As she watched with amazement, these tendrils expanded from his temples, forming spectacles. Completely made of crystal, the lens parts more transparent than the rest. A second set of lenses, smaller, formed in front of the others — giving him extra magnification.
“How…” Marasi said, glancing at Moonlight. “How does he do that?”
“I fear,” TwinSoul said, pulling tight one of the rubbings, “that such information is not lightly shared with an outsider, even an honored guest. I must trust that Moonlight thinks this is acceptable for you to see, but I apologize. I will not explain without leave from our leader.”
“It’s an emergency,” Moonlight said, lounging against a bookshelf with her arms folded. “I had to risk bringing her in.” She glanced at Marasi, and seemed to be hiding a smile at Marasi’s visible wonder.
She’s not as worried about my visit as she implied, Marasi thought. She sees this as an opportunity to intrigue me.
It was working. TwinSoul arranged the various rubbings, then raised an index finger. Two lines of crystal grew up the outsides of that finger and formed into a nib, like a fountain pen. He absently unscrewed a small jar of ink, then began taking notes.
“What is the emergency, Moonlight?” he asked.
“Autonomy is moving on a much faster timetable than we believed,” she explained. “One of these charts lists explosions — once assumed to be due to railway construction. We’re hoping you could correlate that with the hotspots of enemy activity we’ve been monitoring, to find a likely entry point to the caverns.”
“Ah yes,” TwinSoul said. “Silajana says he would be happy to aid in this. Kaise, would you fetch the appropriate binder?”
“Sure thing,” Codenames said, bounding off to do as she was asked. With Marasi’s help, Moonlight pulled over a long table and arranged some of the rubbings on it. They left the circular table at the center of the room empty for now, though Marasi couldn’t guess why.
As TwinSoul took notes, he absently created a cup from the same rose-colored stone, then filled it from a water jug at the side of the room. When he was finished drinking, he set the cup on a plate — and the stone disintegrated into fine powder, which then eventually vanished. A short time later, he made a thin knife blade on one finger and cut out a specific section of the rubbing.
When Codenames returned a short time later, TwinSoul was settled at the table — on a crystal chair he had created. Marasi fidgeted and checked the wall clock. They’d spent almost half an hour here so far. She didn’t know how tight their deadline was, but given what they’d discovered, waiting was unnerving.
“Hmmm…” TwinSoul said, scribbling some more notes with his finger pen. As he wrote, a line of crystal grew off his other hand and reached the cut-out section of the rubbing. There it formed a little frame around the flimsy square of paper. A pole grew up behind it, hanging it like a picture for better inspection.
TwinSoul peered at it through his improvised spectacles, playing with his long mustaches.
“I wish my brother were here,” Codenames said from a seat nearby. “He’d do this math easily…” She looked forlorn as she said it.
“The problem is not merely one of mathematics,” TwinSoul said. He stood and walked away from the little workstation, leaving the framed piece of paper behind — and this time the stone didn’t disintegrate. He filled himself a much larger cup of water, then stepped up to the circular table and rested one hand on it while drinking.
A crystal city grew up from the table.
It started at his hand, then spread out — like frost forming on steel. His crystal reminded Marasi of a darker version of the pink saltstone Steris had once purchased for decorating the kitchen. Buildings sprouted from it, streets formed as troughs — in minutes a complete replica of the city adorned the table, the circular elevated train tracks of the partially finished high-speed rail growing in last of all.
Marasi’s breath caught, then she looked at the old man, who was smiling in a self-satisfied way. He appeared to enjoy the showmanship. Perhaps if she hadn’t been here, he’d have pulled out a mundane map. But this was oh so much more impressive.
“It’s called an aether,” Moonlight said, walking up behind her. “An ancient entity predating the creation of your world. TwinSoul can grow it, manipulate it. Would you like to know more?”
“Yes,” Marasi whispered.
Moonlight smiled. “And you shall. Once you join us.”
Marasi breathed out softly, then reached out to touch the tip of one of the buildings — which felt solid beneath her fingers, more sturdy than she’d expected. The aether was mostly smooth, with tiny pits here and there.
“I have three likely options for you,” TwinSoul said. “I’ve marked them in deeper-colored roseite.”
He pointed toward one building, a little pointer stick — the kind professors used for gesturing at chalkboards — growing between his fingers. The building indicated was indeed a deeper red. It was the central spire of the city, right at the heart of Bilming, rising high above the surrounding structures. Straight along the sides, then tapering sharply toward the unfinished upper floors.
“Independence Tower,” TwinSoul said. “This is no surprise — we’ve known that the agents of Autonomy have been using this as their base for years.”
“And there were explosions underneath?” Marasi asked.
“The detonations happened farther to the east,” TwinSoul said. “But I doubt that the entrance to those caverns will be right in the center of the detonations, for obvious reasons. Independence Tower is a central hub of activity for our esteemed antagonists, and I’d bet it has an entrance to the caverns.”
“But it will be heavily guarded,” Marasi said. “What are the other two options?”
“This office building here, my lady,” he said, pointing to a smaller structure in the city grid.
She nodded. “Note, though, I’m not a lady. I work for a living.”
“It is merely a distinction of respect, Lady Marasi,” he said. “From among my people. It … translates oddly into your language. Regardless, this office building — the Dulouis Building — is both a hotbed of Set activity and at the perimeter of one of the locations with tremors. I consider it the most likely option.”
He pointed back at the tall structure. “As you noted, Independence Tower is highly defended — a veritable fortification, a castle in the middle of the city. Breaching it has proven beyond even the arts of the Survivor himself.”
“Not for lack of trying,” Codenames added. “Their security system can spot ghosts. He hasn’t figured out a way to circumvent that.”
“And the final location?” Marasi asked.
“It seems of less import,” TwinSoul said, pointing at a structure on the perimeter of the city, beneath a section of train track. “An old tire factory.”
“Tires?” Moonlight said, stepping up beside Marasi. “Like where Tobal Copper worked?”
“TwinSoul, would I be correct to assume that factory is owned by Basin Tires?” Marasi asked.
“Indeed,” TwinSoul said. “You appear to have information beyond mine, my lady.”
“That company is involved,” Marasi said. “Did your agents notice anything odd about the factory?”
Codenames flipped through one of their files. “Uh … let’s see … Curious. The woman we had watching this location says it’s mostly shut down, because very little is ever shipped out of it.”
“But things are shipped in?” Marasi said, growing excited. “Maybe an oddly large number of deliveries, given that the factory barely seems to be doing anything?”