The Luminous Citadel

A prompted Taco Tuesday post

This is the third chapter of a sword-and-planet story, with a romance, as befits a Taco Tuesday snippet! The MOTE prompt was given to me by Leigh Kimmel, with “I thought we had this thing fixed!”

My co-conspirator in Taco Tuesday is CV Walter, and a chapter is up at her blog if you’d like more romance in your day!

Previous parts here:

Chapter 3

Wilt stood up and looked at Dr. Sooma, narrowing his eyes slightly. The professor, seemingly unaware anything was amiss, was practically dancing as he came towards them. 

“Wilt, how on earth did you get here, anyway? The others had some idea that you’d thrown yourself off a cliff.” 

“I did not. I had previously observed the gravitic phenomenon.” Wilt had drawn himself up to his full height, which was at least two inches taller than the older man. “And I was following Dione.” 

“On a name basis already?” The dark birdlike eyes darted between them and the beaming smile got even broader. “Well done, my lad!” 

Wilt glared at him, but Dr. Sooma still wasn’t getting the hint. “They are primitive, not stupid. She was able to communicate quite well with me from the outset.” 

“Oh of course, of course.” Dr. Sooma made a gesture as though he were waving away Wilt’s indignation. “They aren’t that primitive, either, my boy. Who do you think set up the gravitics of this place to begin with?” 

“This is a refuge from the planet’s cataclysm, isn’t it?” Wilt had been thinking a lot in the hours since he’d hurled himself into midair following the squirrel-turned-girl. “I mean, someone made this place to come, and it had to have been still under construction because the gravitics seem wonky.” 

“I don’t know that it was still under construction.” Dr. Sooma had been diverted into his favorite topic. “They don’t know, either. They lost a lot of the institutional memory when they got here, I surmised.” 

“How many people are there, and how long have they been here?” Now Wilt was distracted as well. “This ecology...” 

“Nevermind that now, my boy.” Dr. Sooma turned to greet Helikon, who was walking across the grass towards them, his face blank. 

“My missing student, indeed,” the elder greeted the native. “But I say, this may be perfect. You wanted to teach the young ones more Galactica Lingua, and I think he will be better served in his study of the way living things interact, if he stays here, with you.” 

Wilt watched Helikon’s face to see if he could read the man’s thoughts through his face. There was no display of emotion, but Helikon also didn’t answer Dr. Sooma right away. He stood, looking at Wilt, who was still sitting next to Dione. Then, Helikon spoke to the older woman, in the language of the hollow world. 

She responded, also looking at Wilt, speaking at length. Wilt felt very self-conscious as all of them were looking at him, even, he looked up, the others who had retreated above to the tree houses and swinging bridges between them. He could see at least four small faces, with pointed chins and bright eyes.

“Very well.” Helikon’s voice jerked Wilt’s attention back to the conversation he hadn’t been able to follow. “The student shall stay here, earning his keep as teacher. This is fitting.” 

“I’ll bring his equipment and supplies for him, as well, so he isn’t an imposition on your home.” 

“He will stay, not with me, but with Nyssa’s household. Dione seems to have already laid claim to him.” Helikon gestured towards the two women at the table. “She wants to learn your speech above all.” 

“Most excellent!” Dr. Sooma chortled and rubbed his hands together again. “Wilt, m’boy, it is all settled. I will return soon with your things so you can be comfortable for the sleep cycle.” 

“How does night work here?” Wilt looked up into the tree. He couldn’t make it out well, but he knew that if he could see through the thick leaves and branches he would be looking across a vast emptiness to... more trees and rocks. There was no obvious light source. Still, the trees seemed to orient towards light from above, just as they would on a planet. 

“You’ll see!” Dr. Sooma moved more quickly than his apparent age would indicate, and along with Helikon he was shortly out of sight behind the tree trunk, which was winder than Wilt was tall. 

This was a hint, Wilt realized, of how light worked in this place. He didn’t have time to think about it, though, because beside him Dione was bouncing up and down, clapping her hands together and reeling off words at a mile a minute, addressing her mother as Wilt had no idea what she was saying. Nyssa was smiling at him, and now she pressed her hand over her heart and spoke over her daughter. 

“Nyssa.” 

Wilt imitated her gesture. “Wilt.” He thought he’d introduced himself before, but there seemed to be no harm in repeating it. 

Nyssa said something to Dione, in a tone that sounded to Wilt like she was scolding. Dione reacted by jumping up, then tugging at Wilt’s sleeve until he got up as well, and followed Nyssa to the ladder mounted on the tree. 

“Er,” Wilt looked up it. One of the little faces appeared at the edge of the platform over their heads, giggled at him, then disappeared again. He was going to have to climb it. 

Dione gave his shoulder a squeeze, then stepped back, smiling and nodding at him. Wilt smiled weakly, and set his foot on the ladder. 

It was a slow, awkward climb for him. He’d been neglecting his exercises aboard ship, and his arms complained to him after he’d gone up only a few feet. Wilt set his teeth and kept going, discovering at the top that the ladder went up even further than the hewn-board platform. He stepped off onto this. If they wanted him up higher, he needed a chance to rest. 

Dione, then Nyssa, ascended rapidly and gracefully behind him, having waited until he was all the way up before starting their climb. Wilt looked around. There was another table here, a smaller one, built up against the railing at the edge of the platform. From the looks of it, it was being used for food preparation, although he wasn’t certain if the roots on a plate next to it were food or something else. The bird, neatly plucked, probably was. 

“Wilt,” Nyssa got his attention. She beckoned, and he followed her again. The swaying bridge with its rope rails made him gulp and hold onto the rope very hard. Dione, behind him, kept giving him pats on the back, and saying things that sounded soft and encouraging. Wilt carried on, and found himself at another tree, on a smaller platform, with a house above them. 

Nyssa pointed up at it. This, he guessed, was their home. The rope ladder that hung from a rectangle must be how you got into it. Wilt took a deep breath. This was going to be very difficult. 

He was saved from complete embarrassment by  voices below them, familiar voices speaking Galactica Lingua. 

“I thought we had this thing fixed!” Dr. Sooma sounded upset. 

Helikon’s deeper rumble wasn’t so easy to make out words. Wilt walked over to the edge to look over. The two men were standing by a small flitter of a style Wilt recognized as being a portable. Which made sense as Dr. Sooma had likely brought it along on an earlier trip. 

“I can’t fix it by myself.” Dr. Sooma crossed his arms over his chest. 

“It is beyond my knowledge.” Helikon shrugged. “I can take you by the aerials.” 

“I suppose.” Dr. Sooma sounded sulky. “This is most inconvenient. I had hoped to get the boy settled down here.” 

“He will be adaptable. If that is the right word. He is young, and there is already an attachment there.” 

Wilt was fairly sure Helikon had missed the meaning of more than one word. He turned and looked at Dione, who gestured upwards. 

“Your mother went up already?” Wilt thought for a second, then pointed up, “Nyssa?” 

Dione nodded emphatically. Wilt sighed. “All right. I’m just hoping I don’t fall and break a leg.” 

She smiled sweetly at him.