Nock didn't appear worse for wear. He freed himself from Noodar's grip and pointed, "There, up there. That one looks different."
He was right. High up on one of the columns stood another box. It was red and stood out from the rest of them.
"Let's find a ladder," Zaarek sighed.
"We don't need one." Nova was already in motion. She was up those boxes as if they were a staircase. "Zaarek." She had reached the box and held it out, ready to drop it.
"On it," Zaarek was already below her, having watched her progress with worried eyes but also a gleam of pride.
"It's heavy," Nova warned right before she dropped it.
Zaarek's knees buckled when he caught it. "Oomph," he complained.
"I warned you," Nova replied, making her way back down even faster than she went up.
We circled around Zaarek, who put the box on the ground before prying at the lid to open it.
"Here, use this," Alice held out an omni-key—screwdriver—to him.
"Thank you."
"No, no, not like that," Alice fell to her knees and adjusted the box. With a sigh, Zaarek held out the omni-key to her.
Alice grabbed it as if it were her baby that he had held onto for too long and went to work. Within a tick, the lid popped open, exposing another box—a simple, black box. There was nothing special about it, but we all hovered as if this were some kind of holy relic.
Alice held it up and scrutinized it from all angles. "It looks just like a cube. There is nothing…" Her hands ran up and down the box's surface. "Aha!" Her fingers hesitated. There is something." She held the box up again. "Xyrek, some light?"
I held up my comm as she squinted. "Zaarek, hold it like this," she instructed, already digging through her tool belt. Zaarek and I exchanged an amused look as this moment took us back in time. How many hours had we spent in Alice's workshop, assisting her when she was inthe zone? Unaware of anything other than what she was building. I had always believed the world could collapse all around her, and she wouldn't know. And maybe it had. I hoped to all the stars that when death came for her, she had been inthe zone, not realizing what was happening.
"Hah!" Alice exclaimed once more. "Turn it just a little to the right, ZaZa, more light—" She broke off and stared, stunned, at Zaarek, who took her in with the same surprise that tore through my heart. Despite Allisaahn and me only having had a rotation together, she and Zaarek had grown close. Zaza had been his nickname from one of our little sisters, and Allisaahn had adopted it.
Alice cleared her throat, but her hand was shaking as she finally found the tool she had been looking for. It had a small star at the top and was as thin as a needle. Nobody knew its use, but it was kept in everybody's tool belts. Even the repair drones were equipped with them. Over the years, people had started calling it theMaster's Pin; legend had it that only true engineers instinctively knew its purpose. I stared at Alice in wonder. She was so caught up in what she was doing, and with no memory of her past or knowledge of the significance of this tool, that she didn't realize that all of us Darlams—and Kred—stared at her in utter disbelief. Even non-mechanically inclined people like us had heard of theMaster's Pin. It was a legend in itself.
Surreptitiously, Nock was casting again, but nobody stopped him this time. We all sensed that we stood at the precipice of a gigantic historical moment. The very air around us seemed to stand still as Alice inserted the pin with the star side up. Carefully, she rotated it until there was a small click. It was so still in the room that the click sounded like a missile exploding.
Zaarek nearly dropped the box when the lid sprang open.
"Zaarek!" Alice snarled, stabilizing the box until he had himself back under control. Nova snickered quietly from behind him, a sound that was picked up by the others and broke some of the tension.
But the snickering stopped when Zaarek lowered the box, and we saw what was inside. The globe inside was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. It shimmered in gold and silver, and its facets caught rays of light and reflected them in tiny sparkles of color. Alice's hand moved forward.
"Don't touch that," Hannah snarled, rushing forward as if to snatch the globe.
Zaarek pulled it away from her.
"Hannah?" Tharaax stepped behind his mate.
"Don't touch that," Hannah repeated. Her entire body was shaking. "This abomination needs to be destroyed right fucking now."
"Tharaax, hold her back," Sloane demanded.
Tharaax looked torn, but when Hannah made another jump for Zaarek, his hands gripped her waist and pulled her back.
"Hannah, what's wrong?" Tharaax wanted to know.
Hannah didn't look herself. She shook her head, "I don't know. But something tells me this is evil. It needs to be destroyed."
"Ark-he-vari." Zaarek squinted at something only he could see inside the box.
