared.

How or did I hear her wrong? Satomi asked herself.

"It's a long story. One I'd love to tell you. Welcome to Rian. I'm sure you'll find it to be...more than you could imagine." More perplexed than before Satomi watched Daisy's smile soften and behind her glasses some water collected around her eyes.

"For another time. Agnes what do you have." Daisy changed the subject before Rian could be brought up again. Turning the light dial of the microscope to its highest setting Agnes placed the glass slide beneath the lowest powered lens and focused what was engraved within the glass. "Are you sure you want her here for this?" Drakon whispered in Agnes' ear loud enough so that Satomi would hear.

"Yes. I do. I want her to know about our history." A sting of a tone laced into Agnes' voice, but for those who knew Agnes it was understood that any hint of loathing was directed solely to the woman handling the message.

 "You see, Satomi, a long time ago back when Drakon and I were younger, there was a war on a planet called Kalon. Messages were hard to pass along. We couldn't use radio or letters, we had to use something else to communicate with those trapped on Kalon. Nanotechnology was all the rage back then and many laboratories across Kalon were transformed into ones dedicated to creating the best of the best. The smallest, most microscopic forms of technology. The kind of stuff that could be programed to kill and then released into the air like a biological weapon. One man, Larr Tam-Su, owned such a laboratory and while at face value his lab did the same as all the others, he also invested in...shall we say necessary espionage against his own government." Adjusting the lens Agnes squinted through the oculars before turning a small screen on above the microscope.

"Larr gave his life to ensure proper communication between Kalon and the outside world. This is one of his inventions. Mircowriting. To the naked eye it only appears as a normal glass slide and if someone unknowingly added a sample to the slide it would destroy the message and therefore any trace of espionage. No one on Kalon thought to look at the slides. Millions of messages were transferred from Kalon to other planets by this method."

On the screen Daisy and Drakon took to skimming their eyes over scrawl etched into glass. "How is it possible to write on glass?" Satomi couldn't read a word of the harsh lettering, of the symbols so different from the others in the same line. "You needed a microtyper. Another invention by Larr. Or if you had the right kind of android they could write the letter for you." Agnes answered and taking a glance at the letter before her she sighed.

"What happened to Kalon?" At the question of the planet's fate Daisy swallowed hard and glued her eyes to the letter on the screen.

"Kalon was destroyed." Agnes answered quickly and then smiled.

"Satomi would you mind doing me a favor? Down the hallway, back in the main branch of the library there is a service desk, could you ask one of the attendants to show you where books on Kalon's history could be found? If you don't mind, pick out a few for Will, things you might think he'd like to learn." Confused by the question, but seeing the bluster to speak without her presence cross Drakon's face Satomi excused herself and did as Agnes asked of her.