[SPOILER] A Journey in Exile | Forums

[Achenar625]

Jennifer frowned a little. "But didn't Channelwood have a map to it..." She quickly clapped her hands to her mouth, glancing worriedly at Achenar as she realized who she had just mentioned that Age in front of.
Achenar paused. "Yeah. I earned that nickname on my own... no collaboration with my brother on that one..." he murmured quietly. "You do have a point, but it's not a map like that one was. Let's just move on." He leaned up against the side of the round metal tunnel that lay just before them, blinking as one of the surrounding rings turned out to be composed entirely of flaps, which opened out with a squeak as Achenar jerked back from his place against the wall. "Oops."
Isaac quickly darted forward and examined the flaps, poking them a few times and watching them open and close. "Interesting. A pressure sensor, perhaps...?" He shook his head. "But why are all of them opening at the same time? And what are they there for?" He leaned closer, careful of the broken window. "I don't see anything attached... unless it's inside of those support struts..."
Jennifer blinked as she came up beside them. "Ooh, I wonder where this ladder goes..." She looked over. "You boys look on ahead if you want. I'm going to try and get a better look at things from up here." She smiled and quickly grabbed onto the ladder, working her way up.
Isaac stepped back from the window and nodded, rubbing his chin. "I still don't see what it's for..." He moved past Achenar and out the other side of the tunnel, the D'ni following behind. Outside, Isaac looked around a bit, watching the water moving underneath, and then tapped on the door. "This light's out too, huh? Odd..." He turned and went to the hatch, looking down into the water. "Hmm, a locked door and a flooded ladder. Maybe we shouldn't have come this way first..."
He trailed off as a loud rumbling noise started up, and looked up to see a long wall sliding into place, cutting off the platform mostly from the sea before them. Isaac looked down again, and blinked as the water began to drain away. "Hmm... I see..."
Jennifer came running up to them, hands over her ears. "It's so loud in there..." She pointed. "The flaps are catching the water... I guess we know what they're for now. And one of those symbols on the wall is lit up..."
Isaac stepped past her and tapped the light. "Not lit, though. I wonder what we have to do to get power to it..."
Achenar relaxed against the railing while Isaac and Jennifer climbed carefully down the ladder. He smiled a bit as he heard them fumbling with the crank, loud bangs heard each time they tried and failed to make it rise. Don't want to make the puzzles too easy on them, now do we? He gave the flaps a fond glance, remembering how he had never been able to solve this one. Until Sirrus came along, took one look at it, and solved the puzzle in the time it took to run the distance to the wheel and back.
A shout came up from down below, and Jennifer appeared at the hatch before taking off in a flash. Isaac appeared as well as the wall rumbled, narrowly missing getting caught as the hatch flooded again. "The flaps aren't just for catching the water, they're like the teeth on a gear!" he shouted, running past and poking the flaps again to close them. In a flash, he was back, and the wall was closing up again. "And down there is another set of slats... which means they're meant to mesh! But if one is turning, they can't mesh properly. I bet Atrus built a safety in..." His voice started to echo as he vanished into the hatch, Jennifer waiting now at the far end of the tunnel. With a rumble, the crank turned and rose into place, locking in properly at last. Jennifer beamed and quickly poked the flaps open again, causing Achenar to nearly fall as the platform beneath him began to rotate. "So!" Isaac declared, appearing again. "We had to raise the crank first..."
Jennifer ran up, and pointed at the lit lamp on the door. "And only then would the gears mesh and turn properly!"
Achenar chuckled and clapped, taking hold of the handle and pulling it firmly down. "Well reasoned. I had to use a lifeline on that one..." He made a motion with his hand as the door turned, moving deeper into the recess as if being screwed into something, and then sank into the ground, revealing a passage beyond. "So, then... shall we move on to the next puzzle?"

[MystNovice]

Wow... It really has been a long time since I played the original. I can't believe I forgot about that. Still, wasn't that map made by the locals... you know, before they were, uh... ahem, moving on!

On Topic:

Voltaic

Isaac poked his head part way through the entrance and stared down at the spot where the door had disappeared into the recess before being obscured by a sliding panel. "That's an odd mechanism," he observed, "I wonder if it's to prevent us from being in contact with the door at inopportune moments... I have noticed an abundance of copper wire coils in the devices around here, including the door. There must be some electrical generation system involved."

"Oh, who cares!" said Jennifer, already climbing down the nearby stairwell, "When we figured out that crank-thingy..."

"Crank shaft," Isaac quickly corrected.

"...a second symbol on the diagram lit up," she continued, choosing not to recognize his interruption, "If we figure out the next puzzle, maybe we will figure out what those symbols mean." Isaac nodded and followed her down the stairwell.

Achenar hung back and let the couple climb down into the next chamber. As he expected, it didn't take Isaac long to spot the device there and start it up. If Atrus hadn't changed the recording on J'nanin, he probably hadn't done anything about this one either. His suspicions were soon confirmed: "What's the matter, Atrus, can't figure out how things work?" the once again familiar voice of Saavedro echoed from the stairwell. "Yet you explained this class so well when we first spoke of it in Narayan. 'I want Sirrius and Achenar to learn everything they can, Saavedro!'" The D'ni leaned over the stairwell, shadow and light contrasting in relief against his face. "'First from Amateria, Edanna, Voltaic, and finally from Narayan. When my boys come to see your people, I want them to see Narayan's traditions at work so they can see how civilization can balance and Age.' Do you know what they did when they finally came to us? You never came back. After class was over, you took your boys away, and you never came back. Sirrius and Achenar did." After a long moment's pause, Achenar slowly descended the stairs and rejoined the others. They both looked cautiously at him as he dismounted the ladder, a pained silence coming over the three of them.

The D'ni gave both them and the imaging device to the left of the ladder furtive glances before marching down the hallway to the right adorned with thick cables. "Let's just move on," he stated flatly.

"But wait," the bookworm meekly squeaked. Achenar paused and gave a somber look back, making Jennifer very self conscious. "It is just what he said..." Making her teacher sigh morosely made her even more self-conscious and quite flustered. "Um, not about you..." She mentally kicked herself. "Uh, I mean about the lesson!"

Isaac raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "That's right," he concluded, "Saavedro listed an order of Ages to visit, and we seem to be out of order."

"Ohh," Achenar realized what they meant, returning to his usual demeaner with some relief, "I wouldn't worry about that. My father always set things up so could take whatever path you liked without skipping anything. If there's something you really need to see, there will always be a puzzle that won't let you go any further until you've seen it." Apparently satisfied, Isaac and Jennifer both nodded. "Right," the D'ni continued, "Let's move on with the puzzle."

The three proceeded down the corridor opposite from the imager, Isaac noting the tangled mess of cables above and beneath their path. Soon they reached a large circular room dominated by another circular structure in the center which seemed to be hollow and lacking a roof. More cables trailed down from the roof of the main chamber down into the core structure. Isaac stood up on his toes at the top of the ladder leading down onto the floor of the room. He was apparently trying to get the best possible view of the inside of the circular structure. "It looks like there's a bunch of interconnected metal plates on the interior wall of that thing. It's an odd configuration. There doesn't seem to be any structural reason for it."

Jennifer brushed by him and rushed up to the side of the structure where a horizontal slit allowed her to peer inside. However, she was more interested in the D'ni symbol above the slit. "Number one?" she read quizzically, "Does that mean we start here?"

Isaac quickly joined her and peered inside the structure. "I get it now!" he exclaimed, "We're completing the circuit."

"What circuit?" Jennifer asked, "Are we supposed to go in circles around it or something?"

Isaac adjusted his glasses before explaining, "Everything we've been working on is to set up a hydro-electric dam. It's obviously the power source for what we're doing next. All we have to do is match up these metal plates to allow electrical current to flow. Ah, these buttons here are probably what we use." He pressed one of the buttons, causing the top third of the interior structure to slide across and present a slightly different set of metal plates.

"Oh, I get it," she breathed excitedly, "All we have to do is map the inside of the structure and..." She trailed off, pulling out her notebook again to sketch the circuit layout, a task made far more difficult by the fact that Isaac kept pushing the buttons. "Stop it!" she huffed, "I can not draw a moving target."

"I'm just matching up the electrical pathways," he mumbled, "Yeah, that looks good." He stepped back and looked at the D'ni number. "Well if this is number one, it stands to reason there's a number two around here somewhere..." Isaac wandered off, leaving Jennifer to finish mapping what she could see from portal one. "Aha, there you are," he announced having found portal two counterclockwise from portal one. Jennifer rushed over to see, but Isaac was already studying the inside. "Top and bottom seem fine. Just need to move the middle..."

"Stop!" Jennifer protested, "I will never record this if you keep changing everything." But she was too late. Isaac had already pressed the middle button, causing the slit to snap shut. The sound of metal sliding indicated that several other such portals all around the structure had done the same, followed by an electrical cackle form above. It was apparent that they would no longer be able to see the interior. The usually meek bookworm wheeled on Isaac and practically growled at him in anger. "See! See! You broke it!"

Isaac looked up at the electrical arcs from the cables above and tentatively said, "Uh, I'm not sure, but I think I may have inadvertently solved it." *

They both looked around for Achenar in search of guidance. He had decided to remain above at the only stairwell in or out to watch them solve the puzzle, but now he was shaking his head. Well, that's another puzzle down, he thought, but that was way too easy.

* - Seriously, that's exactly what happened the first time I played Exile.

[Achenar625]

Actually, there was a schematic map in Atrus' journal on Channelwood. That's what I was referring to.

Achenar had kept silent while the other two went on ahead and worked on the puzzle, pondering over that message. He never had seen Atrus' original message that had been encoded on the viewer. Before Saavedro's attack on Tomahna, he had never payed attention enough even to activate that imager. And afterwards... even now, Atrus had not changed that message back. Why...? He sighed softly. Saavedro had had it all wrong, of course. Of course his father couldn't come back. Not after what he and Sirrus had done. He shivered. Twenty years trapped in D'ni, in the very study where his grandfather had trapped him so many years ago. Where Atrus had sealed himself in with the Riven descriptive book in order to escape from Gehn... and for those twenty years Atrus had been trapped, leaving his traitorous sons to range free over his Ages.
Achenar nodded quietly to the two as they came back up the ladder to him. Why, Father? Why would you forgive me for something like that? He turned as Jennifer reached him. "Well done. You didn't even need me to figure that one out." He started walking.
Jennifer blinked. "Achenar, is something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.
Achenar shook his head. "I'll be fine. That message just... bothered me, a bit." He motioned for her and Isaac to follow. "Anyway, we still have a lesson to continue."
Outside, Jennifer quickly dashed back to the "map". She waved frantically to the others. "Another one's lit up!" she called. "Two more, in fact!" She poked at one of the lighted symbols. "The center one must correspond to the crankshaft, then. It lit up when we started it up..."
Isaac came up beside her and peered at it. "The one that you thought looked like a book is lit. As is the one on the far right, that looks like a spring..." He rubbed his chin. "That middle one could also be some sort of hub. Then the lines would indicate a power flow..."
Jennifer blinked. "So then, it's not a map at all... it's a schematic of power in this Age..." She nodded. "And that power flows from here..." She glanced back at Achenar. "What you were saying about taking whatever path you like... but if you need to see something first, the puzzle won't let you solve it until you have... This was one of those things, right? We needed the power before we could do anything on that other branch anyway..."
Achenar smiled. "That's true, yes, but you'll notice I said nothing when you got to that fork. This is your lesson, not mine. I can guide you a bit, but you have to be the ones making all the choices and solving the puzzles." He pointed. "So, then... having seen what you've seen, what do you make of this now?"
Isaac pointed to the left. "Well, the 'toothed gear' that I saw obviously is this waterwheel behind us. It even has 'teeth' for the crank to fit into."
Jennifer nodded and pointed to the middle. "And this could be a hub for power, or it could be the crank. After all, it wasn't until we put that into place that the door would open... perhaps it's meant to complete a circuit? And all the other symbols link into it." She blinked. "And that device we just completed the circuit on had five slits on it... so maybe the crank was just there to provide power to that hub?"
Isaac frowned. "I haven't a clue what this bottom symbol is, though. Nor the one on the right." He stood back a bit. "But maybe we just haven't seen either of them. If that center symbol is a hub, then what we've done here might have given power to other parts of the area. We should go back now and check out that exterior interface..."
Jennifer nodded. "Right. Plus there's that locked door..." She frowned a little. "I don't see how to get past there."
Achenar smiled. "Okay, free hint on that one. Otherwise one of you is just going to get your shoulder hurt again." They were walking by this point, and Achenar pulled the handle and shook the door a little, still clearly locked. "If you can't unlock a door from the outside, then where can you unlock it from?"
Jennifer lit up. "The inside! So, there must be another way in... c'mon, Isaac! Let's search the outside of Voltaic!" Grabbing his hand, the bookworm darted off along the catwalk towards the opening, Achenar once again left bemused in the dust.

[MystNovice]

*smacks self in forehead* Right... It really, really has been a long time since I played the original. I don't even have it anymore. I should buy this "RealMyst" I keep hearing about and refresh my foggy memory.

On Topic:

Achenar found, however, that Isaac and Jennifer had not gotten far. They both paused at a point midway down the catwalk between the 'interior' walkway and another fork in the path suspended above a box canyon. The D'ni well knew the reason they had stopped and soon joined them to take in the majestic view. To the left, the catwalk continued down this edge of the canyon, leading to a massive dome-like mechanical structure suspended sideways from a complex natural bridge composed of the red rock predominate in this Age. To the right, the canyon continued on, framed in the light and shadow imposed by more natural bridges and other rock structures above. A series of metal flagged posts guided a wire down the center of the canyon over ponds and puddles interspersed among the red rocks. Linking the two views was a massive structure leading from the same wall as the sideways dome to overcast the view down the canyon. The structure was in two parts, a long, straight pipe that looked large enough to stroll across that was suspended by wires hanging from the second part which resembled a great spine arcing above the canyon. Also, a tubular device was ahead on the right side, connected by a fork in the catwalk, that went down to another metal walkway that seemed to meander diagonally across the gap. All and all, it was quite a view.

"Wow..." the nerd and bookworm both breathed in unison. Isaac noticed that Jennifer's hand, which had been pulling him along, had now found its way into his hand.

Achenar cleared his throat to garner their attention. For some reason, Isaac reacted with a start, but the D'ni didn't notice. "Admittedly, this is impressive," he said, "but it gets better if we move on."

"Right!" Jennifer readily agreed, pulling out her sketchpad and running to the nearest structure to record any architectural properties. The nearest structure happened to be the tubular device on the forked path to the right, so the three all walked down the catwalk out into the canyon, but Isaac was trailing behind, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing for some reason. When she had sketched everything thoroughly enough, Jennifer noticed that she had composed a completely detailed rendering of an elavator device. She lowered her sketchpad to see that such a device was indeed before her. "It is not very big," she observed.

"Looks like we'll have to go one at a time," Isaac agreed, returning to his normal behavior.

"Go on ahead," Achenar suggested, "I've seen it before-"

"Yipee!" Jennifer cheered, jumping on the small, round platform first and pushing the lever without really waiting for anyone's consent. The device started up, pulleys whirring as she sank out of sight. Achenar and Isaac waited for a moment... and a few moments more...

"Jennifer! Send it back up!" Isaac yelled down.

"Sorry!" was the reply accompanying the return of the single person platform. Isaac shook his head and went next, pulling the lever again. As the device took him down, he noticed a strange pattern in the shadows cast by the support structure for the elevator. One strut wound its way around the path of the elevator, looking almost like a coil... "Did you see it?!" Jennifer excitedly asked when Isaac reached the bottom.

"The coil," he replied with a smile, "The right-most icon that lit up was for this device."

Jennifer nodded eagerly. "If we had gone this way first, the elevator would have been unpowered."

"Interesting..." Isaac hummed, stroking his chin. The bookworm stepped back and resumed sketching the coil around the device.

"Uh... guys!" came a call from above.

Isaac shook himself to the present. "Oh, right." He stepped off the platform and pushed the lever again to send it up to Achenar. "Sorry!" he called up. Isaac imagined that Achenar was currently shaking his head just as Isaac had done moments before. The three rejoined, they set off down the lower walkway. Isaac paused before stepping onto the terminating platform to note that it was not connected structurally to the walkway from the elevator. They were travelling closer to the large, sideways dome they had noticed before. In fact from this viewpoint, the dome suspended from the natural bridge looked huge. Underneath the large structure, the ground beneath could be seen where several lights had been set up to illuminate something on the other side of the dome. "I've never seen such a comlicated natural bridge," Isaac thought aloud as he stared up. At the end of the platform, was a large lever that beckoned to be pulled. Feeling his inner gentlemen stirring, Isaac defered to Jennifer with a bow and inviting hand gesture. She eagerly grasped the opportunity, and handle, and let her rip! Several loud metal pangs echoed through the canyon, followed by the impressive spectacle of the the dome, which was apparently composed of sliding triangular pieces, retracting open from the middle and revealing what lay on the other side. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good view. Isaac approached the edge of the platform as much as he dared to get a better view, but the dome slid shut again before he could get a better look.

"What was that?" Jennifer asked.

"I got the impression it was some kind of vehicle," Isaac answered, "but I can't be sure what kind..."

"We can get a much better view from the other side," Achenar offered, "We have reached the end of this path for the time being, so let's take a closer look." His companions having both been awed and intrigued, they readily agreed with a nod and joined him walking back to the elevator.

"Say, Achenar," Isaac began.

"Hmm, yes?"

"I've been wondering somthing for a while..." he tentatively mentioned, but the D'ni nodded for him to go ahead. "Well, your father built all this right?"

"Well..." Achenar started, but he paused, trying to figure out how best to phrase it.

"Did he have help," the nerd continued, "or did he use the Art to set all this up. It would have to take centuries for one man to build all this. Granted, that's a possability for D'ni, but..."

[Achenar625]

Jennifer headed up the elevator first, leaving Isaac and Achenar face-to-face. "Well," the D'ni said slowly, choosing his words. "Part of it may have been with the Art. Don't forget, everything in these Ages was meant to be a lesson to Sirrus and I. Scenery, animals, puzzles..." He frowned. "Though I don't think this Age has any life on it."
Isaac nodded, looking around. "So... all of this was with the Art?" he asked.
Achenar shook his head. "Honestly, I doubt it," he said. "My father had plenty of mishaps with the Art. If you've ever seen or at least heard of Stoneship, you'll know exactly what I mean. And this place had to be perfect..."
Isaac blinked. "So, then..."
Achenar sighed. "I may be wrong. Maybe he just ironed out those problems with the Art. Or maybe he just went into this with a very general idea and let the Age evolve as it wished... but I can't think of any answer to how all this came to be except that the Narayani were involved."
Isaac blinked. "Narayani...?" He paused. "You mean like that man on the imager? He talked about Narayan..."
Achenar nodded quietly. "Yes. Saavedro was from the Age of Narayan. I can only imagine that his people helped my father to build his lesson Ages. This one, at least, and probably Amateria too..."
A call from above broke the silence that fell after that. "Hey! Boys!" Isaac and Achenar both blinked and looked up to see Jennifer peeking down over the edge at them. The elevator was at the bottom, and likely had been for some time, so Isaac sheepishly stepped on and rode up, Achenar soon after.
The path, once they returned from the branch, ran around the edge of the canyon. It approached and finally ran up behind that odd, sideways dome, revealing at last...
"What is it?" Jennifer stared at the odd machine, sketching away.
Isaac rubbed his chin. "Up top, it looks like some kind of balloon," he mused. "And then beneath it's a simple enough gondola... at the bottom, it's attached to a sort of guiding wire, so it probably runs on a track, using the buoyant force of the air to lift it... so the track must always slant at least a little bit upwards. That way some of the upward forces will make it go forwards..."
Jennifer blinked. "But... air doesn't float," she pointed out. "So what's supposed to fill it up?" She looked around. "I don't see any helium containers..." Still looking up at the craft, she walked slowly along the path, and then nearly shrieked as she backed into something that poked her rather sharply.
Isaac moved to her side and investigated the lever curiously. "Well... a lever, of course, but what does it power?" He looked up, seeing a row of wheels several feet above his head, and stamped twice on the ground. "An elevator? But we didn't see anything like this lit up..." He tugged the lever, but it offered no resistance to him, flopping easily to its other position. It didn't even move back into its original place like most levers did.
Jennifer took a step to her right again to take a look at the ship, and let out another shriek as her foot slipped. Isaac grabbed her before she could fall, anchoring himself by grabbing a bar to his right. Jennifer blinked as she looked up. "Oh, hey... I found a ladder," she said breathlessly, grabbing onto the rungs until her knuckles turned white.
Isaac blinked. "Don't you mean I found it?" He glanced at the lever and the odd dial beneath it, three sections shining blue, yellow, and red at him. "Let's go up for now. We can't do anything to this without power..."
Jennifer nodded, clinging to each rung as she climbed like a drowning woman. Isaac moved right behind her, and Achenar stood at the bottom for now, just watching.
Jennifer peered out across the bridge as she reached the top, the view seeming to cure her quickly of her fright. "Wow..."
Isaac nodded, peering out over the canyon. "It really is amazing," he said. "The Art really made all of this?"
Jennifer began to tap her chin, looking over the bridge and the catwalk, her finger tracing in the air. "If you can't go in one way... there must be another door to try..." she murmured. Grinning, she suddenly stepped onto the bridge, which proved surprisingly stable beneath her feet as she ran out over it. Isaac blinked and moved to the edge, waving. "Where are you going?" he called.
Jennifer was already halfway across, but she turned around and waved, a manic grin on her face. "We still have to walk the path of fire, remember?"

[MystNovice]

Voltaic

Isaac shook his head as Jennifer darted across the long pipe underneath the metal spine that stretched across the canyon. He tried to walk through the opening in the revolving orb that led to the bridge, but it oscillated back and forth with Isaac inside. Apparently, Jennifer had been in such a rush to dash out that she hadn't opened the odd pipe-door all the way. The structure suddenly ceased motion and Isaac heard Achenar's voice from behind.

"You alright in there?" the D'ni asked with a slight grin, pulling the opening all the way down so it locked in place.

"Oh... thanks," he replied, slightly embarrassed. By the time Isaac made it out onto the pipe-bridge, Jennifer was already nearly across. "Careful," he called out, "You don't want to get caught by a wind gust without a Relto book."

"There will not be much wind in a box canyon," she called back.

Isaac opened his mouth to respond, but found he had nothing to say. "Oh... Good point." The two men followed far behind the footsteps of the bookworm who was already sketching every detail on the other side. Isaac ruefully remembered thinking that this pipe high, high in the air was wide enough to walk across, but he was presently wishing it wasn't. As Jennifer had said, there was no wind in this box canyon, but this nerd was out of his element awkwardly stumbling across a giant, airborne, metal spine.

"You know, it's not a high wire," Achenar abruptly mentioned, apparently tiring of waiting behind Isaac as he tip-toed along.

"Uh, right, sorry," Isaac quickly apologized before hurrying along, pausing only to take in the massive pillars of stone rising to the left of the bridge.

"About time," Jennifer pouted when they finally caught up, "I have been waiting forever." She gestured to a small, round hatch nearby that she had opened. It had covered a cramped pipe that was dark save a single light source deep within. "In you go!" she commanded rather imperiously, though that may have just been her slight British accent.

Isaac sighed, putting his hand over his glasses and kneaded his forehead between his thumb and forefinger. "Now I see why you waited for us," he said wistfully.

"Well, I am not crawling in the dark, creepy pipe first," she said defensively. The bookworm frowned, crossed her arms, and finished dismissively, "That is man-work."

"Man-work?!" Isaac quizzically repeated with a whimsical arc of his eyebrow. Beside him, Achenar turned away and snickered quietly.

Jenifer huffed, "Oh, just get in there!"

Isaac shook his head morosely and crawled in the pipe, grumbling, "Manwork, huh? I'll remember this the next time I tear a pocket or something." Jennifer and Achenar heard some shuffling as he worked his was down the pipe.

Meanwhile, the D'ni took a seat on a pipe above the platform they were on. He turned to his student and asked, "So, Jennifer, what would you say you have learned about the Art from this Age so far."

The bookworm suddenly tensed and almost squealed. "Oh, no! I hate pop quizzes!" she said fearfully, peeking over her notepad and giving at her intimidating instructor.

Achenar chuckled. "No, no, just give me your general impressions."

She seemed to relax a little. "Oh, um..." She had to think for a moment. "Well, we have not been able to do anything without power... and we seem to spend all our time moving power back and forth...." Her forehead wrinkled thoughtfully. "I guess we are supposed to learn that we need energy to make things happen..." She shook her head as though she couldn't put the words together right. "Um, I do not mean just with the puzzles, but with an Age in general. If there is no source of energy you can not develop life or interesting structures like all the rock pillars and bridges in this canyon." She looked out thoughfully at the unique geography of the area. "Oh, I guess I am not making very much sense."

Achenar smiled. "No, you are doing quite well."

Their converstaion was interrupted when Isaac popped his head out of the pipe and demanded, "What are guys still doing out here? Are you coming or what?" Jennifer looked down at him and started giggling uncontrolably. "What?" he asked bemused.

Achenar was coughing and clearing his throat for some reason. "Oh, it's nothing," he said, "Go ahead. We'll be right behind you this time."

Isaac shrugged, crawled out of the pipe, and crawled back in, Jennifer and Achenar following behind this time. After a few moments crawling through the pipe and past the oddly placed lantern, Isaac wriggled over a gap, managing to turn around so he could face the other two. He pointed down the gap at some grillwork and said, "There you go. That seems to be the way out of..." He trailed off at the sight of Jennifer doubling over in silent laughter at him. "WHAT are you laughing at?"

"I... am... sorry," she gasped between giggles, "but you are... hehehe... covered in soot!" Isaac looked down at his clothes in alarm. Indeed even in the dim light, he could tell his white shirt was now dark grey. "And you have..." Jennifer tried to continue through laughter, "...this little black spot on the end of your nose." She clambored down the gap in near hysterics, opening the grate and rushing to the ground so she could safely. Isaac could only fume at her.

Achenar followed behind Jennifer and said, "Uh, yeah... Thanks for crawling back and forth through the pipe to clear all that out. I turned black for days the first time I did this."

Isaac leered at the D'ni, eye twitching. "Glad I could be of help," he growled after Achenar as he retreated down to the room below. Isaac groaned and was about to join him when some light behind him caught his eye. Moving further down the pipe than was necessary, he found a second grill where the pipe terminated. He could see that on the other side was an earthen passageway bathed in two different colors of light. "I've seen this before..." he realized. By the time he rejoined the others, Jennifer had recovered from her giggle fit and was sketching a portrait of a second room on the other side of a large window. A glowing hot liquid filled the floor of the other room which also featured some large gear mechanisms. Before he bothered with that though, Isaac turned around to see a door on the other side, as he had expected. Isaac turned over the large red mechanism that blocked the door closed and opened it to reveal the paths of water and fire once again. "Ha! Told you I'd open it," he announced proudly.

Jennifer briefly paused her sketching to look back and said, "Oh, I already knew that was there."

Isaac frowned when she returned to her notepad and examined the room while Achenar peered at something on the other side of the glass that was obscured from view. Is it still there? he wondered, Are we going to continue running into these little remiders?

"Looks like we need to clear out this magma," Isaac called up from a ladder in the center of the room leading to a chamber beneath, "Otherwise, we can't enter the next room."

Jennifer had finished her portrait and looked down on the device she had used as a base to set her notepad on. "Oh, I think we are supposed to use this thing here to clear out the la..." She thought a moment. "No, you are right. We are still underground, so it is technically magma."

Isaac zoomed past Achenar who was still gazing into the next room thoughtfully and took a closer look at the odd console that looked to have been sabatoged. "It looks like this spike in the middle is going to make things difficult," he surmised.

Jennifer toyed with the red ball that looked to be the only interface. It was on a theta shaped track except for the part in the middle blocked by the spike. She tried moving it down without success, but when she moved it up, the ball wound around the outer perimeter of its track. The correctly designated magma drained out of the next room while some gears spun around and moved a metal grate that looked to be a walkway down to the ground. The nerd and bookworm gleefully zipped down the ladder and ran into the next room, leaving Achenar behind to ponder. They apparently didn't notice his absence as they debated how to move the gears about to solve this particular puzzle without dropping themselves into searing hot magma. There was a sudden silence when they moved the right sequence of gears to reach the fan. Achenar was no longer watching, but he knew they had seen it. Another momento of his past sins. The slow beat of fan blades started up, and Isaac and Jennifer returned to continue the lesson, but they were both noticably avoiding his gaze. Isaac fiddled with the console again to bring the magma back into the room so the heat could power the next puzzle. Then, they all just stood there, uncertain of what to say. Achenar broke the awkward silence, "So, shall we walk back on the catwalk, or would you prefer to crawl through the soot pipe again?" Jennifer giggled again while the soot covered Isaac just sulked.

[Achenar625]

After a moment, Jennifer crossed to the door and pushed it open. "So, it really was a path of fire and a path of water," she mused. "Come to think of it..." She looked at her notes for a moment, and then quickly set off down the blue-toned path to the left.
Isaac blinked, trying to rub soot from his face as he watched her but only really succeeding in smearing it all over his face. Achenar glanced back and chuckled. "Don't worry. You can wash it off in the little lake back on J'nanin," he said.
Isaac tilted his head. "Is it, well, safe though?" he ventured.
Achenar paused. "I know... of someone who lived there for twenty years," he said quietly. "The water's perfectly safe." He did go insane, but that was just the isolation. And the memories of what we did to him.
Isaac paused, and then glanced back towards the room. "Achenar... just what are all these things we keep running into?" he asked. "I mean, if you have another enemy with a grudge..."
Achenar shook his head. "Those are literally hundreds of years old," he said softly. "From the days of the Stranger, as I believe people on the Surface came to know him. I don't know why my father left them in place after he reclaimed this place..." He paused. "Especially since this is one of the few victims of my crimes who's actually forgiven me. After I did what I could to undo them..."
Isaac hesitated, but before he could speak again, Jennifer came back into view, waving excitedly. "The whole board's lit up now!" she called as she reached them. "All five symbols. So that means the Age is fully powered now, right?"
Achenar nodded. "Now, reflect on what this Age has been all about," he said. "You've gotten power... but what sort of power is it? Where does it spring from, and where does it flow to?"
Jennifer blinked. "Well... um, there was the lava room we were just in. And the giant water-driven turbines, of course..."
Isaac nodded, suddenly understanding. "And where magma and water mix, there would be steam..."
Jennifer lit up. "The steam pipes from before! All those wheels must be for the containment and release of steam!"
Isaac nodded, and turned. "So then that has to be our next stop," he said. "And probably the last one."
Jennifer nodded, and giggled a little as she nimbly dodged Isaac taking her hand- and getting it all sooty in the process. As they walked, Achenar lagged behind a little, frowning. Saavedro... how could I have done that to you? To your people?
The steam pipes were soon before them, and Jennifer peered at the dial, nodding. "So, we need to get this device to provide just the right amount of steam. This dotted line doesn't divide any of the sections, so that must be the right amount..." She paused, manipulating the wheels. "But it's clear that we can't get there with these. They all move it eight units, but look; it's three away right now."
Achenar nodded. "True. But, what are these colored sections for then?"
Isaac tapped the glass, then sighed and wiped away the soot with a handkerchief Jennifer gave him. "Well, the sections must indicate a steam pressure..." He paused. "Jennifer, try closing all those valves." Jennifer blinked, but nodded and closed them, shunting the needle into the yellow. "Now, pull the lever," he added, taking a step back. Achenar moved back too, nodding.
Jennifer blinked. "Um, okay..." She gave the lever a tug, and then squeaked as the platform beneath her rose upwards. "Hey!" she called down. "There's another row of pipes up here!"
Isaac nodded. "I thought so..."
Achenar nodded. "The platform needs power to rise up. Those colored sections indicate when there's enough to do each thing."
Jennifer called down again. "I see a third row up above me. I'm going to try and push it into the red... there!"
Isaac crossed his arms and thought as the platform clanked and rose again. "So let's see... somehow we need to combine just the right set of valves to add up to that dotted line..."
"These ones move it only one!" Jennifer called down. "But I think... well, let's try that..."
Isaac looked up. "How many does the second row move it?"
Jennifer paused, and thought for a moment. "Four each," she called back.
Isaac nodded, picturing the dial. "Then... try three from the top, and two from down here on the first level," he said.
Jennifer blinked, manipulating the wheels. "Um... how do I get back down?"
Achenar chuckled. "That puzzled me for a while too. Just push it the other way."
Jennifer was soon back at ground level, opening one of the valves and then taking hold of the lever. "So... ready?"
Isaac took hold of the lever as well, accidentally smudging some soot onto her hands as they pulled. A strange noise, almost like something being stretched, sounded from behind them, and they looked back to see the strange silvery shape from before growing. "A steam-inflated craft?" Isaac mused.
Achenar nodded, and tapped a wire. "One of Father's more ingenious works," he said. The craft suddenly slid forward, the pointed prow nudging into the middle of the sectioned hemisphere in front of them. "Almost there now..."
Jennifer nodded, remembering from before. "Okay, so now to the elevator!" she called, dashing off towards it, the boys following confusedly in her wake.

[MystNovice]

Voltaic

Achenar and Isaac chased after the dust trail that Jennifer left behind on her way to the elevator, but by the time they reached the tubular structure, they could already see Jennifer bouncing up and down excitedly by the lever below, beside the dome.

"Hurry up!" her call echoed through the canyon.

Isaac just , but the D'ni seemed to concur, "We'd better hurry. If she pulls the lever before we get there, we'll be stuck behind."

"Seriously?" Isaac asked quizzically with a raised eyebrow. When Achenar nodded, Isaac wheeled around and hollered down to Jennifer, "Hold on! Wait till we get there."

"Hurry up!" she repeated, obviously not intent on waiting for long. The boys rushed over to the elevator and took turns riding down. They had barely reached the last platform in the catwalk before Jennifer yanked the lever. When the dome slid open once more, the balloon-craft elegantly glided around the group along the guide wire until it caught on the narrow end of the platform they were standing on, pulling that section of the catwalk counterclockwise a ways before coming to a stop.

"No going back," Isaac observed, noting the now disconnected walkway.

"Who cares!" Jennifer chimed, already hopping into the craft. "Let us go forward!" she boldly declared, pointing onward like a dramatized fictional explorer.

Isaac could barely restrain his laughter at the usually meek bookworm's antics as he climbed in the standing room only craft. "Operation seems simple enough," he noted the single horizontal handle in the front of the gondola that likely operated a simple latch. It was the very second that Achenar stepped onto the craft that Jennifer anxiously reached forward and pulled down the handle, causing the balloon to slide forward again.

"Woah," the D'ni exhaled in surprise, clutching to the side of the craft to avoid falling out.

After the soot covered Isaac pulled him in again , Jennifer meekly peeked around Isaac's arm with and squeaked, "Sorry."

Achenar merely sighed and said, "Maybe I'll just operate the controls from now on... er, control." The awkward moment didn't last long as the craft glided out over the box canyon, giving the best view yet of the complex red rock structures along the edges of the canyon and many small, blue ponds below, to the pleasure of all. As the vehicle drifted past massive pillars of rust colored stone, Jennifer latched on to Isaac's arm to safely peer out the side. The soot covered one chuckled but wouldn't say why. Before long, something caught everyone's ear, the sound of rushing water.

Jennifer practically danced with excitement while clutching soot covered Isaac's arm. "Look! It is the dam. You can see a waterfall and the rotating water wheel." The balloon sailed past the familiar landmark, exiting the twisting box canyon, and latched onto another platform just beyond with the mysterious vault island lying below. The isolated platform led nowhere and had nothing on it save a single familiar looking lever.

"Well, that's self explanatory," Isaac commented as he stepped off the gondola and looked about. In place of the guide wire, all that lead forward now was a straight rod pointing out toward the endless ocean and not connected to anything at the other end. "Looks like there's some more guide wire on that unconnected post just ahead, but I don't see a way there, and the wire leads straight into the water." He adjusted his glasses and squinted at the unconnected guide. "Is it just me, or does that wire look a little different? Like it's covered in insulation or something?" Achenar just stood quietly in the gondola with an all knowing grin.

Both Isaac and Achenar lurched precariously, arms waving in air, as the platform suddenly started rotating, taking the gondola with it. They both looked at the other end to see Jennifer clutching the lever, apparently having pulled it without warning anyone. She hunched down and whispered, "sorry." Isaac just frowned and looked back at the balloon craft. The metal rod latched at the bottom was being pushed forward by the platform's rotation, meandering toward the unconnected post. When the two met, there was an electrical spark. Both Isaac's and Jennifer's eyes lit up. "This is not just a guide wire," the bookworm declared, "It is an electrical transmission wire as well." The group fell silent as deep cracking and crumbling sound filled the air. The newcomers' jaws dropped as the entire massive vault below lifted into the air, taking part of the island with it. As the massive structure inexplicably rose upward, it revealed its lower section consisting of a large coil.

"It's a magnet!" Isaac exclaimed, "A giant electro-magnet!" He stared longingly at the airborne vault as it rose to a resting position, pulling the now connected guide wire with it out of the water. A large number of apparently ferromagnetic rocks, white and glinting in the sun, hovered in between the vault and island, gently spinning.

Achenar looked up and whistfully commented, "That never gets old."

Practically drooling, the techno-nerd of the group took a deep breath and yelled, "THIS IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEEENN!!!"

[Achenar625]

Achenar chuckled at Isaac's outburst. Leaning forward, he gave the handle of the gondola a final tug, sending it upwards to the vault at last. Jennifer and Isaac both stumbled and then glared at him, but the D'ni just gave Jennifer a quick smirk as they docked. Isaac moved forward and tapped the door. "It's lit... so this door's unlocked..." He paused and turned around, looking out over the Age, the turning dam, the wires, the enormous switch that their gondola had just closed. "This whole thing... was just to power this door?" he mused.
Jennifer blinked. "And the coil below us," she pointed out. "This whole Age is like one big generator..."
Isaac thought for a moment. "It really is," he concurred. "The lava, the water, the steam... and there isn't a single animal anywhere."
Achenar nodded. "There isn't really a need for one," he said. "This Age doesn't need living creatures to teach what my father wanted it to teach us." He reached carefully past the other two and turned the handle on the door. "I'll be down in a moment," he said. "Watch your step. It's safe, just don't be reckless."
Isaac blinked as Achenar sat at the edge of the floating island and stared out over Voltaic. Then he nodded and went inside, Jennifer following.
"I guess this is kind of a learning experience for him too, huh?" she whispered as they descended the huge spiral ladder within.
Isaac nodded. "Remember, he's working on an Age too..." He paused. "And, maybe he's thinking about that man, too."
Jennifer slid open a panel to reveal a linking book, then closed it again, looking down at the floor beneath their feet. She glanced at Isaac and nodded, shivering. She didn't need him to tell her what man he meant. "I still don't understand who he is..."
Isaac shook his head. "It's Achenar's past. Leave him to tell us when he's ready," he advised, and pushed open the floor below them.
They both stared for a minute at the spiralling rocks below them, held in the air by the great coil they'd powered. "Is that... language?" Jennifer mused, her finger tracing through the air. "Look... they're twined together, but there are four distinct and unique symbols in there..."
Isaac blinked. "I don't... see it..." He shook his head. "The imager said we had to find the three symbols... is this one of them?"
Jennifer tapped the shelf beside her. "The Linking Book is here, so this must be the end of this Age." She hooked one arm through the ladder's rungs and pulled out her notebook, flipping through frantically for a page not covered in writing and then sketching the symbol below them, her hand making bold, precise strokes to copy it down. She looked upwards, but Isaac shook his head. "We need to get cleaned up anyway," he said. "Let's just let him think for a while." He reached over and slid open the shelf.
Jennifer blinked, and poked at his soot-covered sleeve. "You mean you have to get cleaned up."
Isaac reached over and deliberately ran a soot-covered hand over Jennifer's cheek and sleeve. "No, we do," he said, and then slapped the panel before Jennifer could react. The bookworm pouted and glared after him for a moment, then linked out as well.
Achenar heard the two links and nodded, slowly descending the ladder himself and looking down at the symbol, sighing. What is it that I'm missing...? He stared down into the spiral for a while, and then linked out as well.

[MystNovice]

J'nanin

Once Isaac had linked in, he was surprised to find himself in the top room of the central tusk. "This isn't where we linked in the first time," he thought aloud.

Jennifer quickly linked in behind him, scowling. "Just what did you think you were doing?" she demanded heatedly, pointing to the smudge of soot Isaac had left on her cheek.

"Well, I didn't figure I could make things much worse," he observed, pointed out the soot smudged all over her left side that she had failed to notice until now.

Jennifer as she looked down at her soiled uniform in astonishment. "When did that happen?"

Isaac smirked. "The gondola, remember?"

The bookworm frowned as she recalled hanging on his arm during the ride in the airship. "Why did you not say anything?" she pouted.

The nerd shrugged. "Why did you not think of it? Besides," he gestured to his soot covered self and asked, "why did you not say anything?"

Jennifer balked. "That is not the same thing. You were already filthy before I knew there was soot in that pipe."

"The one you commanded me into? 'Man-work,' remember?" The two just glared half-heartedly, almost jokingly, at each other for a little while.

"Well, that is beside the point," the bookworm finally broke the stalemate, pulling out her notebook and mumbling, "I better not have gotten any soot on these drawings." She flipped through to find her last rendering of Voltaic. "What do you suppose we should do with this symbol."

Isaac stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we linked into this room instead of the pathway outside, like when we first linked in, so I think this is where we're supposed to bring the symbol. Besides..." he trailed off looking up at the parabolic reflector.

Jennifer nodded and continued, "...that man, Saavedro, it was here that he told us to find the symbols, so it is reasonable that this is where we were meant to bring them." She stared at the domed ceiling for a moment. "Perhaps we should not wait for Achenar to return before finishing here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if we use the symbol and that horrible man appears and starts ranting again? I can tell it is bothering Achenar. Let us figure this out and get it over with before he comes."

The nerd nodded in agreement and walked up to the pan like contraption in front of them. "This is the only device in the room we haven't discovered a purpose for yet. Maybe we just give this thing the symbol." The bookworm shrugged and placed her notebook on the device. They both jumped back when the lamp above the pan shaped table suddenly switched on, shining a powerful light on the table below which let through the light that wasn't blocked by the notebook, but nothing happened and the light shut off again. "A bright light on a transparent surface," Isaac analyzed, "It must be some sort of photo-responsive mechanism, but the notebook isn't letting any light through. Let's try it again with a single sheet of paper." He picked up the notebook and started pulling out the sheet with the symbol but stopped as soon as he got a good look at it. "Uh... Jennifer?"

"Yes?" she asked brightly.

"This isn't the symbol..."

"Of course it is," she replied casually.

"No... it's a drawing of the countless rocks floating in air above the electro-magnet platform that just happen to compose the symbol."

Jennifer shrugged. "I was just being thorough."

Isaac shook his head. "But this mechanism likely only responds to the symbol itself and not a hand drawn picture of a bunch of rocks in the shape of the symbol."

"Oh, whatever," she said, and pulling a second notebook out of her uniform jacket to transcribe the symbol neatly.

"Come to think of it..." he said thoughtfully, studying her drawing, "The platform beneath looks familiar." After a moment's deliberation, he conluded, "Yes, it must be the underground chamber where we configured the electrical circuit pathways."

"I will have to map that Age out someday," Jennifer said whistfully. "Anyway, here is your perfect and clean symbol, though I do not really see the difference."

"Trust me," he assured her, "a machine will most certainly see the difference. Only people can see three dimensional objects in a two dimensional image. Whatever photosensitive mechanism this device uses has to compare the light being blocked by the opaque elements of ink versus the translucent elements on the paper against a set template within a certain margin of..."

"ENOUGH with the technobabble!" she finally cut him off, shoving the paper in his hands. "Just get this over with before Achenar gets here." Isaac inspected the new symbol and nodded, it apparently meeting his standards, but he just stared at it thoughtfully. "What now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I still don't see how there's four symbols. I only see two..."

Jennifer groaned in frustration. "It is a double symbol with each symbol divided into four sub-sections."

Isaac stared at the paper quizzically. "They are?"

"Yes! There is a pattern!" she burst out, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it forcefully, "Just hurry, hurry, hurry..."

"Alright, alright," he relented, doing his best to center the paper on the table despite her tugging and shoving. When the light shone this time, the image of the symbol appeared in the contrasting shadow that was cast on the foot of the device. Inexplicably, metal pins underneath the shadow rose up to recreate the circular symbol. Isaac was on his hand and knees, gawking at the odd mechanics involved. "I've never seen metal behave like that," he said in awe as a metallic membrane was stretched over the pins to create an inverted engraving which was rotated and slid down into the floor, where the sculpture was apparently verified to be one of the correct symbols. Gears turned, bringing the cage in the center of the tusk up to eye level, where the linking book within could now be seen in greater detail. Jennifer squinted to read the title, but it was still too far away. The hum of the holoprojectors starting up could now be heard. "I guess you were right," Isaac surmised, "Good thing Achenar isn't..." The unmistakable linking sound could be heard behind them. "Oh, crud."

"Alright," the D'ni said when he saw them, "How about we..."

"Not so easy, is it, Atrus?" a sneering voice came from above, "Running like a rat through a maze."

Achenar looked up at Saavedro's tormented visage and groaned, "Ohh."

"Looking for some sign that'll help you save your world," the disturbed man continued, "Is it over here? Is it over there? Is it some place I can't find?"

Jennifer hissed at Isaac, "You and your silly questions and observations; you took too long."

An ominous tone overtook Saavedro's rant. "Sirrius and Achenar didn't care about saving Narayan. All that talk about 'fixing instabilities,' rewriting the Age so we would be free to live our lives... that was just talk to hide the truth of why they had come."

Perhaps in response to Jennifer nudging him in the side with her elbow, Isaac turned to Achenar and said, "Sorry... bad timing." Achenar just shook his head indifferently.

"But we believed their lies, Atrus. So we abandoned our traditions, forgetting that those traditions were keeping Narayan alive. And when the the Lattice Trees started to die, I followed them here, to tell them what they had done." Achenar's expression grew dark as the memory came back to him. "And they laughed. They said they would never fix Narayan. They said they had already taken everything it had worth saving! So my dear old friend, Atrus... I brought you to this place where your education begins. Find the remaining two symbols and then come see what your boys did to Narayan." The D'ni winced at that last line. When he looked down again he saw that the other two had been busying themselves studying the floor with great intensity.

"It's alright," he finally said in a somber tone, "I'm beginning to think there is still a reason for all these messages being here, so there is no point in my avoiding them." He took one last thoughtful look at the domed ceiling where his tormented friend's image had been. "Let's move on. First off, Isaac, you should probably wash up before tracking soot all over the place..." he trailed off looking at Jennifer. "And I guess you could do to clean up as well."

"Actually..." Isaac anxiously added, "You're not so clean yourself." When Achenar stared back bemusedly, the former mog pointed down his own back. "It's, uh, behind you.

The D'ni turned around and around, arcing his neck back to get a good angle on the soot smudged on the rear of his shirt. "How'd that happen?"

The nerd laughed nervously. "It was either that or leave you dangling off the side of that gondola."

"Oh, right. Well, I guess we could all do with a scrub."

Jennifer sighed. "I suppose we will just have to take turns. So, where is the bathroom here? I have not yet seen it."

Achenar shook his head. "No bathroom, I'm afraid, but we can wash up in that pond at the bottom of the tusk."

The bookworm just blinked, clearly not taking it in. "Seriously, where is the bathroom?"

************************************************

Jennifer's eyes darted back and forth, taking in the wide open area, with no shortage of viewing places on the walls and paths high above, and the murky water, teeming with pond life, that was her perspective bathing place. "Seriously," she repeated with an edge of pleading, "Where is the bathroom?"

"This is it, I'm afraid," Achenar explained again, "Like you said, we'll just have to take turns. Ladies first, by all means. Isaac and I will just head inside and..."

"Nononono," she cut in forcefully, "This place..." She glanced around the pond and fidgeted anxiously. "This is just a bit... exposed, do you not think?"

Isaac shook his head. "Relax," he said, "It's not like anyone would take a peak at you." Jennifer huffed indignantly and promptly stomped on his toes. "Oww!" Isaac protested, holding his throbbing foot and hopping on the other leg, "What was that for?!"

The bookworm wheeled around and stormed off with her travel bag. "I am going to find some place else," she declared, "Some place more... private!" The boys watched curiously as she disappeared up the ladder on the far side of the pond.

Isaac tested his weight on his wounded foot and grumbled, "What is wrong with her?"

Achenar shook his head. "You probably could have phrased that better," he explained, but Isaac just blinked back uncomprehendingly. "Anyway, you may as well get cleaned up first since you have most of the soot."

************************************************

"...and then come see what your boys did to Narayan." Saavedro's image flikered out, leaving Achenar with no new answers. No amount of penance can completely erase the damage done, can it? There must be something. Some clue I'm missing. Isn't that how it usually goes, father? The D'ni stared up at the empty dome as the elevator sank out of sight. Apparently, someone was coming up. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking of it like a puzzle. After all, I already know all the clues, don't I? What's the point of going over it all again? His ruminations were cut short when the elevator returned bearing Isaac.

"Oh, there you are," the former mog observed, "Pond's all yours."

Achenar nodded and replied, "Right. Thanks." The D'ni took a second look at him. "You're still all wet?"

Isaac shrugged. "Yeah, I thought I had packed more spare clothes, but when I checked again, they somehow got replaced with reading materials." He turned around and pressed the button by the elevator to send it back down and reveal the door. "I guess I'll go out and air-dry. May as well check out that tusk by the link in point while I'm at it."

He had hardly been stirred from his pondering, but a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Oh, you better be careful not to run into Jenni..." The door had just clicked shut, so Isaac probably hadn't hear. Oh, well. He probably has more sense than that anyway. Achenar recalled the elevator and went down the tusk, still in deep thought the whole way. No sooner had he stepped out the door to the pond than a ruckus echoed through island, coming from the direction Isaac had just headed.

"EEEEEKKK!!!" *SMACK!*

Then again, maybe not...

************************************************

The D'ni stared up at the women's portrait on the wall of the tusk, rubbing the last moisture off his head with one of the towels that Jennifer must have kindly left out. He had often wondered if Saavedro had ever been tempted to come back and finish it, painting in the eyes, but he supposed this place was filled with too many painful memories. Maybe that was something they had in common.

"For the hundredth time, I was not peeping!" Isaac's voice echoed down from the descending elevator. Jennifer didn't say anything, she just marched out of the elevator, dressed in a thick, full length bathrobe and carrying her wet uniform, with a firm frown on her slightly blushing face. "I didn't even know you were there," he insisted, following in her wake.

"Yeah, whatever," she replied coldly. When she saw Achenar, her expression improved marginally. "Oh, are you all finished?"

Achenar nodded and answered, "Yeah, all done. Thank for the towels, by the w..." He trailed off when he noticed the remarkably hand-shaped red mark on Isaac's cheek.

"It's not what it looks like!" the former mog said defensively.

"You didn't stumble upon Jennifer's hidden bathing spot on your way to check out that tusk and get a hard slap for your trouble?"

Isaac , and his mouth hung open for a moment, waiting for a response that never came. "Okay, it is what it looks like... But I didn't see anything!"

"Yeah, sure you did not," the pouting bookworm said in that same cold tone, holding up a wet jacket and obviously looking for a place to hang her clothes.

"They'll probably dry fastest on the fence rails on the walkway over the pond," Achenar suggested, "Just make sure to tie them down. You wouldn't want to go trudging through Edanna in a bathrobe." Jennifer was in such a mood, she barely acknowledged his suggestion with a nod and marched her way to the exit.

"I swear I didn't look," Isaac continued, following in her wake again.

"Are you sure you did not?" she asked dubiously, pausing at the door to scrutinizing his face for any sign of deceit.

"Of course not," he said matter-of-factly, "I would never stare at you. I looked away immediately." They were both out of sightline around the corner, but Achenar clearly heard Jennifer growl, something thumping against the ground, and the door slamming behind her.

"Oww!" Isaac cried out, his staggered heavy footfalls indicating he was hopping on one foot to the door. "Would you please stop doing that?" he whined on his way out.

Achenar stroked his beard thoughtfully. I wonder what we should do for dinner.