Chapter 3: Light Fantastic

We stood on the inner circle, the nine blue crystal spires rising above us. I had jumped us all through to the Seeker planet only a moment before, and I was giving the Legion a chance to absorb the impact of this new location.

Once everyone had a chance to look around and get used to the idea that they were really on yet another world, and an important one in our own story, I got their attention.

"Legionnaires!" I called out. When they were all looking at me, I continued.

"Radiating from this center platform are four others, each dedicated to a purpose. We will not be going to any of them for the moment however. Instead, I think I'll just go back to Meadow and leave you all here, okay?" And as I said it, I moved myself back to Meadow

I reached out with my mind and felt Eru welcome me into his thoughts. I nestled into his consciousness until I was seeing through his eyes and listening through his ears. Sort of the reverse of his old Soul Diver trick of borrowing Pearl's senses.

After a moment of silence, Ginny came to my defense.

"Well, I'm sure this is supposed to teach us something important. Any ideas?"

"If this is intended to make us really feel the possibility of being stranded forever somewhere, its working fine on me!" Felicia added.

"I know Dave" Arden offered. "If there is a way for us to get back on our own this would be the way he'd present it. Nothing helps fix information in your brain as well as fear!"

"Well, he did say we'd learn about using the bracelet later, do you think that might have anything to do with it?" Alicia asked.

"What?" Chet asked. "Are we supposed to grab our bracelets, click our heels and say 'there's no place like home'?" and he mirrored his words with the actions, and poof! He was gone!

I pulled myself back from Eru's mind and smiled at the stunned and speechless Chet.

Welcome home Chet. I didn't know you were a Wizard of Oz fan!"

He stood there with me, wide grin on his face while we waited for the rest of the Legion to appear. It didn't take long. Less than a minute later, all nine of them appeared at the same time. Once the hubbub died, I got their attention again.

"First, despite the enjoyable theatrics, clicking your heals together and employing the phrase 'there's no place like home' is not necessary. Grasping the bracelet in your free hand and thinking 'home' is the actual trigger." I bowed to Chet theatrically, to a wave of giggling.

"The People which the Seekers and Choctowineh became, and who created Con and left us their gifts, did not leave behind a knowledge of how to build machines which can manipulate the Light in an intelligent way. Instead they left technology like this." I held the bracelet up in front of me.

"This device holds a single jump location, permanently burned into it and enough of the Light required to make a single jump to that location. The only way to give a bracelet a charge is for me to focus on it and put that energy and information in." I hesitated then and looked at each person as I went around the table.

"The only way!" I repeated for emphasis.

"Except for Con." I paused for additional emphasis.

"Con is an artificial being, and his creators incorporated the same technology into him with two important differences. The first is that Con generates his own energy. The second is that Con's jump location permanently tracks mine. He can jump on his own at any time, but the only place he can jump to is wherever I am."

"This limitation is intentional, we surmise" Con added "Because we believe my creators were fearful of providing an avenue for us to bypass the thousands of years of learning and growth that the knowledge of this technology represents. The ability to manipulate the energies we call Light came at the peak of the Seeker technological advancement, and even then their use of it was crude and rudimentary before the last of the Choctowineh, with their natural abilities to sense and control the Light, joined them."

"Welcome to the Staging level. By the way. This is where we will assemble the team's gear and supplies that we will take with us on a mission. This is the destination hard-coded into your bracelets. You will notice the well lit area several hundred yards behind me. That is the access well to the main storage area. Let's walk over and take a look."

I turned and led everyone over to the well. It was a 40x40 foot square opening in the floor, with a glowing red strip of lights running around it.

This is not a ride at the amusement park, but please try this for yourself." I then proceeded to jump into the opening. Eight pairs of wide eyes watched me drop like a stone and still land, gentle as a feather, on the floor twenty feet below. I landed in the center of a section of floor outlined with recessed red light strips similar to the lighting above it. Con and Eru watched as well, but their eyes were less wide — they'd seen it already.

"Go ahead!" I yelled up at them. Hesitantly at first, Cyrus and Chet leading the way all ten of them jumped off into the open air, only to find themselves landing softly on the floor beside me.

"Yes, this uses a Seeker variation of the Taluatan Magno-gravitic technology." I walked over to the side of the light strips where I had left a large wheeled cart piled with containers. "Once in the well with one of these special carriers, find and grab the activator handle." I demonstrated each step as I said it.

"The carrier will move up on its own. Keep your hand on the activator and jump up with it." I yelled back down at them as I was now already close to clearing the floor on the Staging level. Unseen magnetic grappling fields moved my carrier and I off to the side and set us down outside the strip that marked the edge of the well. I took my hand off the activator and walked back over to the edge of the well. "Yes, you can go up the down staircase." I jumped back over the edge and was quickly among them again.

"This is the main storage area and below that is the weapons level." I looked at my watch. "We will not be exploring any more of the basement levels today. Questions?"

"Do we have an elevator, access well or other method for moving large items in and out of these levels as well as with access to the outside?" Arden asked.

" Good question, Arden." I pointed to the middle of the open room, and while everyone was looking, I moved the cargo container sized building unit that I had originally moved here for Con into the middle of the room. I counted to ten and them moved it back to where it had been. "Just me."

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"What about training, firing ranges, that sort of thing?" Cyrus asked.

"Oh, we've got that covered, you'll see but none of the training or educational facilities are located here. That will be on the agenda for tomorrow's session. Next question?"

No questions came.

"Follow me." I said, and headed to a door in a column in the center of the room. There was a dark gray plate set at an angle coming out of the wall next to the door. I reached in with my mind and triggered the internal activation switch, and the plate was suddenly outlined in green light.

"Ginny, step up and place your hand upon the plate." I said. She did and the light blinked blue for a few seconds and then went out. I triggered it again and called for the next person. We repeated the process until everyone had completed it. I explained that Eru, Con and I had keyed ourselves in shortly after the building was completed.

Once the plate had cycled back to its blank unlit state for the last time, I asked someone to put their hand on the plate again. Alicia had gone last and was still standing there when I made my request, so she reached out and did as I requested. The frame of the door itself flashed blue once and the door slid silently sideways into itself, revealing a well lit normal seeming elevator.

I ushered everyone into the elevator there were four unmarked buttons and I pushed the 2nd button down from the top. Absolutely nothing seemed to happen for several second, and then there was a 'ding', and the door opened. We looked out on another dimly lit level of the basement.

"Tricky! Mike said. "Anti-gravity?"

"More or less." I answered back. I touched a panel on the wall near the elevator door and lights came flooding up. The long wide room had doors along each of its long walls.

"Welcome to the Personal Storage level by the way. This level contains personal storage areas for each of you. Lets take a look at one." I quickly walked over to the nearest one and triggered the internal activator and the palm plate was suddenly outlined in green.

"I know what to do next." Cyrus said without waiting, and placed his palm on the door. The door flashed blue three times and then slid silently open.

"These doors will key to only one person." I said, "Whichever person puts their hand on the activation plate first is the person it will key to." With that I reached out and tripped the activators on the rest of the panels. Everyone wandered off to pick a panel to activate. Once everyone had keyed their panels, they gathered back again at the storage area that Cyrus had claimed. I motioned him in, and had everyone follow. There was plenty of room. Each storage area was an open 20 foot by 20 foot room with three walls covered with storage units of all sizes. The far wall opposite the door contained a single storage unit that was also 20 feet by 20 feet. None of these units were keyed, but as we turned to return the way that we had come in, I pointed to another activation panel in the wall six feet from the open door.

"This panel is paired with the outside panel. Unless that panel has been activated and the door is open, this panel will not function. Cyrus, if you will?" I asked.

Cyrus put his hand on the panel and a small recess opened beside it, and the main door closed. Cyrus reached in and pulled out a white bracelet, similar to the black one everyone now wore.

"This is your lifeline." I said. "Each of you has an identical one of these in your storage area. It is charged, and is permanently set to jump you to the safest place on Earth that I could think of to send you. If anything were ever to happen to me, and you can get to Meadow, this bracelet will take you to the Focus in North Carolina. Use it exactly as you have learned to use the mission bracelet. Guys, this system is as close as I could come to getting you all home safely if something ever happens to me, I hope its enough."