The Silver Spire

[faust]

A looked passed across Faust's face, only for a split second. If you had blinked, you would have missed it. It was a look of hopelessness and longing, of regret for things done in the past, despair. But it was gone in less than an instant. He didn't respond to that. Instead, he was looking off in the distance with that thousand yard stare. He was thinking about how to solve some problem. He would have said it was about how to fix the dweller problem, if he had thought to say anything.

He just stroked his chin pensively.

[Jenny]

Athala watched him, an odd look on her face. She saw complexities there she had written off not so long before. It was easy to pigeonhole an outworlder as something less than her own race, a person of a lesser sort, but this wasn’t the case. Faust constantly surprised her. But looking at him, it seemed as if he didn’t like the idea of going home as much as he had before.

“Or we can wait. You haven’t seen much of the planet. The dwellers aren’t everywhere all at once. Or a tour of the city, perhaps?”

[faust]

"I would like that." was all he said. He reached down to hold her hand.

[Jenny]

“A tour of the city first, oh!” She reacted to his touch, but not in a negative way, allowing him to take her hand. She grasped it gently and looked up into his eyes, flushing a deep blue. A question was on her lips.

“If you would just come with me,” she said shyly, beginning to turn away, her hand relaxing just a little in expectation that he would withdraw it just as quickly as he had taken her hand.

She was unused to intimacy, especially from the opposite sex, especially from an outworlder. Athan had made moves on her but she hadn’t been all that interested in him. Perhaps it was because they had grown into Guardians together, their houses matched in rank. This touch was not unwelcome though, and it gave her pause, she stopped walking and squeezed his hand again.

[faust]

Faust walked with Athala, not letting her had out of his. He was curious about this shining city.

[Jenny]

It was odd, holding his hand, but she did not release his hand. Perhaps it was a normal custom from Faust’s planet. Who knew what it meant? So she relaxed, when she thought of it that way. She gave him a smile, walking across the avenue. She pointed out various spires and their functions. There were many large multiplex spires where the city’s citizens housed, built on the foundations of the city. The main road and bridges may link the cities together, but the avenues sprawled all over. The Tzeitelian’s favored circular and arched structures, but few buildings were as grand as the Spire, the largest ones being of the same size as the science spire and being connected to the Spire itself. Free standing structures were the multiplexes, the prison building, of which Faust himself had been housed in, and the only tunnels were service access beneath the “ground,” which went deep upon the foundations, and rarely did any link the buildings together.

She named each one, some Tzeitelian common words having no translations, giving them an exotic sound. Lifts were the main source of ground transportation. She withdrew her hand only to draw him onto a transport train, the tracks suspended in the open air, after stopping at the bridge station. “This will give you the best view of Tevaeh.”

[faust]

He voiced something that had been on his mind since the incident the other day.

"I would like to see the Undercity for myself.It would give me a better perspective and understanding of the plight of the common peoples. Contrary to what you might think, the situation your civilization is in is not unique. Those with wealth and power live high on the hog. They prosper, while the common man slaves to support their lifestyle." He paused, a serious look on his face, as if considering whether to continue his thought.

"I have protected your Queen's interests thus far, but I myself am far from nobility. Throw me out if you must, but I must seek a better understanding of the "lesser" people. If they are as dishonorable as your Queen says, I will abandon my tours, but in truth, I fear a great injustice is at hand..." He let go of her hand and looked out over the city, brows knit, eyes calculating.

[Jenny]

She looked at him with a fearful and uncertain gaze. “It’s a dangerous situation. The dwellers would near rip any Tzeitelian apart, especially someone like me. You heard what happened during our gesture of goodwill. Perhaps they would accept you, but I would be risking my life if I were to walk among them. Perhaps if you were escorted by guards…” She wanted to work with him on this, but there was real fear in her eyes.

[faust]

"Then I will go alone. I am unafraid. They cannot harm me. And word is bound to have gotten out at what I can do. If any approach me with ill will, woe be unto them!" There was a fire in his blue eyes, and he held up a fist, flame engulfing it for a moment.

"Please, show me where I must go to enter the Undercity. Tell your Queen if you must, I will not be held.. " He looked at her, then. "I will return in a week's time."

[Jenny]

Athala bit her lip and tilted her head to the side, considering it, and nodded her head in consent. “You may do as you wish, no one will restrain you…” she assured him. “You’ve been given permission by the Supreme Guardian, you need not abide by our customs. I will show you were to go.” They boarded the train silently. It was a beautiful view, and they had walked quite a ways from the Spire. It doubled back, a wide sweep from the route they had traversed. She pulled a wire to indicate that they wished to stop at the next station and it slowed down smoothly, not letting out so much as a screech. It glided to a stop and she led the way out, moving down the stairs to the ground below. She reached out and took his hand, this time of her own will, because she had found pleasure in doing so. She was worried for him, but he had seemed so resolute.

[faust]

Faust turned to Athala. "I will be back." He said quietly. And then he did something unexpected. He reached out and put his hand on the small of her back, pulling her close. His other had at the back of her neck, not ungently, and kissed her hard. He looked at her for a moment after, in silence, and then he was gone, out of the train.

[Jenny]

She smiled wanly and nodded, still worried. For all she knew, since Faust has sided with the Tzeitelians, and since he was an outsider even among them, they might rip him apart the moment he stepped off of lift and walked into the ruins of Old Kingdom. He would be allowed access to the lift, though the guards would think that Faust was insane, for word had spread that he had become one of the Supreme Guardian’s favorites and for some unfathomable reason she was indulging him.

Athala was caught off guard as he pulled her close and kissed her goodbye. Her body, initially rigid, relaxed. This was her first kiss. Color rose to her cheeks and she was still shocked, and a little dizzy, as Faust let her go. She stepped forward and watched him leave, his steps leading him to the access lift.

“Just come back in one piece…” she whispered, bringing her fingers to her lips, still warm from the kiss.

As he left, she just about stumbled back on the train before it pulled away as it had let on a few passengers bound here or there. They looked at her curiously, not having messed the outworlder having dared kiss one of their Guardians, and what a kiss! She managed to seat herself, back rigid, hands clenched together, her eyes moving downwards as the train started back again until Faust was out of sight.

The rift was fearfully rickety, the plunge down was terrifyingly hard to ignore. This was meant for the dweller workers to access the city, and not without a work permit. They could be revoked at any time, for any reason, especially when charged with a crime or misdemeanor. There was a thin and twisted railing, part of it rusted off, at the near side of the lift, but that was the only means of safety. The inefficient system made its way down, unhurried and hissed to a shuddering stop on the ground far below Tevaeh.

There was no one near the lifts. No one was trying to use it because there was no use since no one was going up, not since the small band of rebels, and no one going down, not since the supply drop of charity. The ground was littered with faded propaganda and trash and the walls of the buildings were marked with graffiti and rusted nails where notices had been posted, ghosts of them clinging beneath the heads of the nails. But there was a sound in the distance; something metallic was pounding on the pavement, echoing down the street and tunnels.

On closer inspection, it was a barefooted and dirt-stained, somewhat foul-smelling, kid sitting on the ground. In his hand was a rusty rebar about the thickness of a man’s thumb, one end still caked with a round of cement. The kid was hitting the concrete end against the cracked pavement, watching specks fly with glee on his face. No parental guardian seemed to be in sight.

[faust]

Faust headed into Undercity, looking for some sort of establishment like a tavern or maybe a living complex. He walked past the kid, not bothering to stop and talk. He knew people would stare. He invited it. When the adults began to talk, he would get them to open up, one way or another. He fully expected to be assaulted. He was ready for that. His energy reserves were high and he had his modified pistol with him. He felt confident he could take care of most threats.

He would still need to be vigilant. Cockiness would get you killed. A tavern, or as close to it was ahead. Lots of people milled about in shabby clothes and rough looks with angry expressions on their faces. It was a hard life down here in the Undercity. Nobody gave you respect, you had to take it. A group of about five thugs hung about the tavern called The Rusty Spike. They watched him walk up. Most people had on fearful looks of uncertainty, but these guys, it was obvious they were looking for trouble.. They all had some kind of weapon, be it a chain or a pipe, a shiv, or just a board with a few nails in the end. Some of them shifted position as he got closer.

[Jenny]

The kid looked up, having been engrossed in his little game and stumbled backwards as he stood, darting away into an alleyway, shouting something unintelligible. It was not long until he was trailed by a pack of mangy-looking kids, keeping their distance, mostly to stare and see what the strange looking outworlder would do. Above him, as he advanced down the street, windows banged or slid shut, if there were windows, curtains were pulled tight and he was generally unwelcome. They didn’t like the idea of danger any more than he did. Violence broke out too often in the Undercity.

“Who the hell are you?” One of the men, with a deep-set frown on his face, stood upright from the dusty brick he was leaning against. His hand tightened around the piping he held. “You better turn right around and go back the way you came. We don't 'preciate outsiders.” He wore a dirty shirt faded from too many washings, nigh threadbare, rolled up high on his arms, showing his muscles built up from the long years of working in the mines. His boots were thickly soled but worn down and his pants were the color of weak coffee, ripped below the knee. He hefted his pipe menacingly, tapping it in his palm.

"We ain't got no food, we ain't got no money. You'd just be moving on if you know what's good for you."

There was a drunk in the gutter. The chipped bottle he was drinking from slipped out of his hand, shattering on the floor, spilling out some foul-smelling liquid. It made them all jump. Some of them glared at the drunk, who tiredly got to his feet and stumbled away. He didn't want to get involved.

[faust]

"Does it matter who I am? I don't want your food or your money. Take a good look, boys." He extended his arms to his sides, showing nothing was in them.

"I don't exactly look like a spire native, do I? I'm not one of you, either. I came to Undercity to see just how far the squalor goes. Y'see, I wanna help," he said, adopting a lazy style of speech to seem more normal. "How c'n I help, y'might be wunnerin'.. Wull, I'm not really bound by anybody's rules here. An' I know how to get things you folks need.

"A word of advice, tho: If yer lookin' ta teach me a lesson, y'might wanna reconsider..." A knowing grin played across his face. He made eye contact with the obvious leader and wasn't blinking. He was very persuasive.