With that Siren flicked her wrist and then vanished from sight. The suit bent the light around her taut frame. She made her way back to the auction barely in time to find the hooded figure leaving . The safe was already deposited in the armored truck outside.
Siren activated the suits magnetic fingertips and scaled the armor car as it took off. She laid in wait as the tight turns and curves gave way to the smooth straight elegance of the 22nd Century highway. Once the truck was on smooth pavement she began to work. The powder combination she used at the Museum was not effective on metal and thus she had to use other means to enter the car.
She removed from her belt a compass with a spinning grinder which she used to scribe a circle into the top of the car. Moments later the compass took on a mind of it's own and began to spin, scribing the circle deeper and deeper, the noise was muffled due to a synthetic gel which siren had covered the entire circle in designed specifically to absorb sound waves and vibration. She attached a lifter to the car as she did before in the museum. Once the compass ate through the roof of the truck the lifter took off, taking with it the chunk of metal to be deposited some random place when the lifter's battery power subsided.
Siren entered the car to find a large robotic gun guarding the small vault, the setup was obviously motion triggered and to her guess sound sensitive. Luckily the gel had done it's work well and it remained idle and unactivated. Very gently and silently the invisible Siren dropped into the truck, her suit diverting the light and thus concealing her movements.
The gun itself possessed a console with a standard alphanumeric interface resembling a keyboard. This was Siren's forte. Anything electronic she felt a kindredship with, a cold lifeless friendship. Steadily she removed a tool from her belt resembling a screwdriver but with a tip designed to replicate the needed tool for whatever the job. With each action she noticed the decibals on the machine elevating, the trigger apparently being a soft whisper in the sound proof armored room, the soft whisper from the air passing by from the hole Siren drilled. She knew her laser to be near silent on plastic targets but the motion of such a small tool may activate the gun. She took a chance. A laser materialized out of thin air, the tool itself as well as Siren concealed by the attributes of her suit. The gun did not activate. It was obvious that so long as she cut beneath the keyboard her movements would go undetected.
She removed the bottom from the keyboard and scanned for decay on the bottom of the alphanumerical pad. Her scan revealed a .1 micrometer offset in several of the keys. She set the keys to memory then removed a small wire from the keyboard and cut it in half. Still no reaction from the gun. She plugged the wire to her pad and programmed the 9 most probable letters and numbers. Passively her panel tested each combination until finally the sequence revealed itself. The pad keyed in the sequence then the gun jerked violently, and collapsed, no longer responsive to movement. She tested the gun by throwing a rubber marble across the vaulted room, when it did not react she deactivated the suit.
Siren removed the wire from her pad and attached another lifter to the vault which she then guided through the hole in the ceiling. She dialed in another number on her pad and a drone courtesy of Solomon United arrived and took the vault away to headquarters. Before leaving she thought for a moment then decided to reprogram the number used to remotely deactive the gun. The gun would now fire on anyone opening the vehicle. Siren removed herself from the room and called for exodus. Another larger drone flew by dropping a rope upon her, which she grabbed. The drone carried her off as well. From a rear view mirror Syrka watched as an unknown figure flew off into the distance, he was unaware the vault was already gone.
Chapter 9
Coral was dying. Her life had marked it's purpose strong and certain amongst the community, now it was her time to leave this world. The bright cobalt ether that functioned as her energy for life was beginning to fade in vibrancy not color. It assured her that she had a soul, and that it would shortly be on it's way to Gaia.
"I have called you here Syrka, Veyn, Kalyx, Graven, and Adahn on the eve of my demise. More then any other but Gaia, have you touched my life."
"Coral you can't go. We still need you desperately. Deaths are happening more and more now and the people are not prepared to deal with this amongst the air of having to build a graveyard for the first time in Etherian/Human history." Syrka spoke without reservation and much fear.
"It is true they are new to the concept of generational deaths but they will endure, they will strengthen." Coral said reassuringly.
"We have no community leaders who are not Etherian. You are the anchor that keeps our will from drifting away." Veyn spoke from his vantage of leadership, for he was now well known as head of the guard in Axium.
"The time has come for humans to assert themselves. This is no longer the era of Etherians. Our time is passing and a new generation is coming to terms with their place in the world."
"The community is an arch in structure with you as it's keystone, how will we manage without your wisdom?" asked Adahn with sincerity.
"My guidance is something you will all have to live without, and surely you may crumble under the weight of burdens so too will you rise from the rubble and rebuild."
"Coral..You have been my mother and my father during these few long years I have been alive. I have relied on you to guide my heart and to foster my strength of being. I will never forget you or your sacrifices."
This comment particularly stung Graven, having been away the 37 years from his daughter. The time was long lost to the First Book of Ind written scribed in Coral's own ether.
"My dear young one. You were touched by the goddess herself. If ever I learned anything it was from knowing you, watching you grow, and basking in the light of your radiance.
Finally Graven spoke as leader once again, for the first time since he left.
"In our short time together before I left you taught me more about myself then I ever could have hoped to learn on my own. You were the facilitator of my wife's death and yet I bear you no ill fate.
You sent me away from my daughter and if I were to ever regret anything it would be that, no matter the importance of what I have learned. However I will always be thankful you graced to touch my life. Our home, our city will be less without you in it but we will endure and see your dreams done."
"My friends time is short. I thank you all for your kindness and in leaving this world I know I have found true friends and touched pure hearts. Let no one stand in the way of bringing harmony to the Age of Gaia and the light of her creations. If everyone has said their peace I must speak with Syrka alone. It is a matter of grave importance.
The others seemed reluctant at first to leave her side in these last moments, but in the end they respected her wishes. They left her and Syrka to their business.
"Syrka I have urgent matters to discuss with you."
"Of course Madame Coral, the Eoti are always at your call." Syrka spoke with the correct assumption that she wanted to speak to him with regard to his position as Headmaster of the Eoti.
"My deathprint will be of great importance in the coming days. I want you to see to it personally."
"But Etherians are not capable of Deathprinting, I am merely a figurehead. The students do the real work. I am just a guide."
"Typically that may be the case but in light of the fact that I am one of the few Etherians with a soul, it must be done by the like."
"I see...I am familiar with the ritual. I will make preparations at once."
"I must insist that the print is made public at the appropriate time."
"This is not standard procedure Madame Coral, to do so would expose the ways of the Eoti to all of Axium."
"Little will be exposed I assure you. The deathprint is merely a statement of things to come and will be seen as my last wishes. It can safely be put forth without fear of illuminating the Emissaries."
"But why not just tell us now, what can your print tell us that you cannot."
"Young one, the reason my time has come is in large part due to the print I will leave, it's message will serve more purpose then my life will. I cannot tell you what it says because the light from it blinds me even in dreams."
"Very well Madame Coral, I will see it done."
* * * * * *
Despite the demise of Coral this past week now was a time of celebration, bittersweet though it may be life went on. It had been 40 years since the death of Gaia and the ritual to the day and the festival preparations were already long underway at the time of Coral's death. The festival was three days long with each day devoted to a new theme. The city set aside all it's troubles, death and sadness.
The first day of the festival consisted of artistic expression and dance, The Forgotten Day of Bliss
It was meant to honor the life of Gaia and her light heart. The entirety of the populace of Axium dressed scantily and adorned themselves with tattoos of all expressive and colorful manner. Along with this came the ritual of dance and the inhalement of a aphrodisiac called Monichtum or Montum for short. The day was a celebration of love and life.
For the first time the festival was orchestrated by humans, as Coral had instructed. It was their era and their responsibility now. The Etherians were merely observers, citizens of the body whole.
Many among the festival were pure humans, that is they were one generation seperated from the evolution of Etherials to Humanity.
The Festival of the Gaiaspheric Saint took on whole new attributes under it's new human founders. There was a passion never before seen, an intensity inherent in everything they touched. For though their candle of life burned faster then Etherians, it indeed burned brighter, their lives taking on much more meaning due to the short span of their existence. It was easy to see that each body held the soul that Etherians had to strive so hard to attain.
This new vibrance asserted itself in many ways upon the first day of the festival. Many of the humans chose to adorn themselves with tattoos only, foregoing clothing of any sort other then rings upon the ears, toes and fingers, bracelets or necklaces. The dancers ringed around fires as their frolicking silhouettes danced about the firelight like mad shadows raging against all trappings.
The thumping tribal music overcame the moans and grunts. There was lovemaking and celebration under the influence of Montum. The body could handle only light doses of the potent aphrodisiac but there was no shortage of the purple powder among the masses.
The night burned and blazed with no memories or regrets. The sideaffects of Montum being short term memory loss and intense sorrow when the high wore off. These sideaffects only served to heighten the meaning of the 2nd day, the Day of Fathomed Sorrow.
This day was to mourn the loss of loved ones and more specifically the death and sacrifice of Gaia. In the light of recent years rumour of the Eoti had surfaced only to the extent of their masked visages being seen at times of death. So it was that masked faces were the 'face' of the 2nd day.
People dressed in all manner of costume to conceal and portray their grief at the same time. This was all the more real due to the aftereffects of Montum. People fathomed to remember the day before and the possible repurcussions of their actions under the drug. This was all part of the experience.
The costumes mostly consisted of different attributes of people's personality. Some dressed as love or hate, others of law or recklessness. All the masks and costumes were images of despair and darkness. The abstraction serving the overall confusion inherent in death and the mysteries of what lied beyond now that Gaia had gifted them souls.
On this day people injested a concoction known as Hauntlore. The name deriving from the drink's ability to bring your past to haunt you. So it was people injested the chemical, usually reluctantly but all were required to participate in the day to honor Gaia. Veyn's guards even had to force the drug on those still hungover from the previous days' festivities. Many people walked about murmuring in sadness, lost in the veil of the drink. Each moment was visited by their mistakes of the past and the weight of their future decisions.
In addition to taking Hauntlore and wearing costumes and masks the people of Axium gathered together en masse to sing a dirge, a deathmarch song to remember the dead and usher their souls to Gaia.
[Insert Deathmarch Song]
The side effects of Hauntlore hit the next day. All manner of psychadelic color littered the sight of every woman and man. The shapes of all life became ethereal and mystic, as if they were there and not there. This 3rd and final day commemorated the advent of souls upon the human condition, the Sight of Spirits. The sacrifice of mortality was met with the eternal gift of life after death.
The after effects of Hauntlore also deadened the nerves. No one was capable of feeling any physical pain or even able to feel the touch of others. It was as if everyone merely floated through the city, their bodies merely vessels for the souls within. It was a trascendant experience, as if one soared on wings of effervescence.
The festival conluded in a song of celebration, hummed in harmony to the flow of the wind.
[Insert the Harmony of Souls]
Twilight signaled the end of the Festival of the Gaiaspheric Saint and upon it's conclusion all came to rest in their abodes. The three days of celebration were followed by three days of rest, the drugs having taken severe tolls on the bodies systems. It was not uncommon for the people to spend the entire three days in bed to recover.
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