Given the dead bodies, and the heat of the sun, we started to head in the direction of the wagons. Lisa moved on ahead of us, eager to see the people who lived on the floor, while Mika and I walked alongside Samara.
Her last words had lingered in my thoughts, as it didn’t make much sense that they’d want the old humans. By the time the wagons came into view I still hadn’t figured out the new puzzle she’d given me.
Shouts rose up from the wood wagons, and a couple of men wearing wide hats emerged. They approached us, with spears in hand, but stopped a couple dozen feet from the nearest wagon.
There was curiosity in their looks as they studied my daughters, along with a certain degree of interest that I found unnecessary. It was when they noticed Samara that their attitudes changed, all of them kneeling and looking downward. For a moment I’d seen a flicker of disgust, or hatred, but then their faces had moved out of my sight.
“We offer our humblest greetings,” the man in the center said, “but we have no elders to grant to you at this time.”
“Negative,” Samara said, “I and my companions merely seek a reprieve from the sun. We shall depart soon after sunset.”
The men all stood up at her words, and the one who’d spoken put one hand to his chest. “I am known as Grieva, and we will happily let you rest with us. We are already waiting for the heat to die, so that our ceres can take us to the oasis.”
The nomads showed us to their wagons, and as we got closer I was able to confirm that they were made of wood. Each of them had a canvas covering, held up by wooden frames that gave the interior a large amount of room.
The amount of people wasn’t very high, but as I talked with Grieva I learned that there were dozens of families. There was a mutual degree of friendship between the groups, and once a year they would all gather at the largest of the oasis.
The nomads were mostly asleep, as with the heat of the desert the humans had developed a habit of avoiding the daytime. Their nocturnal nature had, from what I could tell, created no real change in their bodies.
So we settled down and waited for the time to pass. Grieva talked constantly about the tribes, as though he wanted to impress us with how many people there were.
Through it all Samara had a somewhat uncomfortable look. Whenever Grieva tried to offer her anything she turned him down, often with a frown.
I chose not to talk with her in front of the other humans. Though they didn’t wear slave collars, there was a chance they still worked as spies for the other Architects.
When the sun set everyone started to clamber out of the wagons, and soon dozens of people were loosely gathered. While my daughters talked with the humans, perhaps a bit too much with the men for my own preference, I studied the compass to figure out where the portal was.
That was when large beetles burst out of the sands near the wagons. I immediately went into a defensive stance, lifting both of my arms up in front of me, while my daughters reached for their weapons.
The nonchalant response from the nomads stood out in stark contrast to our battle ready stances. “What are you doing?” Grieva asked, as some of his family chuckled at us.
“They’re not monsters?” I asked, as I eyed the giant beetles. Each was easily the size of a bear.
Grieva doubled over with laughter. “Monsters? The ceres are our friends!”
I relaxed, feeling a bit embarrassed, but as I couldn’t recall ever seeing the monsters before I felt a certain justification to my attitude. “Thank you for letting us stay here,” I said, “but we need to move on.”
Grieva nodded his head with a big grin, though the smile didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes. Instead he kept glancing at Samara, his contempt barely hidden. “My family and I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
I didn’t waste any more time with the nomad after that. My daughters, Samra, and I didn’t even waste time discussing our next course of action. Instead we all set out for the portal, heading across the darkened sands.
Though I could’ve had Lisa or Mika fly up to check our surroundings again, I chose not to. While we’d managed to kill the executives I had no interest in showcasing my daughters abilities any more than I had to.
Our journey across the desert went without any event, and soon we reached the portal. We went through the ritualistic gathering around, and as Mika gripped my hand she activated the device.
Floor 66
Death In Sight
All around us was absolute darkness, though it was a darkness caused by a veil of dark mist. Nobody could see beyond the boundary of that wall, and nobody present would want to.
There were no need for words, I’d warned my daughters about this floor and hammered it into them already. We all started to pull out blindfolds, and Samara even tore a strip out of her loose clothing to serve as one for herself.
“Remember, don’t take your blindfolds off no matter what,” I reminded them as I tied one around my own eyes. Though I was piloting a drone from another floor I still didn’t want to risk it.
Once we were ready we pushed on through the veil. It had a somewhat viscous feel to it, and even through the shell I could smell something rotten.
On the other side was an unknown world. It was flat, thankfully, but as we walked we moved hand in hand without guidance.
All around us whispers started to emerge, soft at first but escalating in volume as we went further into the floor. The voices ranged from male to female, and covered all the types of languages you could find in the labyrinth.
Promises were made, threats were issued, and honeyed words that offered anything you could ever want emerged. We walked through that sea of voices for what seemed an eternity.
“We’re clear, you can take off the blindfolds,” I heard my own voice say, though I knew it wasn’t me.
“Don’t listen!” I shouted instantly, as I’d felt Lisa’s grip in my right hand loosen a little.
Her hand tightened around mine in response, and we kept moving on. Gone were the voices of strangers, and now we were swamped with familiar ones that begged us to remove our blindfolds.
Then there was utter silence, a drastic shift in noise that caused all of us to pause. I took an experimental step forward and came into contact with more of that viscous material.
“Finally,” I muttered, and then walked through the new veil we’d come across.
Once we were on the other side I released my daughters hands, and then started to reach around for the portal. My hands touched upon it, and only then did I finally take off my blindfold.
“We’re safe now,” I told everyone.
There was that hesitation in my daughters, but Samara was already in the process of removing her blindfold. She tied the torn piece of cloth around her wrist, and looked at the portal.
“I rather find this locale distasteful,” she admitted.
“How is anyone supposed to even know how to get through there safely?” Mika asked.
It was a question I couldn’t quite answer, and so I shrugged. “How is anyone supposed to deal with the sphinx on forty-nine? The labyrinth isn’t exactly fair.”
“But..how’d you get through the first time?”
“Your mother warned me,” I told her, though I didn’t mention how it was one of the few times she’d ever given me direct advice.
She had a bit of an odd smile at my reply, but then she offered one hand to me. “I believe we have no need to stay on this floor?”
I took her hand and nodded. “Let’s go see how fast you can climb.”
There was a moment of puzzlement on her face, but then she smiled and put her free hand to the portal. A few moments later we left the hall of voices behind.
Floor 67
Trial of Ascension
We appeared in a hole in the ground. Around us were straight vertical walls, made out of a type of crystal that was harder than most metals. The surfaces of the walls were smooth, with no means by which to climb via handholds or anything else.
When Lisa appeared she looked around, and then up. The full height of the hole we were in was hundreds of feet, and at the very top only the night sky was visible.
“Wow, and regular people can climb this?” she asked.
“By this point in the labyrinth regular is a bit different,” I commented with a chuckle, “but don’t worry. Mika is going to handle climbing.”
Lisa looked at me like I was insane. “What? I can just fly up there, carrying you.”
“No, you can’t,” I told her as I pointed at the crystal wall, or rather about halfway up.
She looked at where I was pointing and noticed what looked like statues, each of them crafted of the same crystal as the wall. The various statues were in kneeling positions, staring down at us. None of them moved, and yet there was a presence to them nonetheless.
“Oh those are pretty!” Lisa said with a clap.
“And very deadly. If you don’t climb they attack, and Luticia made them to be deadlier than an Architect.”
“We lost many people learning that fact,” Samara said, though there was no regret or sadness in her tone. If anything the small upward turn of her lips made it seem like she enjoyed their deaths.
“Okay, but why can’t I climb it instead of Mika?”
I sighed, and motioned at the crystal wall. “Because you don’t have anything to use to climb. Mika has her wires and anchors. She can climb up there, and then lower a rope down to us.”
Mika held up one finger. “There is one problem with that plan. I lack a rope of that length.”
“Allow me to offer assistance in that regard,” Samara said, “I can craft an extremely long string capable of handling one person’s weight out of my nanites.”
“That...is a lot of nanites,” I said.
Samara smiled at me. “It is my specialty. I am weaker than most executives, but I make up for it with superior nanite count.”
With our course of action set we went about it in quick order. Mika tied the nanite string around her arm, and then used her wires to climb the wall. She flung one anchor up, then used her gloved hands to pull herself up, while throwing the second one out. It was a slow yet steady ascent, one that would take quite a while.
As my daughter climbed Lisa found herself with nothing to do, so she pulled out her sword and practiced fighting an invisible enemy. I, on the other hand, turned to Samara.
“How’d they catch you?”
“Personal ineptitude. Observing floor seventy-two when they gassed the entire facility. Woke up in the prison.”
“Speaking of, did they manage to download anything?”
“Download?”
I paused for a moment at her response. “We were told they could download your memories?”
Samara started to laugh. “Download memories? Fanciful thinking! If the supremacists could download memories they would’ve already located our hideout.”
“The one on the next floor? How’d they not find it via their little spy?”
“Trust was not given to that one.” Samara scoffed. “Inconsistent behavior.”
It was an answer I should’ve expected, given what I’d seen from Rosalind. After that bit of conversation we grew quiet, and instead turned our attention back to Mika.
Her climb continued on for a while, and yet she showed no signs of fatigue. So long as my daughters didn’t use their halos, we’d discovered they had a fairly long pool of stamina. An advantage due to the crystal that powered them.
At the thought of the crystals I looked down at my left arm. The shell’s arm had a magical array built into it, but as I tried to focus on that array nothing registered. It was a bit of a handicap that I’d need to be wary of until the shell was repaired.
We remained in silence, with Lisa continuing her sword practice. After a long time Mika called down to us, her voice barely noticeable due to the vast distance.
We ascended one at a time, with Samara waiting to go last so she could reabsorb her nanites on the way up. When I reached the top of the crystal wall I took in my surroundings.
Very little had changed from a thousand years ago. There was a flat lands near the edge of the hole, and then it dropped off into infinity. Aside from that the only other feature on the floor was the portal.
When Samara neared the top I reached down and helped to pull her up, unafraid of any betrayal. Even if she chose to turn on us my daughters would find her laughable.
“Once we arrive on the next floor allow me to triangulate my position,” Samara told us as we approached the portal, “I have a few special devices set up that allows me to find the base.”
It was a bit of odd information, but I knew that the unusual aspect of it would be answered by us witnessing what she meant. So instead we all passed through the portal, with Samara once more being the last to go through.
