our living room, our kitchen is up there, and then we passed some of the bedrooms. There are a few more upstairs."
Ricio gives Andee time to take in the view. Everything is immaculate. The house is mostly white, and the furniture is either black, leather-brown, or white. There is a shiny blackstone fireplace with white sofas in front, and between them a glass table. On the table there is a glowing object that seems to be alive with a dancing blue light in the center.
The kitchen and dining area are a few steps higher on an upper platform. The kitchen has smooth modern white cabinets but nothing else. Maybe the sink and stove are hidden somehow, but he can't figure out how. The dining room table is a glass top on beautifully curved shiny copper legs. The chairs around it are black leather frames with brown leather mesh in the center, all wrapped on a copper skeleton.
He hears a strange sound. Ricio pulls a flat device, like a mini-vidrom, out of his pocket, taps it a few times, and then looks up at Andee.
"You mind waiting for me here? I've got to check on something."
Andee nods. Ricio takes off. Andee walks up the four steps onto the elevated dining area and kitchen. He walks to the glass wall beyond the table. Through it he can see other houses over and between the green shrubbery outside. They all vary in shape and color. Some are as angular as Ricio's, but a couple have rounded features. Almost half seem to be white, but many look to be made from stone of various colors, from Carpati orange to blackstone, and some even have wood exteriors. As he studies the corners and gables that are visible, he realizes that the homes are all very different, unlike the monotonous orange adobe houses of the Township.
He lifts up on his toes to see the rest of the city but nothing. No more can be seen. He's a bit disappointed, but then not really. This day is a day unlike any other. Not only did he get to see the Silver Sickle up close, he actually got to ride it, on the racing circuit, at full speed. Now he is in a Bitani house, up in the city, looking at the most amazing homes he has ever seen. Maybe it's better this way. Maybe any more would be too much.
He heads back down into the living room. It's full of strange objects. Strange colorful paintings on the walls made of large splashes of paint on white canvas. Then there are the strange sculptures, some that look like distorted people, and some that just look like nothing at all. His eye is pulled back to the center glass table. Too afraid to touch the perfectly white sofas, he squats between them to get a close look at the intriguing object in the center.
It's a strange little device, about the size of a table top clock. It's tall, transparent, and looks to be made of glass. It has four pillars out of witch soft filaments of blue and white light emanate and dance around as if it is a living breathing organism. In the middle, floating in the filaments of light, is a rhomboid crystal. A diamond of sorts, just floating there in the middle. Andee walks around the table studying the device. He can't conceive a purpose for it other than just another type of sculpture, but what an odd sculpture it is.
Ricio steps down into the living room surprising Andee who snaps back to his feet.
"You like that?"
"What is it?"
"It's my grandparents".
"Ah-what?" Andee frowns and looks up at Ricio as if he miss-heard.
"The diamond, in the center. It's my grandparents."
"Oh-ah... what do you mean your grandparents?"
"It's our Omega Obelisk." Andee just stares through Ricio completely at a loss. "It's like a memorial."
"Oh, a memorial. I've never seen anything like it. It's beautiful."
"It's more than that. It's a final resting place. In your culture you bury the dead. We turn ours into diamonds and keep them forever."
Andee looks away from the object and stares hard at Ricio.
"You don't know what I'm talking about do you?" Andee can't think of a response. He looks back at the Omega Obelisk and stares at its mesmerizing dancing light filaments. "You have never seen a diamond memorial before have you?"
"No I haven't. It's quite beautiful. It must be expensive."
"I don't think you understand. That diamond is not just a memorial. That diamond is in fact my grandparents".
Once again Andee just stares looking right through Ricio.
"Do you know what carbon is?"
"No."
"Carbon is an element, it's what we are all made from. When we die and are cremated the ash that is left behind is almost pure carbon. My grandparents loved each other to the day they died. So their ashes were mixed together and compressed into that diamond. So that diamond... is my grandparents. The atoms that made up my grandparents, are now in that diamond, together forever."
Andee turns his gaze from Ricio to the diamond floating in the sphere of light between the four small obelisks. He looks back at Ricio. Ricio nods his head emphasizing that he is serious. He can see Andee is having a hard time accepting the concept.
"You're saying that the diamond, is their physical bodies somehow... turned into... that crystal?"
"Exactly." Andee squints his eyes and turns his head askew glaring with suspicion. Ricio can't help but snicker a little.
"I'm not joking. When I look at that diamond, I know I'm looking at my grandparents. It is their omega, their final resting place for eternity. And it's right here in my house. They are always near me. Sometimes I even talk to them." Andee relaxes his gaze, takes a deep breath and looks back at the blue glowing object. He is no longer as amazed by it. In fact, it seems to be giving him the chills.
"Come on. I'll show you my room. My dad's coming home soon, so we don't have much time. I was going to take you out into the city, but it won't be possible today."
Andee nods. "It's ok. I think I've seen more than I can handle for one day."
"Really? Well, there is one more thing I want to show you. You think you can handle it?" Andee shrugs indecisively. "I think you'll like it. Come on." Ricio heads up the stairs. Andee follows and suddenly his face lights up.
"Hey Ricio, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do the Bitani have tech that can make a man invisible?"
"What? No."
"Are you sure?" Andee stops in the hall, and so does Ricio to respond. "But the Bitani can do so many things."
"We can cloak ships, but making a man invisible is different."
"Cloak? What's that?"
"It's possible to hide things by altering light, but it's complicated, and it's even more complicated if the object is moving. Plus there are other ways to detect them. We can check for magnetic fields, heat signatures, displacement, so many things. To create tech that can hide a human being would be near impossible, and a waste of time."
"Why?"
"Too many variables. We breathe oxygen, release carbon dioxide. Produce heat. Have a heart beat. All easily detectable. People don't stand still. You could simply just throw dust, or water on them, or better yet paint, and then they would not be invisible."
"I see. But it's possible?"
"I've never seen it. But it would be pretty useless."
"Ok. How about sacred warriors? Do you believe they're real?"
"Nah, I doubt it. They're just fairytales."
"But if they were real, could they become invisible?"
"They're not real, so nothing they can do is real. What's with these questions?"
"Just curious. There's so many things I don't know. And now seeing your ship, your house, I feel so primitive and stupid."
"Look man, I'm sorry. I have no idea why you guys are denied basic science. I grew up believing the Carpati just aren't smart enough. That's what I was told all my life. That Carpati simply don't have the mental ability to understand our world, and that's why we have to take care of you. That's why we have friendship centers where we give you free medical care. All your homes and factories are wired with electricity that we generate, to help you."
"I know and I appreciate that, but..."
"No you don't understand. I'm not telling yo
u this because I expect you to be grateful. I'm telling you what I was told. If you think I know more than I'm telling you, it's not so."
"So you don't think we are dumb?"
"No, not at all, certainly not you. It's clear to me, had you had the education I got, with an understanding of science, you would not have these questions. I'm really sorry it's the way it is. If I could change things I would."
"Maybe one day you will."
"Yeah, I will, and you know what. Maybe this is the start, today." Andee looks at him askew again. Rico points to the door in front of which they are stopped. "This is my room. I've got something here that helped me a great deal and I think it could help you too. It will answer many of your questions."
Rico opens the door and steps in. Andee follows. Ricio's room is simply decorated, with posters of lightships, including Hektor's ship, and what look to be various DJ's that perform at the prave. For being a Bitani, and rich, his room is surprisingly unimpressive to Andee, considering the rest of the house.
"That." Rico points to a white orb, the size of a volleyball, on his desk. "I'm giving you that."
"What is, that?"
"Well, to be honest it's a toy, and would have been more useful to you when you were younger, but I think you will like it."
"You don't have to. It looks nice, but I don't know what I'd use it for."
"I have no idea what you'll use it for either, but I think you'll get a kick out of it. And it will answer a lot of your questions."
"What is it?"
"It's my animebot." Andee just stares. Doesn't really know how to react.
"Sorry, but I have no idea what