36 - Syianne
I panic, "Cello? Cello can you hear me?"
The sound of his breathing, "I'm fine, it's some sort of cave."
"A cave?"
"The Scribbles," Sagastus says.
"Cello, Sagastus says it's the Scribbles." I look at Sagastus. "What should he do?"
"Report to Control and then find the exit."
I repeat Sagastus' instructions for Cello.
"My pair wire's been cut!" he says and then after a pause: "Jika is fine. Okay. Control: U6618 caught in Scribbles."
"U6618, this is Control, go north for exit. I repeat, go north for exit."
"Control, U6618 here, which way is north?"
Someone laughs in the Control room, "U6618, there's a compass in your controller."
"Uh, roger that!"
"Cello? are you okay?" I ask
"I'm good. This place is like a maze of tunnels, going north."
"He'll be fine, the Scribbles are safe. We shall continue now. The active layers below will be easily repelled by your ability. Just focus on going down until I tell you to stop."
I take a deep breath and will myself down feeling the energy of the Zephyr leaping away from me. At first I can feel it rip and break as I pass, like hitting the surface of water, but very soon all resistance is gone and I shoot through in a free-fall, as if I have just jumped off a tall sky scraper, though the ground below is nowhere to be seen. The layers pass me by and I catch only a glimpse of the ruling colours, green, blue, red, lavender, brown....
My heart hammers, I'm picking up speed and I'm not sure I know how to slow down or stop.
I try to control the fall and the layers begin to flow at an easier pace. I slow even more, suddenly noticing that Sagastus is hanging on to me, holding the strap on my back. "Why are you stopping?"
"I wanted to see if I can," I clench my jaw and start falling freely again. Now that I have control, I'm less frightened.
"Start slowing down now," Sagastus says after a while. We hesitate in each layer before passing to the next.
"And stop."
Everything is white. I fall to my knees again. Something about repelling makes my legs weak and Sagastus lets me rest. Being in UD52 is like being a speck of dust on a blank sheet of paper. The whiteness is as bright as snow and the light emanates from everywhere, making it all seem two dimensional. I can't feel the Zephyr and with no shadows being dropped, it looks to me like movement is impossible.
Except, on the white, there is one black dot. With the lack of depth defying perspective, it looks like I can touch the black dot on the white canvas. But when I try it, my hand meets nothing.
"Get closer to it."
I start walking towards the dot. It is the only thing that changes with my every step. Rather than coming closer, it just seems like the act of walking makes it grow bigger. It becomes bigger and bigger, until it is as big as me, and then bigger, until it as big and tall as the entire main dome of the Zephyr. I can see the shimmering black substance inside it, and the diamond shell that envelopes it. The diamond reflects the whiteness of the room, breaking it among its angles and creating a multitude of colours. It looks identical to the diamond on my forehead.
I reach my hand out to touch it.
It shatters noiselessly, all at once, into billions of tiny jewels, each one a different color. They float up into the air, suddenly giving the white layer depth. I can distinguish between the layer below from the layer above, and the horizon becomes a hazy fog. The blackness stays still, a perfect ball of darkness. Round and shining.
"You did it!" Sagastus exclaims, "Very good, now back away without touching it."
I try to back away, but now I understand that the power of repelling echoes back to me, making my body weak. My legs won't obey me, I feel like the shattering of the shell is still happening within my head. Even though the shell shattered silently, it rings in my ears. I sway from the weight of my deed, and fall forward right into the ball of blackness.
It erupts into countless bubbles, shooting in every direction, speeding away from me. Another deed of repelling is too much for me to take and I faint.
Author's Note: Sorry for the extremely short chapter, this is how it appears in the novel and I don't see a reason to change it. We're also just a few chapters away from the end of the book (yikes!). See you tomorrow. I posted the first chapter of my novel "Rat" so you can read that while you wait :P
(And also, don't forget to press the star! Whee!)