Chapter 5
The Tour
Manasto and Verissa stood up, looking very stately and regal in their flowing robes. They were tall—taller than Jared had estimated when they were sitting down.
After the two Judges joined Jared, Danielle, Paul, and their guardians on the black, circular platform, the platform descended slowly back to floor level.
Manasto waved his hand, indicating something behind the youths and their guardians. “Please, have a seat.”
Jared twisted around to look. There were three movie-theater-like seats—red, padded, and high-backed but without cup holders. He stepped past his grandpa and then sat down in the middle seat.
Paul and Danielle both took the seats to Jared’s left and right. Simultaneously, the chairs rotated 180 degrees clockwise so that the Judges and guardians were behind the youths.
“Let’s begin,” Manasto said.
The room went dark briefly, and then a three-dimensional, holographic planet of mostly water filled the entire area before them and lit up the room, which was serving as a movie theater for the time being.
Verissa said, “Our world, Teruvisa, has one continent.” The presentation zoomed in on that continent. “The continent is divided into two kingdoms: Obalin, where Dreggan and his followers live; and Teruvisa, where we are.”
Jared noticed a large, winding canyon that ran north to south for the entire length of the continent. On the right side of it, there was a mountain range surrounded by a jungle on the northern, southern, and western sides. And, to the east of Teruvisa, there was a desert.
On the left side of the canyon, Jared could only see a thick, dark mist covering everything. That’s strange. He wondered why the mist only covered Obalin but decided to save his questions until after the virtual tour if Verissa didn’t explain about the mist.
Verissa continued with her narration. “The canyon you see here is called the Divide.”
Since the Divide was the only canyon on the whole continent, Jared assumed that it was the same canyon he was in when he arrived at Teruvisa.
“As you recall, you came to the world of Teruvisa through a portal that took you to a pier down in the Divide,” Verissa said, confirming Jared’s assumption. She paused briefly, then said, “At this point in the tour, I would like to explain something you don’t see here. Before the rebellion, there was no Divide or an Obalin. We referred to the world of Teruvisa and the continent of Teruvisa interchangeably. It wasn’t until the rebellion that we decided we needed to separate ourselves from Dreggan and his followers and split the kingdom.”
Jared was surprised that they physically split the kingdom, not just separated themselves into different groups when the rebellion started.
Verissa said, “Thus, the Divide was formed and split the continent in two. Now, we refer to our world as Teruvisa, and our half of the continent as Teruvisa or the kingdom of Teruvisa. I just wanted to make you aware of that since you’ll hear the name, Teruvisa, used both ways. Hopefully, you won’t be confused.”
Getting back to the presentation, Verissa said, “Next, I’d like to point out something else about the Divide. When the Divide was made, the raguam ocean spilled into the chasm to further help separate us from Obalin.”
What’s raguam? Jared almost blurted out his question but then realized she must have been referring to the weird water he saw when he first got to Teruvisa.
Verissa confirmed what Jared had guessed. “Raguam is a fire-water substance that binds Teruvisa and Earth together and helps protect us.”
Jared wondered how the raguam protected Teruvisa.
Verissa said, “In addition to the Divide, the raguam provides a significant boundary for Dreggan. If someone that isn’t authorized to cross the raguam crosses it, it can consume them.”
Oh. That’s how.
Verissa added, “And, in case you’re wondering, no one has ever touched raguam and survived. To survive in raguam, you need a protective field—you’ll learn about those during your training, by the way.”
Jared wondered if she meant that they would learn about protective fields (he imagined some kind of force field like in a science fiction movie), or they would learn how to make them. That would be sooo awesome!
Jared snapped out of his fanciful thoughts when the holographic presentation zoomed in more, rotated to the east, parallel with the treetops, and then zoomed forward to the mountains.
Once the view reached the rugged, bronze-colored, mountain range, Verissa said, “The Divide was not the only thing that was created during the rebellion. These mountains, which completely cover Teruvisa, are really artificial mountains that were put in place during the rebellion. They help shield us from attacks.”
Jared was again amazed. Not only did they create the Divide, but they created an entire mountain range! Wow!
Verissa added, “Of course, we’ll be able to remove this protective layer once the new technology is operational.”
The holographic presentation proceeded forward over the mountains, which Jared noticed didn’t have any trees on them, and the focus of the movie shifted to a downward angle. A second later, the movie began advancing over a desert.
Verissa continued her narration. “Now, what you’re seeing here, on the east side of the kingdom, is a fiery desert.”
The sand was pure white, and the surface of the desert was perfectly flat—there was a complete lack of contour. It reminded Jared of a documentary he saw about people testing cars at high speeds on some salt flats in Utah. Fiery, huh? He assumed that Verissa probably just meant that it was really hot.
A few moments later, the presentation stopped. Verissa said, “This is the lava marsh.”
Jared wasn’t sure what she meant by lava marsh at first, but when he saw a black swampland with lava bubbling out of the tar-like ground and occasionally spurting out flames as the bubbles burst, it made sense why it was called a lava marsh.
“This strip of lava marsh, as well as the fiery desert, runs the entire length of the continent, north to south,” Verissa explained.
Jared couldn’t see the whole continent at this point, but he remembered from earlier in the tour that the desert did run the entire length of the eastern edge of the continent. As far as the marsh being that long too, he’d just have to take Verissa’s word for it because he hadn’t noticed it when he saw the whole continent at once.
Verissa said, “And, there you can see the raguam ocean.”
The lava marsh wasn’t very wide, and Jared could see the waves of raguam rolling in and breaking on the black, marshy shoreline straight ahead.
It seemed odd at first sight that there was no steam when the water hit the lava, but then Jared remembered that raguam was a mix of water and fire. It must not behave like normal water.
As the hologram zoomed back out to a view of the continent, Verissa said, “If I may, I’d also like to explain something about Obalin that I failed to mention before. As you can see, Obalin is shrouded by a misty darkness.”
As Jared looked at the dark cloud covering the Obalinian side of the continent, he asked himself, Why?
Verissa explained, “Dreggan and his followers , who use the evil technology of Sedroth, use that dark mist to hide from us and to veil their actions.”
Oh. That explains it, Jared acknowledged.
Next, the hologram turned off, and the theater went completely dark.
After Manasto said, “The next part of the tour is of the inside of our kingdom,” a new holographic scene faded in. “There are many shuttle bays throughout Teruvisa.”
In the shuttle bay Jared was seeing, there was a shuttle parked straight ahead. It looked like a tall, white, van-like limousine without wheels. Next, almost all at once, the hologram zoomed in on the vehicle, there was a flash, and the vantage point changed to that of a pilot’s point of view.
The shuttle flew out of the hangar, turned sharply, and then entered what Jared thought looked like a canal.
The canal was abou
t three times wider than a soccer field and at least five field-lengths deep. Jared also noticed that the bottom of the trench was emerald green. However, he didn’t have time to notice anything else because shortly after the shuttle was clear of the shuttle bay, the craft accelerated, and everything outside of the vehicle became a blur.
As the shuttle sped along, Manasto explained, “These transportation corridors, called circuits, can take you to other shuttle bays anywhere in Teruvisa.”
Jared wondered how fast the shuttle was going, and his attention was drawn to the driving controls at the same time Manasto said, “The way you control shuttles—and any other Teruvisan vehicle—is with the console.”
The hologram focused in on only the shuttle’s control panel, which consisted of a flat screen and an array of different colored touch controls (the whole console was like one large touch screen). Jared got excited to learn how to fly a shuttle.
Manasto continued his flight instruction. “Each shuttle is equipped with a map. This is the main navigational control. The map is quite intuitive and shouldn’t be difficult for any of you to figure out. You simply locate and select your destination, and then the shuttle takes you there.”
Jared’s eyes widened with excitement as Manasto narrated the steps to fly a shuttle. That’s easy. He couldn’t wait to try it out for himself for real.
Jared’s eyes pored over the whole console, but his trance was broken when the focus of the holographic tour went back to the windshield.
The next second, the shuttle turned and entered a shuttle bay similar to the first. And, as it did, the hologram turned off again.
After the brief moment of darkness for a scene transition, the point of view of the next part of the virtual tour was set, looking down a large hallway.
Manasto pointed out, “This is a main hallway, which is called a pathway.” As the focus zoomed in on a wall, Manasto further explained, “There are also map consoles, like the ones on the shuttles, in every pathway. These kiosks are typically located next to elevators but not always.
“Let’s say you want to go to the archives. To get there, locate and select the destination on the map screen, and in moments, a mini shuttle will drop down from above to transport you.”
Immediately after Manasto completed his explanation, the view of the hologram went back to the pathway, and Jared saw what could have only been a mini shuttle quickly descending to the floor. Whereas the larger shuttle looked like a tall, white limousine without wheels, this much smaller shuttle looked like a sleek, white golf cart without wheels.
Jared tried to remember if he and the group had ever been in a pathway. He was pretty sure the large corridor they walked through from the black room with all the doors was a pathway, but he didn’t remember ever seeing a mini shuttle. Maybe they just weren’t up and running at that time.
Before Jared could hypothesize anymore, though, Manasto finished his explanation of the mini shuttles. “These mini shuttles are only in the pathways. However, in case you’re wondering, even if you’re looking for them, you can’t see them. The mini shuttles are silent and move too fast to be seen with the naked eye. They fly around unnoticed above, and on either side of, the lights that hang down from the center of the pathway’s ceiling.”
The mini shuttle floated up past the light fixtures and vanished as it sped off.
“Well, that’s it—as far as the tour goes,” Manasto said.
The hologram disappeared, and the lights came back on.
Hilcar put his hand on Jared’s shoulder and said for everyone to hear, “It’s time for us to take you to Central Security so that we can take care of some things. After that, we’ll take you to Ferran.”
Danielle glanced back over her shoulder at Verissa and asked, “Is that the first Master we’re going to train with?”
Verissa nodded. “Yes.”
Danielle looked over her shoulder again. “What about the others? What are their names?”
“Well, after Ferran will be Rohlwig, then Tiersda. And hopefully, you’ll be able to turn on the MSIs by then.”
“Alright. Follow us.” Hilcar motioned for the youths to get up.
The youths and their guardians exchanged good byes with Manasto and Verissa as Hilcar, Prienna, and Dorn led Jared, Paul, and Danielle out of the Council chamber.
They went back out to the black room with 12 doors and then through the door that led to their rooms. Hilcar went to the nearest wall console and summoned three mini shuttles. The group loaded up, two people per shuttle.
Within moments, they arrived at a large door. When they got off the mini shuttles, the door opened. It was the entrance to a shuttle bay. Everyone went in and then boarded one of the shuttles.
Hilcar piloted the shuttle into the circuit. Their lone craft sped through the maze of deep transportation trenches at lightning speed, taking curves, and even 90 degree turns, with ease. They didn’t slow down at all until they came to rest in another shuttle bay.
“Here we are,” Hilcar said.
Dorn led the way out of the shuttle to a metal door, which slid open when they got close to it. They entered a short hallway and walked toward an elevator.
When Dorn reached the elevator, a female voice said, “Security clearance granted,” and the doors opened.
After they had all piled in, the doors closed, and the elevator took them up to an empty 15 x 15 foot room with no apparent exit other than the elevator doors.
Jared wondered, What are we going to do in here?
Once everyone was out of the elevator, Dorn pointed to the left. “Okay. Now, line up shoulder to shoulder against that wall, facing the middle of the room.”
After everyone except Dorn was against the wall, Dorn took out a small, shining rock—a rock like the one Hilcar used to get past the winged guards at the wall entrance to Teruvisa. He held it in his open, outstretched hand. It shot out of his palm and was absorbed into the wall directly in front of him.
Jared expected the wall to split open, but it didn’t. Instead, a pole protruded from it where the stone had gone in.
Dorn took his place alongside the others against the wall. “Each of you hold your guardian’s hand.”
Hilcar took Jared’s hand and held up his other hand with the palm facing out. The other two guardians did the same. Jared wasn’t told to put out his hand, so he didn’t.
The pole stopped once it reached the elevator door, and then a thin strip of green light that ran along the entire length of the pole turned on. The pole began to rotate. It got faster and faster until the flashing green light created by the spinning of the pole changed into a constant glow with barely a flicker.
Jared noticed that the adults were still holding their hands out. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going to happen. He was intrigued.
Dorn’s glowing stone popped out of the cylinder and landed in his waiting palm, and then there was total darkness.
“Everyone,” Dorn said, “step forward on three. One... two... three.”
Jared stepped forward, wondering if he would be launched at incredible speeds down a tunnel. He braced himself for whatever surprise Teruvisa had in store for him. As soon as his foot landed, he briefly felt a coolness and a sensation like static electricity coursing through him, and then he found himself in a short, dimly-lit hallway as wide as their chain of people.
That’s it? Jared was kind of disappointed. He looked to his sides. Everyone was there. He looked behind himself. There was only a wall. How did we do that?
Dorn said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
Hilcar led Jared and the rest of the group the short distance to the only door, which was as wide and tall as the corridor. “Welcome to Central Security.”
The enormous door in front of them silently slid upward, revealing a spacious oval room. Two men, dressed in white robes, were standing by the entrance. They looked like they were twins—they had the same dark hair and facial features and wore the same stern facial expression—except on
e had blue eyes and the other had green.
The blue-eyed guard stuck out his chest and pointed to one of the many high-backed seats in the room. “Take a seat.”
The way the guards were acting, Jared wondered jokingly if he had signed up with the military. He was going to salute the guard mockingly but thought better of it.
The chairs in the room were arranged in a large circle, facing inward. Jared chose the closest seat and sat down. Danielle and Paul sat down next to him. Jared looked back at Hilcar. He and the other guardians stayed by the door, which had already dropped closed without a sound.
As the guards walked to their seats, Jared leaned back into his swiveling armchair and put his arms on the armrests. He looked around the room. The only visible furniture was the chairs.
Simultaneously, the white-clad guards sat down and swiveled their chairs 180 degrees. Each of them flipped open a panel on one of the arms of their chairs.
Jared fingered the contour of his armrests with his thumbs to see if his chair has panels, too. He felt little indents on the inside edge of both armrests. He opened the right-hand armrest panel slightly and looked down with just his eyes.
He saw touchpad controls and then closed the panel.
When the guards were finished, they both slapped the panels on their armrests shut at the same time. It was almost like they had rehearsed it a hundred times—they were so perfectly together.
In front of each of the guards, a foot-wide pillar of light shot down from the ceiling. Then, as fast as they came, the pillars of light disappeared.
Three headbands with knobby studs were left, floating in midair. Jared was curious to know what those were for.
The blue-eyed guard grabbed the two headbands hovering in front of him, and the other took the remaining one as they stood up. The guards handed each child a headband.
The green-eyed guard said, “Put these on your heads.”
Jared slipped on the studded, leather headband.
He joked to himself, Nice fashion statement.
The blue-eyed guard said, “Rest your arms on the arms of your chair, palms up.”
Not thinking anything of it, Jared laid his arms on the armrests as instructed. However, when Jared turned up his palms, clamps came shooting out of the arms of the chair, locking his wrists in place.
A hint of panic came over him. He tried to pull an arm loose, but the restraints were too tight. Up until that point, he had done everything that was asked of him, so he wondered why they would restrain him.
“What’s this? An electric chair?” Paul was obviously concerned—of course, so was Jared.
The blue-eyed guard snapped, “Quiet,” flipped up the panel of the armrest of his chair again, and then touched the control pad with one finger like he was pushing a button.
“One at a time, say your first and last names.” Pointing to Jared, the guard said, “You first.”
Why are they strapping us down to say our names? Jared was going to refuse, but he didn’t dare when he looked at the guard, who was almost scowling at him with impatience.
After Jared, Paul, and Danielle said their names, a bubble of light engulfed Jared’s right hand. He saw that both Paul and Danielle also had bubbles over their right hands.
The green-eyed guard said, “Your hands will feel warm briefly, but try not to move.”
Jared looked at the bubble. His hand was getting warmer. As the heat quickly became uncomfortable, despite the guard’s request that they not move, Jared couldn’t help squirming a little.
However, after a few seconds, the bubble of light disappeared, the heat went away, and, in Jared’s palm, there was a glowing stone. It was made of a smooth, glassy material shaped into an oval a little bigger around than a quarter—just like Hilcar’s and Dorn’s stones.
The clamps released Jared’s wrists, and the blue-eyed guard stood up in front of the youths. He looked each one of them in the eyes. It was a piercing gaze. Jared felt like the guard was trying to read his mind.
“These are your security devices.” The guard pointed at the glowing rocks in the youths’ hands. “They’re called kevanshus. These kevanshus have undergone a genetic molding process, which ensures that no one but the owner can use them.
“However, do not lose them or give them to anyone. It is possible that the genetic encryptions can be altered to allow another user to operate the device.”
Jared looked at his kevanshu. Whoa. It has my genes?
The guard continued. “Since these kevanshus give you full access to Teruvisa—something to which I was opposed but was overridden by Manasto—it is vital to use them responsibly, with discretion and prudence.” He scowled at the youths in an intimidating manner. “Is that understood?”
Jared wasn’t afraid of the guard but could tell he was very serious. He nodded to acknowledge that he understood.
Danielle slowly raised her hand. Jared thought it was bold of her to ask the guards a question.
She timidly asked, “Um... how do we get them to work, sir?”
The guard said arrogantly, “I assure you they already work. But if you’re referring to how to use the devices, it’s quite easy.
“When you approach an access point—whether it be a gate, portal, door, etcetera—simply hold it out in the palm of your hand with the palm facing up.” He held out his hand, with the palm open. “Then, when you’re done with the kevanshu for that particular use, close your fist around the device and hold it up to your chest near your shoulder, and it will be absorbed.”
He enacted the movement. “Now, assimilate your kevanshus just as I demonstrated.”
Jared closed his fist around the kevanshu and slowly placed his fist against his chest. He opened his fist and looked at his palm. His eyes widened in amazement. His hand was empty.
Jared rounded his lips and mouthed, “Whoa.”
As the guard returned to his seat, Hilcar stepped forward and asked, “Would you be so kind as to activate the archives?”
The guard sat down with a look of pondering the request seriously.
He asked Hilcar, “Do you have an authorization code?”
“Certainly. I have my treyo right here.” Hilcar pulled out his handheld device. “Ready for transmission whenever you are.”
The guard did something on the arm console of his seat that caused a holographic, flat panel computer monitor to appear in front of him. It hovered motionless just above his lap. The guard’s fingers moved quickly over the holographic touch screen.
“Ready to receive.” The guard didn’t look away from the screen.
Hilcar pointed his treyo at the monitor. A moment later, the hologram disappeared.
“Operation complete. Access has been granted.” The guard had a look of satisfaction.
Hilcar inclined his head slightly. “Good. Thank you.”
Jared wondered why the archives needed to be activated.
“Okay. We’re done here.” Prienna motioned with her hand toward the door. “Children, come with us.”
With that, they left the security control room and went back to the shuttle bay. After they had all boarded and the shuttle took off, Danielle quietly asked Prienna, “Are we going to the archives before we go see Ferran?” Danielle also must have been wondering why Hilcar had the archives activated.
Prienna shook her head. “Sorry, not yet. We need to run some tests on the archives to determine the state of the records and investigate possible security breaches.”
“Oh,” Danielle sighed, obviously very let down.
Jared was disappointed, too. He would’ve liked to have gone to the archives to look up a few quick facts about his parents. Oh well. He shrugged to himself. Maybe some other time.
The rest of the shuttle ride was quiet and uneventful until, when the vehicle was about to fly into a shuttle bay, something hit the top of the shuttle hard and caused the craft to drop. Luckily, Hilcar managed to pull it back up in time to fly the shuttle through the opening to the bay.
&nb
sp; “It’s still on top!” Hilcar cried out.
The shuttle landed with a thud and turned 90 degrees as it skidded to a stop. Dorn, who was seated in the copilot’s chair, did something on the control panel that made an alarm sound.
Also, mixed with the alarm was a woman’s voice repeating, “Intrusion alert. Intrusion alert.”
At first, Jared couldn’t tell if the alarm was only in the shuttle, but when the door opened, he heard the same alarm and female voice outside.
Prienna jumped up from her seat, grabbed the top of the shuttle’s doorway, swung her feet up, and then launched herself back over the top of the shuttle with a grunt.
Jared heard a loud thud and a growl above, and then a large furry, leathery mass—some creature with a long tail and big, strong, leathery arms—flew out of the shuttle bay into the circuit. A second later, Prienna landed on the bay floor on the opposite side as the shuttle door.
“What’s going on?” Paul asked, almost with a whimper.
“Everyone out.” Hilcar grabbed Jared by the arm and helped him up.
Dorn got Paul and Danielle out. Hilcar and Jared were right behind them. Prienna met the group at the shuttle bay elevator door.
Jared looked at his grandpa, who was talking but not to anyone in their group. Who’s he talking to?
The elevator opened, and the youths were quickly ushered inside. After getting off the elevator, Jared, Danielle, and Paul were rushed down a pathway to a wall console.
Jared asked, “What was that thing?”
Hilcar didn’t answer. He kept tapping the kiosk on the wall.
Soon, three mini shuttles appeared.
Hilcar called out, “Everyone, let’s go!” and practically shoved Jared into a mini shuttle.
Hilcar and Jared’s mini shuttle immediately ascended above the lights and then shot forward in a flash. Except for the brief initial acceleration, Jared didn’t feel like the mini shuttle was moving—similar to how he felt in the tunnel they all flew through after they entered Teruvisa through the earthen wall.
They arrived at their destination in only a few seconds. Jared wondered how far they had traveled.
The instant the mini shuttle landed, Hilcar jumped out, started tapping the touchpad of the wall console next to the door where the mini shuttle was dropping them off, and then placed his hand on the kiosk’s screen.
He motioned anxiously with his other hand for Jared to join him at the door. “Come on.”
As Jared got out of the mini shuttle, the other two mini shuttles, carrying Danielle, Prienna, Paul, and Dorn, landed.
The door opened.
“In here. Hurry up.” Hilcar held the door open and motioned for everyone to get in the elevator.