We Craita book One: The awakening of idols --- Chapter 2: The depths of Hell Fort the silence that followed the Declaration of Talulah Voelkel did not last long. As the crowd began to disperse in a confused murmur - half excited, half terrified - Kaelen felt Thersa burning her back on her back. Or rather, six eyes. The three heads of the ride watched her with an intensity that made her hoslin instincts screaming out. "It's not educated to run out when someone is paying attention to you," said one of the heads of Thessa. "Especially when this attention can save your life," completed the second. The third head just smiled enigmatically. Derrin placed between Kaelen and the Rere, his robust structure of Derent forming an improvised barrier. His race could be labeled as "irrational" by stereotypes, but his social hive structure meant that protecting members of the group - even temporary members like Kaelen - was a fundamental instinct. "What do you want?" He asked, his voice calm but firm. "I?" The three heads leaned in unison, a choreographed movement that suggested both intelligence and something slightly disturbing. "I want the same as you two, judging by what I observed from your expressions during the fight. Information. Answers. And maybe ..." She paused dramatically, "... survival." Kaelen forced himself to relax his shoulders. If there was something he had learned in his twenty-three years in the twenty-three years navigating contradictory laws, poverty of 31% and a legal system that ignored murder but punished public nudity - was that unlikely allies were the only ones available. "Talk," she said simply. Thressa smiled at his three mouths simultaneously. "Not here. The walls of DOS have ears - literally in some cases. I know a place in the District of Aniaburg. A tea house that serves hot drinks and cold privacy." --- The tea house was in a narrow alley of the South District of Dos, Aniaburg - an area that the map described as part of the "well-constructed but poor" area of the city. The stone walls exhibited cracks filled with omnipresent brown grass number 1, used as sealing material. It was a creative use of the appeal, Kaelen admitted; The grass growing in asymmetrical clumps by any tes was surprisingly sturdy when dried and braided. The interior was dark and surprisingly fresh - a welcome relief from the middle 40 ° C from the surface of Tedetre. Some clear skin hoslins (tones 1 and 2 of the palette) occupied distant tables, his triangular eyes and suspiciously accompanying the newcomers before returning to his drinks. An opesund of North African traits served tables silently, his "primitive" race denied by the sophistication of their movements. Thessa led them to a cabin in the background, its three heads spinning constantly to monitor the environment - a habit of his inspired race in Cerbero that Kaelen thought both paranoid and very prudent. "Tedetre's root tea for all," Tessa asked the waitress Opesund, delivering some coins. Kaelen noticed that they were 50 oness notes - Ejust, as they were called locally. A significant amount for beverages. "You're generous," Kaelen watched. "I'm a collector," Thessa corrected. "Collect information. And valuable information require initial investment. Consider the tea as my ... business card." The tea arrived quickly, served in cracked ceramic mugs that probably cost less than 1 oness each. The liquid was dark and exuded a terrous aroma with notes of something slightly spicy - typical of Sisedeb's cuisine, known for his bold and spicy flavors. "Drink," Thessa instructed. "It helps to lighten the mind. And you will need light minds for what I will tell." Kaelen took a sip. The taste was strong, almost medicinal, but not unpleasant. Derrin drank without hesitation - his Derent race was known for his efficiency, and rejects offered resources was not efficient. "Very well," thesa began, her three heads leaning forward, creating an intimate circle of conversation. "What you witnessed today at the stadium was not a mascot competition. It was a demonstration. A field test." "Field test?" Derrin frowned. "For whom?" "For creators. The real architects behind Talulah Voelkel and Orlando Szohr." Thesa paused, her six eyes shining in the gloom. "Have you ever heard of the consortium of Silence?" Kaelen shook her head. Derrin remained motionless. "Of course not. They are very good at staying ... silent." The Thessa triple smile was devoid of humor. "The consortium is an organization that operates in Sisedeb shadows for at least two hundred years ago. They take advantage of ... peculiarities of our legal system." "Ignored crimes," Kaelen murmured, comprising. "Murder, torture, kidnapping - all technically illegal, but in practice ignored by the authorities." "Exactly. The consortium built its empire exactly in this breach. They do things that are officially forbidden but uniquely tolerated. Genetic experiments. Transfer of consciousness. Hybrid creation." Thressa paused significantly. "Like Talulah." "And Orlando?" Derrin asked. "Orlando Szohr was a political dissident. About fifteen years ago, he led protests against the restriction of access to global communication networks. He wanted Sisedeb to open for the rest of Tedetre, for the other continents. Even for the other races we avoid interacting." Thressa took a sip of his tea. "He was charismatic. Dangerous for the status quo. Then the consortium kidnapped him, transferred his consciousness to an animatronical body and scheduled him to be a loyal weapon." "But something went wrong," Kaelen deduced. "Very wrong. Orlando retained fragments from his memories. Not enough to remember who was completely, but enough to know that something was ... wrong. That he was not just a machine." Thressa smiled. "And Talulah? She was created from the beginning to be the perfect weapon. Human DNA combined with a KLA - one of Tedetre's most violent and resilient creatures. But she also held something that creators did not predate." "What?" "Curiosity. The KLA are notothingly lazy and slow to adapt to environmental changes. But Talulah ... She inherited the opposite. She is tirelessly curious. He asks everything. And when he began to question his own existence, He discovered clues about the consortium that his creators never imagined she would find." Derrin finished his tea in a single efficient sip. "And the fight of today?" "It was orchestrated by the consortium to test which of their weapons was superior. They planned to use the winner as their main agent, and discard the loser." Thressa paused. "What they did not expect was that Talulah not only win, but convert Orlando to his cause. Now they have two rebellious weapons instead of one. And they are panicking." Kaelen felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the tea temperature. "Why are you telling us this?" Thessa's three heads stared at it. "Because Talulah noticed two in the crowd," she said simply. "And when Talulah notes someone, it usually means that this person has something she needs. Something that neither the person himself knows he owns." "And what would that be?" Thressa pointed to Kaelen's eyes. "You, your eyes. They retreat involuntarily when you are concentrated or nervous. It's a trace of the Kla. You can imitate the movement of their retractable eyes." "It's ... it's just a trick," Kaelen protested. "Something I learned by watching the Kla in the fields." "Not." The thesa's voice was firm. "Humans can not 'learn' to imitate biological characteristics of other species just observing. This is not a trick. It is a signal." The silence that followed was heavy as lead. Derrin was the first to break it. "Are you saying Kaelen ... is it also a result of consortium experiments?" "Not exactly." Thressa inclined his three heads. "I am saying that someone in her lineage was. And that this genetic marker, this ability to assimilate characteristics of other species, it is hereditary. She is asleep in her. But it can be ... awakened." "That night, Kaelen could not sleep. Your apartment in Bridge Cross - a cubicle that cost 3,350 oness per month, more than she earned as a low-income worker - seemed smaller than ever. The walls of braided grass grinded with the hot wind that blows from the distant blue ocean, that ocean of 17 million square miles whose average depths of 37,339 feet hid creatures that no one in Dos never turns. She sat on the bed, her knees against her chest, thinking. Sleeping genetic marker. Ability to assimilate characteristics of other species. What did that mean? That she was not totally human? What your family - your mother's hoslin mother tone 4, your father Hoslin Fur Tom 5, both peasants who created cattle in the dried savannas - Hidden secrets? She remembered the stories that her grandmother counted. Stories about "ancient times", when settlers were still in Tedetre, before the formation of Sisedeb as independent nation. Stories about people who disappeared and returned ... Different. His grandmother always stopped in this part of the stories, her triangular eyes getting distant. "Some doors, once opened, can not be closed, Netinha. Some changes ... are permanent." Kaelen had always assumed they were metaphors. Life lessons on choices and consequences. Now she was not so sure. He got up and went to the window. From the tenth floor of your building - a "well-done" building that has not received proper maintenance for years - she could see the lights of DOS spreading through the districts. To the north, Hell Fort's lights glittered in a slightly greenish tone, as if something underground emit radiation through the ground. To the east, Pitchharbor was dark except for the radio tower that flashed intermittently. To the south, Hellstan and Aniaburg slept under Tedetre's pale sky. And somewhere down there, in the depths of Hell Fort's underground factory, Talulah Voelkel was probably awake as well. Planning. Waiting. "When Talulah notes someone, it usually means that this person has something she needs." What did Talulah need her? And more importantly: What would Kaelen do when Talulah came to get it? --- Meanwhile, in the depths of Hell Fort ... the underground factory was not exactly a factory. Oh, it had been a factory, decades ago - an industrial complex that produced building materials from brown grass number 1, processing asymmetric bricks and sturdy beams. But when demand decreased and sisedeb's economy decline, the factory was abandoned. Or at least, that's what the audience believed. In fact, the lower levels of the factory had been converted into laboratories. Laboratories where the consortium of silence conducted their more secret experiments. Talulah Voelkel walked through these corridors now, his six ostrich legs doing little sound on the metal floor. Orlando Szohr followed her, her metallic feet echoing heavily - he had not completely dominated the art of the silent movement in his animatronical body. "They'll be waiting for us," Orlando said, his voice reverberating slightly. "The Creators. They know we rebelled." "I know." Talulah did not decrease the step. "That's exactly why we're going to them." "Would not it be more wise to run away? Hide us? Gather allies first?" "Fighter confirmed that we are afraid. Hide confirmed that we are weak. Gather allies ..." She paused, her four eyes retracting and extending in a thoughtful pattern. "Gather allies is exactly what we will do. But first, we need information. And the only reliable source of information on the consortium are the consortium members themselves." Orlando sued this. His inner circuits buzzed softly as he analyzed logic. "You plan to question them." "I plan to talk to them." Talulah smiled, and there was something kla in that smile - the innate violence of the species, predatory patience. "If the conversation becomes an interrogation, well ... it will depend on them." They reached a heavy metal door. Talulah pressed his hand - his human hand, the only truly human part of his body - against a biometric scanner. The door buzzed and opened. On the other side, a circular meeting room. Ten figures sitting around a polished stone table. His faces were hidden by ceremonial masks - masks that reminded the native creatures of Tedetre. KLA. Rere. Derent. Hoslin. Opesund. And others that Talulah did not recognize. "Talulah Voelkel," said the figure with Kla's mask, his voice distorted by modulators. "We waited for you to come. Although we must admit, we did not expect to bring ... Company." Orlando took a step forward, his animated eyes shining. "You set up me. They scheduled me. They tried to turn me into a weapon without their own." His voice was strangely calm. "Failed." "We did not fail," said the figure with Hoslin's mask. "You are exactly what we worshiped. A prototype. A test to see if the transfer of consciousness to artificial bodies was feasible. And it was." The figure inclined his head. "The fact that you have retained fragmented memories was ... an interesting side effect. But not a failure." "What about me?" Talulah asked. "Am I an interesting side effect too?" Silence. "You," slowly said the figure with KLA's mask, "It's our biggest success. And our biggest mistake." "Explain." "DNA KLA combined with human DNA produced exactly what we expected: strength, resilience, jumping ability, improved vision. But also produced something we do not expect. The KLA are notoriously lazy creatures. Slow to adapt. We assume that a human-kla hybrid would inherit this passivity. It would be easy to control." "Instead," Talulah completed, "I inherited human curiosity. The ability to question. To adapt quickly." "Exactly." Another figure, with a mask of Rere, leaned forward. "What do you want, Talulah? Why did you come upstairs instead of running away?" "Because running away does not answer my questions." Talulah took a step forward, his four eyes fixed on the masked figure. "I want to know why. Why do we create us? What do we really serve? What is the ultimate goal of the consortium?" Masked figures exchanged silent looks. "The goal," finally said the figure with a mask of something that Talulah did not recognize - a creature with multiple eyes and something similar to tentacles in the representation, "is survival." "Survival of whom?" "Of all." The figure paused. "Do you know why Sisedeb exists as there is? Why are our laws ... peculiar? Why do we ignore certain crimes while chasing others?" "I presumed that it was corruption," Orlando said dryly. "It's adaptation." The figure stood up, and the others imitated it. "Tedetre is not a common planet. Our ocean covers 51% of the surface, but 26% of this water is underground. There are things living in the depths that most population does not know. Ancient things. Things wake up in cycles." Talulah felt a shiver - something rare for her. "Things?" "The consortium has been founded for two hundred years for survivors of the last awakening. Our mission is not to control Sisedeb for power or greed. Our mission is to prepare the planet for the next awakening. Create weapons. Defenses. Hybrids that can fight Against whatever comes from the depths." "And you created us to be ... soldiers?" Orlando asked. "Soldiers. Protectors. Heroes." The figure paused. "Yes." Talulah sued this. Her four eyes retracted completely as she thought. "If this is true," she said slowly, "then why the secrecy? Why the contradictory laws? Why not warn the population?" "Because the last time we warn the population, there was panic. Chaos. Deaths." The figure with Hoslin's mask shook his head. "Most people can not deal with the truth. They prefer to believe that their problems are political, economic, social - things that can understand. Things that can blame in other humans." "But the truth," Talulah completed, "is that there is something in the depths of the ocean. Something that awakens periodically. And when awakening, nothing we know will be the same." "Yes." Heavy silence filled the room. "And how long have we?" Orlando asked. Masked figures exchanged glances again. "For our calculations," said the figure with KLA's mask, "The next awakening will occur in about ... Three years." --- On the surface, in his apartment in Bridge Cross, Kaelen finally gave in to tiredness and fell asleep. In his dreams, she was in the depths of Tedetre's blue ocean. The overwhelming pressure of 37,339 feet of water compressed on all sides. Creatures she had never seen swam around her indistinct, bioluminescent forms with multiple eyes and tentacles. And in the center of abyssal darkness, something immense slept. Something that was beginning to wake up. She woke up gasping, the sweat dripping down her skin tone 3. The clock on the wall 3 in the morning. Tedetre's pale sky was dark now, illuminated only by almost invisible planetary hoop and on ONolyn moon, which glowed weakly through the clouds. Something was wrong. Not just with the dream - with reality. She went to the window again and looked north, to Hell Fort. The greenish lights were brighter now. Pulsing. As if something underground was ... responding. "There are things living in the depths that most population does not know. Ancient things. Things that arouse in cycles." Kaelen did not know where this sentence came from. She did not remember having heard it anywhere. But she knew, with a certainty that transcended logic, which was true. She also knew that somehow she was connected to it. Her eyes retracted involuntarily as she watched Hell Fort's pulsating lights. The awakening was coming. And when he came, she would have to be ready. --- End of chapter 2 --- In the next chapter: Kaelen, Derrin and Thessa are summoned to the underground factory, where Talulah and Orlando reveal the truth about the consortium and the imminent awakening. Kaelen discovers more about his asleep genetic marker and what he means for the future of Tedetre. And in the depths of the ocean, something opens the eyes for the first time in two hundred years ...