Binary Seven Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

The morning sun rose over Aldon's farm, highlighting the Kilvar mountains in the far distance, bringing with it the first rays of warmth to start the day. Aldon prepared to enter town in the main room of his hut, bringing with him a backpack full of the things he thought he might need. Botone stood next to him, watching. When he was done packing, she put her hands on her hips.

"Are we ready?" she asked.

Aldon nodded. "We're ready. Let's go."

The two of them left the hut and stepped outside, entering the road off of a small mud trail that led to Aldon's hut. The sun shone down bright on Aldon's shoulders, and a soft breeze blew in from the west. Botone walked beside him, her hair tossing in the light wind. The town of Gulvier appeared over the horizon, a small collection of brick and thatch buildings that hedged the Talmar river on both ends, with a crossing at the center. The inn rose a slight bit above the roofs of the rest of the houses, and Aldon made for it, walking through the town's main street. It was market day, and lots of people were about, selling their goods in stalls. Normally, Aldon would be with them, but he hadn't had much of a surplus of vegetables ever since Botone had started eating them all. He dodged out of the way of a mule and its owner, pulling Botone with him. Botone turned to inspect the beast as it passed by, her face full of curiosity.

Aldon stopped in front of the door to the inn, and faced Botone. "When we go in, let me do the talking," he said. "If anyone asks, you're the mother of the baby that I found a while back. The baby died, and you came back for it."

"Why the story?" Botone asked.

Aldon tapped his foot against the ground. "Because people might be curious when a strange woman shows up in the middle of the inn with me."

Botone nodded, and looked at the doors to the inn. She placed her hand against the door handle, and pushed. The doors swung open, and she stepped inside. Aldon followed her. The room smelled of thick smoke like always, and was filled with the working men and woman of the town. They hunkered down around their tables, nursing tall drinks and chatting amongst themselves. No one noticed Aldon and Botone enter. Aldon walked up to the counter at the end of the room and made eye contact with Mother Gresha. Mother Gresha glanced at Botone before coming over to where Aldon took a seat. She had a glass in her hand that she polished with a thick white rag. She glanced at Botone again before speaking.

"I haven't seen you around here for a while," she said. "What happened?"

Aldon shrugged. "Things did. I have a question for you."

"Sure," Gresha said. "What is it?" She turned behind herself and began to fill a tall glass with cider. A customer at the other end of the table waved at her. Aldon waited until she had finished serving the customer, then asked his question.

"Do you know of anyone that might know a lot about strange happenings?"

Mother Gresha leaned in on one elbow conspiratorially. "What kind of strange happenings?" she asked.

Aldon looked around the room before speaking. "Strange as in shape shifters."

"Shape shifters? Why the sudden interest?" Mother Gresha glanced at Botone in that moment.

Botone looked up. "I saw a shape shifter once," she said, confidently.

"And who are you?" asked Mother Gresha.

"Just a friend," said Botone.

"A friend, eh?" said Mother Gresha, winking once at Aldon.

Aldon shrugged, shooting a glance at Botone. Botone simply smiled. Aldon leaned in closer over the bar. "Well, do you know anybody?" he asked.

Mother Gresha played with her chin for a moment, and then put her hand down on the countertop. She let out a heavy breath. "I think I do, as a matter of fact. His name's Gerund, and he lives in the town of Burr, a while east from here."

"All right, thank you," said Aldon, getting up from his seat. "That's all I have to know."

Mother Gresha sighed, then pointed at a pair of black-robed men in the corner of the room. "I'm sorry, Aldon. They wanted me to watch for you, and they told me you would ask exactly what you did."

"Who's they?" asked Aldon. He looked at the pair of black-robed men. The men watched him with fiery eyes, their unshaven beards hanging out of their hoods. They stood up in unison and walked over to the bar. One of them took out a long crystal dagger and pointed it at Aldon.

"Why don't you come with us now," he said, his accent smooth and unmovable.

Aldon leaned back against the counter. "What's this for?" he asked. "What did I do wrong?"

The black robed man chuckled, and brought the dagger closer to Aldon's throat. "Oh, you did everything wrong, my friend."

Botone lashed out with her arm and pushed the dagger away from Aldon's throat. In that same instant the other black-robed man whipped out a short sword and slashed at Botone's arm. It separated cleanly, and then reformed back onto her body. The man let out a shout, and dove for Botone, trying to pin her beneath his weight. Botone kicked the man away, and grabbed Aldon's arm, pulling him towards the center of the room. Aldon stumbled over the foot of one of the patrons of the inn, hitting his head on a candlestick and bruising his knuckles on a table. The two black-robed men chased after him, bowling through the inn in their haste to get to him. Botone pulled Aldon towards the door, and then pushed him through. The two black-robed men jumped through the door after him, and the chase went through the crowded market street at the center of the town. Aldon dodged around a cart, and underneath an awning, Botone by his side. The two black-robed men pushed their way through the crowd with their weapons held outwards.

Aldon grabbed Botone's arm and pulled her down a side street, out of the view of the black robed men. He was too late to escape them, though, and they turned down the side street as well in hot pursuit. Aldon turned his head to Botone for a short moment as he ran.

"Can't you do something?" he asked.

Botone nodded quickly, and grabbed Aldon's arm fast. Her entire body turned grey for a moment, and then flowed together over Aldon's wrist and up his arm and over his shoulder to form a suit of hard black armor over his entire body. A sword jumped out of the gauntlet that formed itself around Aldon's fingers and flowed into his palm, where it hardened into a pure white crystal sword. Aldon staggered beneath the all of the extra weight that was put on him by the suit of armor, and leaned against a wall.

"Thanks, Botone," he said, turning to face the two robed men. The robed men rushed towards him with their swords up and out, ready to slice him to pieces. Aldon swung hard at one of the men with his sword as he rushed up, but missed, because the robed man ducked underneath his blade. Aldon reeled from the momentum of his swing, crashing into the side of the street and upturning a bucket of waste water. Soaking wet, he pushed himself up just in time to catch a swinging blade with the armor plating on his wrist. The street they fought in was deserted, closed up cramp between the backs of two rows of houses. The sounds of the market echoed over the roofs all around.

The two robed men took up stances around Aldon, with their swords out, ready to strike. Aldon swung his crystal sword, but the men merely sidestepped it. He knew then that he was totally outclassed. He began to look around for another way out of the situation. His eyes fell upon the buckets of wastewater beside the one that he had knocked over. He glanced at the robed men, who were about to strike, and tossed his sword at them. They flinched, and in that moment Aldon grabbed the bucket of wastewater and flung it over their faces.

"Botone!" he called out. "Give me another sword!"

The armor around his palm tingled, and a crystal sword sprouted from his hands, smaller and less lovely than the last one. But it was still a sword. Aldon sliced down with it in an awkward motion, that was still enough to catch one of the robed men in the neck. Aldon was surprised when his sword clanked up against hard shell, and barely went in, instead grazing off the side. He looked around quick, and then darted off in the opposite direction from the robed men. They yelled at him, and began to give chase again.

This time, while running, Aldon's legs felt invigorated, and he was able to outpace the two robed men, even with the heavy armor that he was wearing. He thought it might be because Botone was sharing her strength with him. He turned out of the deserted alleyway and into the crowded market street, where sellers hawked their wares out of carts and stalls that lined the buildings on either side.

Behind him, the robed men slowed down, and then stopped beside a cabbage stall. Aldon took the moment to lose them in the crowd, and traveled as far away from them as he could within the small village. Botone spoke to him, her voice echoing out of the armor plates that Aldon wore.

"Find somewhere where I can get out of this form," she said.

Aldon obliged, and found a spot between two buildings where nobody was looking. Botone slid off of Aldon's body and reconstituted in her human form beside him, shaking her copper colored hair and looking out at the street. Her body solidified and she looked at Aldon.

"Do you know who those people were?" she asked.

Aldon shook his head. "No idea," he said. "They must be after you."

Botone nodded. "I think so. Do you have any idea why they stopped?"

Aldon shrugged. "No. No idea at all."

"Maybe it was all the people around," Botone said.

Aldon peeked out at the crowds that passed by the opening. "That's probably it," he said.

Botone crossed her arms. "How are we going to get to the town of Burr now?" she asked.

"We'll just have to leave before they do."

"They know where we're going," Botone said. "All they would have to do is ask Mother Gresha. No doubt she'd tell them."

Aldon sighed. "I'm sure Mother Gresha didn't mean anything by what she did," he said. "She's always been a good friend of her patrons. I can't imagine she'd set those men on us."

"If you say so," Botone said.

Aldon looked once more out at the street. "Are you certain that you want to go on this journey?" he asked.

Botone nodded her head vigorously. "Yes. Definitely. Now that we have a lead, there's no time to waste. We have to get to Gerund so that he can tell us about me."

Aldon leaned against a wall. "I don't see how we can do that, knowing that there are two crazy guys out to get us. How do you think we'll be able to escape them?"

Botone smiled. "You can leave it to me." She leaned out from the alley and looked both ways down the street. After a moment she looked back at Aldon.

"I see them," she said. "Just over there, standing next to a pair of stalls."

"What are they doing?" Aldon asked.

"Just standing there, I think," Botone said. "I'm not exactly sure what they're doing."

"What are we going to do now?" asked Aldon.

Botone held up one arm, and it turned into grey matter that flowed freely through the air. "It's easy," she said. "I have a plan." Her arm coalesced into a sharp blade made of crystal that shone brightly in the sun. She swept it through the air. "I'll take them down."

Aldon looked for a moment at Botone, judging her chances of winning against the two black-robed men. "I don't know," he said. "That doesn't sound like a good idea to me."

Botone's arm shimmered, and turned back into its regular form. "Then what do we do now?" she asked.

Aldon shook his head. "I told you already, I don't know." He peered out from the window and at the street, looking both ways for the two black-robed men. He paused, when he didn't see either of them. "Are you sure you saw them?" he asked.

Botone nodded her head. "Yes, I'm sure," she said. "They were right between the stalls."

Aldon looked between the two stalls, and saw no one. "I think they left."

"Maybe they're searching somewhere else for us," Botone said.

Aldon sat back against the wall, in the dirt of the alleyway. "Well, our best choice now is just to wait them out," he said.

They waited in the alleyway for what seemed like an eternity, switching between observers and keeping a constant lookout outside. When the sun was about to set over the horizon, a figure approached them from the street. It was a thin man, angular in construction, with a wispy beard on his chin. His eyes spoke of a soft intelligence, and a determination that showed itself only rarely. He wore a leather jacket and canvas leggings.

"Are you Aldon?" he asked, pointing his finger.

Aldon nodded. "I am. Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter," said the man. "I have a message for you from Mother Gresha. She says that the black robed men are gone now, they left the town this afternoon. She told me that I could find you here."

"How did she know?" Botone asked.

The man shrugged. "Lucy guess, I suppose. You never know, with Mother Gresha."

Aldon stepped out of the alleyway, followed by Botone. The man led them through the street, and towards the inn in the center of the village. By now the market stalls were closing up for the day, and people were beginning to go home. Aldon searched for the two black-robed men out of the corner of his vision, still not trusting the lanky man's promise. When they reached the inn, Mother Gresha was waiting for them outside the door. She had her hands on her hips and an apologetic expression on her face. When she met with Aldon, she ushered him inside. Botone followed.

Mother Gresha tossed up her hands. "I'm sorry," she said. "I thought those men just wanted to ask you some questions. If I had known that they would have been like that . . . they tore up my store, and were terrible about it to me. I don't know who they were or where they came from, but I don't like them.

"Don’t worry, Mother Gresha," said Botone. "We don't like them either."

Mother Gresha put her hand on her forehead as she walked behind the bar at the end of the room. "Why don't you two have a pair of drinks on the house. It's the least I can do for you."

Botone sat down on a stool in front of the counter and smiled. "Thank you."

Aldon sat down next to Botone, and grabbed hold of the thick wooden tankard that Mother Gresha slid his way. He put it to his lips and took a deep swig of the bitter, mellow liquid inside. It was cool and refreshing, especially after a day spent running and hiding.

"I guess we'll have to leave tomorrow," Aldon said, looking around the room. "I was hoping to get our supply shopping done today, when everyone was here for the market."

Botone shrugged. "It's okay. Tomorrow is just as good as today."

Mother Gresha leaned over the counter with a wide smile on her face. "You two are leaving on a journey together?" she asked. "Are you two eloping?"

Aldon shook his head politely. "No, we're just going to see the world together."

Mother Gresha winked. "That sounds like eloping to me. Say, whatever happened to that baby that you found a while back?"

Aldon forced his face to fall an appropriate amount. "It died," he said. "You were right. I couldn't take care of it."

Mother Gresha wiped the corner of her eye and sniffed. "I lost one myself, a while back. You don't know how it feels until it happens. Lucy for me, I have George to cheer me up. He's been a fine son." She pointed to the lanky man that had brought Aldon and Botone the message.

Aldon looked the man up and down. "He's your son?" he asked.

Mother Gresha nodded. "Yep. Best son that a mother could have ever wanted."

Botone finished her tankard of ale and put it down on the counter, and then put her chin in her hands, leaning on the bar. She looked up at the ceiling. Aldon looked at her. "What's troubling you?" he asked.

Botone looked around the room, and then at Aldon. She shook her head. "Let's talk about it when we get home, okay?" she said.

Aldon nodded. "Sure thing. Let's go home now, as a matter of fact." He turned to Mother Gresha. "Thank you for your hospitality. We'll be coming back tomorrow in order to prepare for our journey."

Mother Gresha waved as Aldon and Botone got up from their seats. "I'll see you then," she said, her voice carrying over the inside off the room.

Aldon and Botone left the inn, and stepped into a dark street lit by the town's one streetlamp, right in front of the inn. Aldon took Botone down the road to his house, out of the outskirts of the village. Botone craned her neck up as she walked.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," she said, her voice lost in the blackness of the sky.

Aldon looked up at the stars. It was true, they certainly were beautiful tonight.

"I wonder what's up there," Botone said.

Aldon shrugged. "There probably isn't anything there at all. I think it's just a trick played by whoever created the world to get us to enjoy the night."

Botone shook her head. "No, I think there's something there."

Aldon's hut appeared on the horizon as a low shadow, that got bigger the closer Aldon and Botone walked. When they got to the porch step, Aldon paused.

"You'll have to tell me what you were thinking about now," he said.

Botone sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the porch wall. She looked up at Aldon. "Better now than never," she said.

Aldon sat down in the chair beside her. He relaxed into his seat and enjoyed the feeling of the cool night air on his skin. He let a small time pass, in which nothing was said between him and Botone. Botone looked at her hands, and they shimmered a slight bit. She put them down in her lap.

"I don't know what I was made for," she said, finally.

Aldon let the phrase float in the air for a moment. "It doesn't matter what you were made for," he said, "If someone made you at all."

"What do you mean?" Botone asked.

Aldon looked up at the stars, and gave a long sigh. "What happened today proved it to me. You're human, just like me. That's all I need to know about you. Past that, it's your own choice."

Botone looked at Aldon. "Thank you, Aldon," she said. "But that doesn't change the fact that I feel like I was made to do something, and I know that I'm not doing that thing."

Aldon leaned back in his chair. "That's what we're going to go on a journey for, right?" he said. "We're going to find out more about you, from this Gerund fellow in the town of Burr."

Botone smiled. "That's true. There was another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"When we combined, during the chase, it gave me an idea."

"What are you saying, combined? I thought you just became a suit of armor for me."

"No, it was more than that. I could feel a deeper connection with you. I think it's special."

"So why are you telling me this?"

Botone shifted in her seat. "I'm telling you this because I want to find out more about it. It felt good, and I think it confused our enemies. Since I don't doubt that we'll be facing them again, I want to take hold of this thing that we can do and use it to our advantage."

"So you think it's me?"

"It's definitely you," Botone said. "Something about the way you think, and how you're important to me, allowed me to find a connection with you that went deep."

"How do you suggest we approach this, then?" Aldon said.

Botone shrugged. "I don't know. Why don’t we start with a combining, like we did before?"

"Now?" asked Aldon.

Botone nodded. "Now is a good time." She stood up out of her chair and held her arm towards Aldon.

Aldon got up out of his chair and grasped Botone’s arm. Botone's body shimmered, then changed into grey matter that flowed up around Aldon's wrist and around his shoulder, covering his torso and his legs. The material hardened into a black shell that left enough room for Aldon to maneuver, but not very well. Aldon flexed his arm and looked at the covering on his shoulder.

"I think it would be best if you put a little less pressure here," he said.

"Right," Botone said, and Aldon could feel the pressing release. He tried moving his arm, and found that it maneuvered better, but not perfect.

"Try loosening it up right here," he said, pointing to a spot just above his shoulder. The pressure changed, and he found that he could move his arm even better. He swung it up, and it came through with enough momentum to put him off balance. He staggered and placed his hand against the wall to steady himself.

Botone spoke, her voice resonating through the plates that covered Aldon's body. "How does it feel?" she asked.

Aldon moved around for a bit more inside of the suit, listening to the noise that it made when he moved. "It works fine, I think," he said, "though it definitely could be improved."

The armor shimmered, and flowed off of Aldon's body and back into Botone's human form. She smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, plus the things that you told me."

Aldon rubbed his shoulder and sat back down in his chair. "Right," he said. "You do that."

The two sat beside each other and watched the stars for a while longer, and then turned in for the night. The next morning, Aldon got up early to pack the things that he thought he would need to bring for the journey, again. He placed his cooking utensils, his knife, and a few other odd ends in his backpack, and then strapped it closed and slung it on his shoulders. He called to Botone to wake up, walking back into the room and looking at her sprawled out on her straw bed.

Botone shifted underneath her horse hair blanket, and murmured to herself. Aldon clapped his hands together.

"Come on, wake up! It's time to go on that journey!"

Botone got up from her bed, her hair a tangled mess. She played with it absentmindedly for a moment, and then straightened it out by turning it into grey matter for an instant and then forming it back the way she wanted it. She looked up at Aldon.

"Sure," she said. "Let's go."

The two of them left the hut and headed for the village, and the beginning of their journey.

 

 

 

 

Binary Seven Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

The sun shone bright over the plains where Aldon Jax worked his field. He was the only person living in his small hut, with his small field beside it, and he had to work every day in order to produce enough food to survive. Because of this, his hands were strong, his arms and legs were thick. He was a smart man, and knew what he had to do to maintain his lifestyle.

He finished harvesting a row of carrots, and looked up at the sky shielding his vision for a moment, taking a break underneath the hot sun. He wiped his forehead with his arm and bent back down to continue to harvest his field.

A sudden dust storm obscured his vision and forced him to pause his work. Aldon put his shirt over his mouth to avoid breathing in the dust, which stung his lungs. The dust settled, and Aldon took a deep breath. He looked down below himself, at his carrots, and took a step back in surprise. There, in front of him, was a strange metal cube, sitting on top of a mound of carrots. Aldon bent down to pick it up, and was surprised to find how light it was. Did the dust storm deposit it here? What was it doing? Aldon held it up to his eyes and examined it all around. It was solid grey, with beveled edges, and a soft tracing of circuits on its surface. The sun beat down on Aldon's back, and he was reminded that he still had work to do. He put the cube back on top of his carrots, and forgot about it while he went to work.  The cube sat still, watching him.

When the day was over, Aldon filled his wheelbarrow with the day's harvest, and headed back into his hut, which sat at the outskirts of a small town in the middle of the Anasari region. He took the cube with him, and that night at dinner, he sat at the table with the cube on the other side of him. He reached out to touch it, and stroked its surface, feeling the coldness of the metal beneath his fingers. The cube sparkled. Aldon leaned back to examine it. The cube shimmered, and then melted into a puddle on top of Aldon's table. Aldon reached out his arm to catch the strange liquid before it fell onto the floor, but the liquid sucked itself back up and formed into another shape. It took a while for Aldon to figure out what it was.

A baby? Aldon reached out his arm tentatively, afraid to touch the new figure in front of him. What was it? Was it really the cube? Was someone playing a trick on him?

Aldon touched the baby, and found that it had the same soft skin that a baby should have. Only, it wasn't moving. Only when Aldon retraced his arm did the baby begin to wail at the top if its lungs, like a fresh newborn. Aldon didn't know what to think, so he picked up the baby and rocked it gently in between his arms. The baby looked at Aldon, cooed, and then smiled. Aldon paused. Were babies supposed to smile when they were just born? Had this baby just been born? What was it?

A big problem became apparent. How was Aldon supposed to feed the baby? He didn't have any milk, and he definitely didn't have anything to nurse it with. He decided to go into town and search for an answer. He finished up his dinner in one quick gulp, and exited his hut with the baby in his arms. He headed for the main road, the one that would lead him into town, where he would most likely find help. He didn't know what else to do. The sun set in the background. Aldon was grateful that the baby didn't seem hungry now. It simply lay in his arms, cooing softly. Aldon stared at the baby for a long while, his mind whirling with questions. Whose was it? Was it is? What would happen to it now? Did he have the ability to keep it? All these questions and more occupied Aldon until he reached the outskirts of the town of Gulvier. The river Talmar ran beside the town, which surrounded the bridge that linked the two sides of the main road. It was a tiny place, unseen by the Empire that controlled the land, except for when tax day came. There were about sixty buildings scattered throughout the village, some of them work buildings, some of them houses. The inn stood taller than all the rest of the buildings, though not by much. Aldon could hear ringing coming from the blacksmith's shop. He walked up the main road with the baby in hand, thinking about where to get help for it. Why not try the inn first? Mother Gresha was sure to know a thing or two about babies. Aldon took a turn off the main road when he was in sight of the inn and walked up to its front entrance. A villager pushed his way past and into the building. Lights came out of the inn's windows, and music wafted on the air. Aldon steeled himself, and then stepped through the entrance and into the building.

Inside, a low smoke lay over everything, from the candles, and from the patrons who smoked tobacco. The fireplace blazed merrily, with a pig roasting over it. The smell of cooking meat filled the room, a good smell that made Aldon salivate. At the end of the room, a long bar stretched from wall to wall, manned by a large woman with an apron on, her black hair tied back in a bun. Gresha Caldwal, though most people called her Mother Gresha. She sighed Aldon and waved him over to the front of the bar. Aldon obliged, and walked through the center of the room with the baby. He sat down on a stool, leaned his elbows on the counter, and showed the baby to Mother Gresha. Gresha eyed the baby for a moment, without saying a word, and then clucked her tongue in a reproaching manner.

"Who'd you get mixed up with? Don't tell me you accepted someone's unwanted child?"

Aldon almost told Gresha the real course of events, then decided not to. Who knew what other people might think of his story. He nodded his head politely. "It looks like that's what I did."

Mother Gresha crossed her arms and put a stern expression on her face. "And you want to know how to keep it alive?"

"Yes."

"There's no chance."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't have a way to nurse the child. It has to have mother's milk. Cow's milk and goat's milk just won't do. Why did you accept the child anyways? It's dead as it is. It’s a wonder that it's so calm, in the situation."

It was true, the baby was calm. Its eyes looked out at the world intelligently. Mother Gresha peered close at the baby, and her eyes narrowed a bit. She pulled up the baby's lip, to reveal a nice shining row of white teeth. She hummed. "This baby's already teethed," she said. "As a matter of fact, you might have a chance. I take back what I said before. Though, it is strange for someone to give away their baby at this stage. How did you meet this person?"

Aldon scratched at the back of his head. "Uh, they just came into town, and called at my door because I was the closest to the outskirts."

"Are you sure you don't want to give the baby to someone else? Someone that can take better care of it?"

Aldon shook his head. "I'd like to try," he said.

Mother Gresha nodded serenely. "Good, then. At this stage, babies can eat mushed food, and can drink some water, though not too much."

"Mushed food? Would carrots be fine?"

"As long as she has variety in her diet, it will be fine."

"I think I can handle that."

"Good. Take care of her for me. What's her name?"

"Oh," Aldon said. He hadn't thought about it yet. "Her name is . . ." He paused. "Botone. I like the name Botone."

"Botone? That's a strange choice."

"I like it. That's her name."

"So be it."

By then, a group of people had gathered around Aldon to take a look at the new baby. Most of them were working women, probably mother's themselves. Aldon got up from the counter, excusing himself from the commotion. He picked up the baby and brought her out of the inn, and into the street. Mushed carrots, he thought to himself. That can be arranged. He looked down at baby Botone and smiled. She smiled back at him, and laughed. Aldon got a warm feeling in his chest. He returned home with her in his arms, and sat down at his table with a plate of carrots in front of him. He mushed a section of carrot with a knife, and handed it to Botone. Botone grabbed it, and scarfed it down. Aldon watched, impressed. He took another piece of carrot and gave it to her, and she ate it just as fast. Throughout the night, he continued to repeat the process, his eyes opening further with wonder each time. How much did babies eat? This one seemed to have no end to its appetite.

Around midnight, Aldon noticed something strange. Botone seemed to be larger than when he had first found her. He picked her up from her chair, and confirmed the fact. All those carrots had gone straight into her body size. Was this normal for babies? Of course, Botone wasn't a normal baby. She was part of the strange cube that had come to Aldon during a dust storm. There was no way that she was normal. Aldon put her down, and noticed that he was sleepy. Botone did not seem in the least bit tired, but Aldon put her in a soft pile of hay beside his bed anyways.

One week later, and Botone was walking about the house, eating everything in sight. She moved quick, and loved to play with Aldon when he would let her. She was getting big, and was now about the size of a two-year old. Aldon kept in touch with Mother Gresha, though he didn't take Botone with him for fear of exposing her fast growth. Mother Gresha gave him tips about the keeping of children, and he returned the favor by purchasing drinks from her. Botone did not require very much maintenance, for a child, and sometimes Aldon felt comfortable enough leaving her at home.

Another month passed, and in this time Botone grew up to the size of a seven-year old girl. Her hair was a deep copper color, and her eyes were sea green. She liked to sit on Aldon's porch step and stare out at the world beyond. She also liked to help Aldon with his work, though Aldon didn't let her that often. He stopped contacting Mother Gresha for help, because of how much trouble Botone's fast growth gave him. She talked very little, sometimes about the weather, sometimes about food.

One day, she got hold of a piece of onion paper and charcoal, and began to draw. When she was finished, she had a perfect representation of Aldon's face. Aldon took it and hung it up on his wall. He looked at it at night and wondered who Botone really was.

One night Botone leaned in to the bedroom and looked at Aldon while he was whittling a broom with his knife.

"Aldon," she said, "I'm scared of the night."

Aldon put down his knife and his broom. "Why would you say that?" he asked. "What reason do you have to be scared?"

Botone sat down on the corner of Aldon's bed, and clasped her hands in front of her waist. "Something happened to me a while ago, at night. And ever since, I've been afraid of it."

"What happened?" Aldon asked.

Botone shook her head. "It's better that I don't tell you."

Aldon reached over and placed his hand on top of Botone's head. "I'll be here to protect you," he said.

Botone held out her hand, her eyes locked on Aldon's. "I have something to show you," she said.

Her body shimmered around the edges, and her skin lost its color, becoming a thick metallic grey. Her substance turned into a goop, and formed around Aldon's arm, crawling up his shoulder and covering half of his torso. It was warm, and soft like human skin. Aldon kept his cool, thinking to himself that this was only expected. The baby wasn't really a baby, after all.

"I'm growing," Botone said, her voice echoing through the room without any discernable source. Her body flowed off of Aldon's arm and then took the form of a sword, and half of a circle. An unfinished shield. "But I'm not done yet. I'd like to ask you to keep me until I finish my development."

Aldon could only watch in awe. "I . . . I think I can do that," he said. "You came to me, after all. It's been long enough that I care about you."

Botone formed back into her human body and looked at Aldon. "Thank you. I care about you too."

Aldon nodded, then put his hand back on Botone's head. "You're a real strange kid, you know that?"

"I won't be a kid for long," Botone replied.

She was right, it took her only two more months to come to full development, as an attractive young woman with long copper hair and sea green eyes. During those two months, she helped Aldon harvest in his fields, and ate half of everything that he harvested. Sometimes they would get to talking about the world, and Aldon found that Botone was in fact very wise. Aldon enjoyed having a partner in his house, because it meant a sharing of the load. It also meant someone to keep him company, and he realized then how much he had been wanting for company during his long years as a solitary farmer. Botone meant a lot to him. He began to dread the day that she would come to full development.

When she finally broached the subject, it wasn't like Aldon had expected. She talked to him over dinner one night, underneath the light of a single candle.

"There is a great troubling in the land," she said, catching Aldon off guard. "I'm at the center of it."

Aldon paused in his meal, to let Botone's words sink in. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know any more than that," Botone said, putting her hands down on the table. "All I know is that there's something wrong with the world, and that I need to find out what, because I'm somehow important to it."

"I can believe that," said Aldon. "Stranger things have happened here. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to go on a journey," she said, "Though I don't know where. All I know is that I have to go."

"It would be best if you were to find out where you want to go first before adventuring out into a dangerous land."

"Is the world really that dangerous?"

"I can't tell you for certain, but I think it is." Aldon shifted in his seat uncomfortably. The thought of Botone, alone out in the wilderness, made him shiver. But he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to accept her decision to go on a quest. "Why do you want to go on a journey?" he asked.

Botone sat up straight in her chair. "I believe that there's something inside of me that needs to be found, and I have to find someone that can tell me what's inside of me. Who I am. What I am."

"You're my friend, that's what you are," said Aldon. "Don't get all broken up on me."

"It's just that I don't know. Anything. What I'm doing here. All I have is this vague sense that something's wrong."

"How about this. We'll go into town tomorrow and ask around for someone that knows something about you, drop hints at the inn, talk to Mother Gresha about your problem."

Botone folded her hands in her lap and looked down at the table. "I'd appreciate that," she said. "Thank you."

Aldon wasn't quite ready to go on a journey, but he knew that he had to face Botone's problem, had known it for a long time. He had let himself get comfortable with her in his house, and now he felt the pangs of sadness that came when he realized that he might have to separate from someone that he had grown to care about. He pushed back his chair and finished his meal in a few quick gulps.

"I'm going to go outside," he said, picking up his overcoat from a hanger on the wall.

Botone scarfed down the rest of her food and stood up next to Aldon. "I'm coming with you."

The two of them left the inside of the house and sat down in a pair of chairs on the porch step, overlooking Aldon's fields, his neatly planted rows of corn, about ready for harvest. Aldon took a deep breath and looked up at the stars.

"Journeys take a lot of money, you know," he said. "For food, horses, all that kind of stuff."

Botone leaned forwards in her chair and held out her hand. The skin on her palm shimmered, and coalesced into a spherical form. It splayed out a little bit, and gained a few facets around the edges. Then the grey matter switched colors, and became a shimmering crystal that reflected the starlight into a hundred different colors. Botone smiled. "See, money won't be a problem."

Aldon picked up the diamond and rolled it between his fingers, cherishing the feeling of the stone on his skin. It was cool, just the right amount of sharpness to arouse his sense of light-heartedness. He looked at the diamond for a long time, admiring its faceting, the purity of its crystalline structure.

"Is it real?" he asked.

"Diamonds are just a certain form of carbon," Botone said. "It's easy for me to create things like this. Don't ask me why, I don't know."

"What else can you make?" asked Aldon.

Botone put her hand on her chin and stared up at the stars. "All kinds of things. Here, look." She placed her hands together in front of her chest and moved them around as if she were playing an instrument. A form appeared in the air, and dropped down quietly into Botone's lap, turning a brilliant shade of yellow. Botone picked it up by its green stem and handed it to Aldon. It was a flower.

Aldon examined the flower and the diamond next to each other, and marveled at their complexity. "Where does the stuff to make these come from?"

Botone chuckled. "Carrots. Lots of them."

Aldon smiled. "I see you put all the food I give you to good use."

Botone leaned back in her chair. "You can keep those, and more. It's the least I can do to repay you for being so kind."

Aldon put the flower to his nose and smelled it. He caught the scent of fresh wind, and the smell of hair after a wash. He rolled the diamond between his fingers. "How about other living things?" he asked. "Can you make a frog?"

Botone put her finger to her lip. "I never thought about it, as a matter of fact. I don't know if I can, or what will happen when I do. Although, I don't like frogs. How about I try a bird?"

"A hummingbird," said Aldon.

"Right," said Botone. She put her hands together in front of her chest and moved her fingers as if she were playing an instrument. A form began to appear between her palms, taking on the shape of a tiny little bird. Botone swept her arms apart, released the bird, and it flew up into the air, taking in a deep red color in its fluffy feathers. A small string of matter connected the bird to Botone's chest. Botone smiled. "There. Hey, I can see what the bird sees." The bird fluttered around Aldon's face, and then moved in to the flower, poking its long thin beak in between the petals. Its wings beat with a heavy frequency.

Botone chuckled, and the bird fluttered up into the air again. It jerked to the side for a moment. Botone sucked in air through her teeth. She held on to her chest with one hand, and with the other, supported herself on her chair. She breathed in gasping breaths.

Aldon snapped the hummingbird up in his hands and placed it in Botone's open palm. The bird was reabsorbed into her skin, and she leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath. "That was painful," she said. "I don't think I can keep so many creatures alive at once."

Aldon looked at Botone, glad that nothing worse had happened. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Botone put her hand to her forehead. "Yes, I'm just tired. I don't think I was made for this kind of stuff."

"You say you were made. Who made you?" Aldon asked.

Botone shrugged. "If I knew, I would tell you. But I don't."

Aldon looked up at the stars, and took a deep breath of the fresh outside air. He stood up from his chair and faced the door to his hut. "I'm going inside. Tomorrow we go search for answers."

Botone stood up as well and followed Aldon inside. "Tomorrow," she said.

 

 

 

 

Old works serialized: Binary Seven Prologue

Prologue

 

Night fell over a research facility deep in the mountains, untouched by any other signs of civilization. In the brush outside of the wooden fence that surrounded the brick and mortar structure, the brood mother waited for her chance to strike. Her children surrounded her, hidden beneath leaves and behind the trunks of trees. She was a tall, lanky figure, identifiable as female only by her long hair that stretched down to the sides of her body. Her children were not so cursed with the form of human bodies, and had to steal them from others in order to survive. They were a parasitic life form, each one taking over the body of a human and growing within it, changing it to suit its new function. They were welcome changes, the brood mother thought. Especially the smell, the warm, meaty aroma of decay that wafted off of her children's stolen forms.

Her name was Letherka, and she had a mission to perform. She sniffed the wind, to make sure that they people inside of the facility wouldn't be able to smell her and her children, and released a scent into the air that fired them up and prepared them for battle. They fought with the hands and teeth of their hosts, and with tentacle appendages that grew out of their fleshy bodies. She fought with a human weapon, a crystal sword, forged by the Elkith smiths deep in the forest of Andervard, from whose dead hands she had pried it from, while her children took the bodies for their own. She waved it in the air and approached the wooden gate that surrounded the compound. The wind shifted, carrying the scent of chemicals to Letherka's nose. She spat on the ground, and raised her sword to cut through the fence. The crystal blade bit into the wood with contemptuous ease, and the smell of charring plant matter filled the air, mixing with the smell of the chemicals.

Her children moved closer to where she was, intrigued by the new development. Letherka hissed at them warning them to stay back, or face her wrath. They obeyed without question. Letherka twisted her sword around, finishing the cut through the fence. She climbed through, searching both ways for signs of the enemy. She saw none, and motioned for her children to follow her through the hole. There were nine hosts, who came through the hole one after another. Some held simple metal blades, and others held nothing except for their teeth and their tentacles. One of them held a bow, for the host had been an archer before her child had taken him. Letherka turned to the building, and walked up the side of the compound, her children following close behind her. She held up one hand, long claws pointed up at the night sky. Her children stopped behind her. She looked around the corner of the building, at the main courtyard. There were three people there now, all of them cartesian, with the distinctive colored lines of light that their race possessed etched into their skin.

There were two men, and one woman in the group. The woman in the center was tall and proud, with long flowing black hair that reached to the bottoms of her shoulders. She had a haughty expression on her face, one that was undoubtedly attractive. She wore a lab coat, and held the badge of chief officer on her shoulder. She wore brown canvas pants over her long legs, surely things of beauty.

The man to the woman's left was shorter than her, and had a mustache that filled the space between his nose and his lips. A curl of color marked his cheek distinctively, and the rest of his body circuits were arrayed in a pleasing pattern. The man to the right of the woman was a portly fellow, and looked to be the head scientist of the facility. The three of them approached the door to the main building, and Letherka raised up her arm to command her children. She brought it down with a flash. The one archer in her group fired off an arrow, and it struck the portly man in the chest. The man with the mustache reacted first, twisting his body around to reach for his dagger. He took a defensive stance in front of the woman, and faced against the wave of Letherka's brood children that came down upon him. He was a brave man, and Letherka almost wanted to give him respect. The woman grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him away from the advancing brood, despite his protests. She ran with him to the door to the facility, which she opened fast, and closed behind herself, not fast enough to escape the prying tentacles of one of the Brood. The Brood's host flung its head and arms about and began to attack the opening in the door, and the rest of the Brood followed. Letherka walked up to the door, pushing them aside with her long arms. She reached into a pouch at the side of her body and pulled out a metal card about the size of her palm, and inserted it into a slot at the edge of her crystal sword. The sword beeped once, and Letherka's body surged with power. She reached out her hand and pushed it against the door. The door imploded with enough force to throw it off of its hinges. Letherka entered the room in front of her Brood, and walked into a long hallway filled with doors to either side. The woman and her friend backed up along the other side of the corridor, still visible from where Letherka stood. She reached into her pouch for another metal card, and kicked the one in her sword out of its slot. She exchanged the two, and then pointed her hand at the other side of the hallway, her other hand on her sword. Power coursed through her, and every door in the hallway burst open, crunching into a flat surface and then falling to the floor. The cartesian woman paused. Letherka swept her hand up, and the doors all ripped out of their sockets and flew into the center of the hallway, accompanied by the splash of broken glass.

The cartesian looked both ways, at her friend, and then at the broken doors, and dived into a room to her side. Letherka barked out an order to her children, and the Brood chased after her. She walked up the hallway, past the cowering man with the mustache, and lopped his head off with a single blow. The body collapsed to the floor. She turned into the room that the cartesian woman had gone into, and stopped in the doorframe. At the other end of the room, the woman held a cube about the size of her palm in the air, between her palm and her fist. She tilted her head and addressed Letherka.

"I know this is what you want. Isn't it?"

Letherka hissed at the woman. The woman didn't flinch, and brought the cube up higher in the air. Letherka took one step towards her. The woman dropped the cube to the floor and ground it under her heel. Letherka cried out in dismay. Much planning had gone into the discovery of that cube. Her master wanted it, badly. How could she fail now? In a surge of rage, she slashed with her sword, and every counter and glass in the room exploded. She spared the woman, however, who stood solidly in front of her. She hissed, and turned to one of her Brood. "Kill everyone in this station," she said. "Leave the woman alive. I want her." She turned away from the woman and walked out into the hallway.

Outside the facility, with the captured cartesian on the ground in front of her, Letherka slipped two more metal cards out of the pouch at her side and clicked them into slots in the edge of her sword. She lifted up her arm, and brought it down hard. The research facility rumbled, then exploded into a whorl of debris and dust. Letherka cackled to herself, watching the entire facility being reduced to rubble. She gave orders to her Brood to pick up the cartesian, and walked away from the site, her long hair waving in the wind stirred up by the dust storm.

Behind her, a single strand of lighter-than-usual dust separated from the raging storm, flew up high into the atmosphere, and then disappeared into the night.