Ascent of the Aliomenti (25 page)

“Fast or slow?”

“Fast,” Wayne replied.

Will grasped Wayne’s shoulder and teleported both of them to the top of the pyramid.

The structure was immense and awe-inspiring. Will found himself incredulous that they’d built as much as they had. The volume of concrete in the base of the city alone was staggering.

“What’s really impressive,” James said, walking over to them, “is that this structure, this giant block if you want to think of it that way, is almost entirely hollow.”

“Really?” Wayne said. “Why would want it to be hollow?”

“Several reasons, actually,” James replied. “First, having it hollow when we’re all up high means that the water has somewhere to go. We thought about it, and realized that having a giant building there for the water to hit would make it
more
likely that it would be damaged. So we worked to make the inside as hollow as we could, and put holes in the walls so that the ocean water could actually flow through and out the opposite side.”

“Interesting,” Wayne said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

“Actually, we got the idea from the wagon wheels you make,” James said with a grin. “When we drive those wagons and the winds are strong, you’d think the wagons would get blown in the direction of the wind. But the wagons don’t move. Why? Because the wind can flow right through the wheels. The wheels don’t try to block the wind, because it doesn’t take much speed for the wind to win that battle. We actually wanted to make a series of giant legs, but we simply didn’t have the ability to put up forms high enough to do that. The walls are built atop the piers, and taper in from the outside. On the inside, though, they go straight up, but the walls are fairly narrow at the top. The walls are only thick enough to hold the top part of the pyramid, which will support the city itself.”

“I like that,” Will said. “You also don’t have to make quite so much concrete. It’s got to be difficult enough to get that much material; if this structure was solid we’d have a tough time getting enough rocks here to get the platform even half as high as we need it.”

“Exactly,” James replied. “The teams have been smart about this. They were telling me about this earlier, and I was very impressed with how they’ve managed to think of so many possibilities before we started to build.”

“What else?” Wayne asked.

“Well... we wanted to make sure that we had a means of getting stuff up from the surface. Not everyone can fly or teleport, but everyone can walk. It’s not just about those who are here now, either, or where they are in terms of Energy skill progress. Eventually we’ll have to recruit again, and those people will need to walk up and down steps. So we have to account for that. There are staircases carved into the inside of the walls, very wide stairs that run against those inside walls. We have staircases that start on opposite sides of the structure so people can move up whichever side is nearest to where they entered.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Will said.

“I agree,” James replied. “The plan right now is to build using wood, rather than concrete, just because of the weight. And we’re pretty much out of rock to use as the raw materials for the concrete anyway.”

“So the next phase is to start building places to live up here?” Wayne asked.

James nodded. “Once we get enough places built, we’ll start living up here. We built areas that could be filled with soil where we can farm and grow zirple and morange, so we’ll never lack for at least some vegetation to eat. We’ll build out shops after that, probably starting with ovens for baking. We’ll need to get the water problem fixed by then though.”

“Right,” Will replied. “Wayne’s come up with a brilliant plan to get the water up here.”

James looked surprised. “Oh? Tell me about it.” He turned his gaze to Wayne.

“Um,” Wayne said, suddenly nervous. “That is, we want to use panels. To move the water.”

James frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. How would panels hold water? Aren’t they...
flat
? Wouldn’t water just slide off the panels instead of getting collected and moved where we need it?”

“Right,” Wayne said. “The panels, they would have... things... to get the water.”

James shook his head. “What things? How would they get the water? Are you still talking about flat panels? If not that, what? I’m confused.”

Will stepped in. “Wayne’s idea is to use small, short boards which attach together in a type of continuous metal panel that can bend smoothly around the wheels that form the top and bottom of the lift system. We’d set it up as a continuous gear system; the alternating gears turn in opposite directions, and would pull the panels up on one side and push them back down on the other. The gaps between panels would catch the gear teeth. If we attach buckets to those panels, much like the ones on the Wheel back at the village, we can move the water all the way up from the surface.”

James stroked his chin, nodding slowly. “I see what you mean, Will. We’re basically trying to capture the same effect as the water wheels back home, but without needing to build a wheel big enough to do so.”

“We don’t have enough water to turn a wheel that size, either,” Wayne noted.

James laughed. “That’s very true.” He glanced at Will. “Great idea.”

“It was Wayne’s idea, actually,” Will replied. “I’m here to help him build it so we can make sure it works well before we build the full-size version.”

“Got it,” James replied. He turned to Wayne. “Great idea. I think it’s going to work. What can I do to help?”

“Aren’t you helping to build the upper platform?”

“Not any more,” James said. “With the pyramid built and the concrete pouring completed, it’s primarily an effort for the carpenters at this point. I’ve been trying to figure out how to capture all of this wind to turn a wheel, just like the river turned the wheel back home. Getting the water up here is of vital importance, so if there’s something I can do to help, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“We appreciate that,” Wayne replied.

“Can you show us where you’d look over the side to see that large stream empty into the lake?” Will asked.

“Sure,” James replied. He led the way to the northwest corner of the structure, and, after warning them to be careful because of the strong winds, leaned over the side. Wayne and Will followed suit.

“Wow, that’s a long way down.” Wayne’s nervousness was genuine; as a man not able to levitate himself, fly, or teleport, a fall would be fatal.

“It is,” Will replied. “But we’re not going down that way. We’ll use the stairs, fly, or teleport.”

He leaned over the side and looked down. The estuary where the stream fed the lake was about ten feet off to the side, which meant that they’d need to construct the lift system that far over.

He had an idea. While Wayne watched, baffled, Will got a long length of rope and tossed it over the side until the end of the rope hit the ground, several feet away from the stream. Will pulled the rope up until the tip just touched the ground, making sure the drop point wasn’t just nearer that specific lake because of how the rope landed on the ground. He found a length of board and slid it over the length of the top of the wood, and moved the board until he got the rope over the lake, using Energy to hold the board in place until they could secure it with more traditional means.

“OK, that’s how far out from the wall the water lift system will need to be built in order to reach the lake. So we need to build a platform of some type to reach that far away from the primary base of the city, and probably have the edge of our aqueduct system that far out as well. We need to make sure that it’s strong and secure so that any high winds don’t damage the structure or knock it off into the water below.”

Wayne nodded. “That makes sense, Will. I like the idea of having the rope there; it shows us exactly where it needs to drop from here, but it will also give us a target to start with down below. We could actually build from both directions at the same time if we follow the path of the rope.”

“Good idea, Wayne. Right now, we need to start making those gear wheels and panels. The prototype works; now we have to start working on the full size version.” Will glanced at James. “Once we get this built, we’ll need your wind-based system to turn the gears and get the water up here.”

James nodded.

They began constructing the wheels for the gears a week later, when the pyramid top was confirmed fully hardened and ready for regular use and additional construction. As they built the water lift system, David and many of the others began constructing residences, shops, and stores. They also, at a suggestion from Will, created buildings just for social experiences: small restaurants and pubs where those who brewed ale, baked, or cooked could sell their wares and provide an atmosphere for socialization. They also kept a bit of space set aside for a sort of amphitheater, where the residents could come to sing and dance and celebrate their successes.

Ideally, such celebrations wouldn’t be followed by anyone being beaten to death.

After Wayne turned in early — he and David had night watch duty, protecting those who slept from any storms and storm surge that might strike overnight — Will spent his time thinking of Hope, as he so often did. She and Eva had moved east after a brief hiatus away from Healf, and were reportedly in a small city nearly four hundred miles away from their first home, a journey of such distance that they were unlikely to be found by anyone they’d seen in the past, whether Aliomenti or from Healf. Will grimaced. If Atlantis was a success – and he had no reason to believe it would be anything else – the Aliomenti would want to expand again, and this time they’d insist on moving east for their next settlement. Will admitted to himself that that would be the correct decision. In business terms, they needed to enter new markets, and that meant they’d need to step outside the boundaries of English-speaking territories into those that spoke French and German and Spanish and Italian. They’d need to establish a school to train residents to speak those languages, as well as Latin, so that they could understand what was being sold to them and explain what they were selling. They’d need to learn new customs and manners of negotiation if they hoped to continue the successes they’d always enjoyed in their efforts to the north, and which they’d soon commence here in the south based out of Atlantis.

Hope, of course, was excited for the next round of her journey. Though she knew that she’d need to repeat this process many times over the coming centuries, she still treated her new home as the start of a new adventure, one which promised new experiences. She and Eva had used their downtime to learn how to weave, and had become extremely proficient. Will had managed to sneak away during early phases of construction and visit them on their hidden island in the Mediterranean, and had to admit that, even with his natural bias, they had produced beautiful work. They’d succeed in their new home just as they had in Healf.

If only their home and his could be the same.

It was agonizing for him. Though both he and Hope enjoyed the work they did, though both were making a positive difference in the lives of those they lived with, such contribution came with the cruel requirement that they stay apart. The brief meetings in person were bittersweet, a reminder of what could never be, what they’d need to wait until the twenty-first century to experience. And even then, only one of them would actually be able to experience that ultimate joy at the end of their thousand year journey.

Will turned his thoughts away from it immediately. As time wore on, as cruel fate demanded he and his wife keep their distance and act as anything
but
husband and wife, he was forever jealous of what he’d not appreciated to a great enough degree while he’d had it. Though he suspected that future Hope had seen no such failure on his part, he realized now just how remarkable the woman he’d married was. Though he’d been ignorant of the true strength of her character and the sacrifices she’d made to be with him and bear their children, he still felt that he should have appreciated her more. Perhaps, when this was all done, he could tell her, with both of them fully aware of their entire histories and stories, how much he wished he’d appreciated her more.

That was assuming he’d ever get that chance, for he had no guarantee that either version of him would be alive in the future after the fire.

XX

Grief

1035 A.D.

They went to sleep that night with no indication that the morning would not come, that Nature would declare judgment on their effort to thwart her plans for the island.

The shouts woke Will, and he sat up, startled but dazed. The taste of salt water touched his lips and tongue, and suddenly he was wide awake, sitting up on a cot that was floating, barely, in water that rose waist high.

His empathic senses were on high alert, screaming, as those around him realized in great terror what was happening. Those who could teleport moved in an instant high above the water, upon the top of the city platform in the sky, initially forgetting in their own panic that they were to help other Aliomenti. The many who could not teleport, abandoned by their peers in the face of the rising waters, struggled to their feet, barely able to move against the rushing water of the ocean. But as they calmed, those up high began returning to the flooded valley, locating their peers and taking them to the safety of the platform that was slowly transforming into a new city.