The Star View (The Totality Cycles Book 2) Read online

  I am a level eleven, Kumi-Moja’Nil’Gu, he thought, as he stumbled to his suite and collapsed onto his sleep-pad. Level eleven. That was high enough to be in the Solidarim, itself, he realized dizzily, and not all from exertion. But – I can’t let anyone know. Mother and Father have a good reason for warning me, and despite what Ro-Becilo’Ran says, I don’t intend to ever let anyone know what level I’m at. But I’ll have to do some careful research into what people with levels nine through eleven Nil’Gu’ua can do. And I’ll have to teach myself to do them.

  He stared at the wall before him. I also have to be careful – can’t show that things come too easily for me. Studies, yes. Nil’Gu’ua, not so much. I’ll test to level eight. And... I must watch for attempts to make me inadvertently do things beyond level eight. His parents’ warning made it clear that there was a peril for people with the highest levels. What it was, he was not sure, but he took the warning very seriously. As long as no one else knew what he was capable of... but one person did know.

  Becil! His friend fully intended to show his full Nil’Gu’ua ability, and if it were above eight, what would become of him? And what will he say when he finds out that I don’t intend to show my full ability? Another thing to worry about, he thought angrily. But something had stuck in his friend’s elytra-pace about not showing all that he could do. And knowing Ro-Becilo’Ran, there was no changing his mind.

  View Ten

  He inadvertently slept. When he awoke, a quarter of the turn had gotten away from him.

  Grousing at his own foolishness and missed opportunity, he got up, glyph-conjured himself a large meal, and pulled up the levels of Nil’Gu’ua and their capabilities at his study station. He had learned the first six levels in Secondus, but reviewed them, just for completeness’ sake.

  The lessons always began with a semi-formal level zero, the precursor to Nil’Gu’ua abilities.

  “Level Zero – Sufuri’Nil’Gu: the vuu’erio tennae originally connected to both olfactory faculties and primary retinas to vuu chemi-scents, and later to the primitive secondary retinas, in the darkness of the Roots, to sense the glyphs of predators.”

  That made him sit back and clack his elytra-pace. So the primary retinas had developed first? That meant that his people had evolved in light, not in the gloom of the Roots of the World-Trees.

  So – we were around before the World-Trees were in existence, perhaps? he mused, blinking and unconsciously making his eyes go semi-compound and back. Something happened to our world to make the World-Trees grow, and also the ground Trees. What was it, I wonder? Or, if they developed together, does that mean – did we live at the boundary, going between the lit world and the unlit?

  He wrenched his thoughts away from the intriguing suppositions. Such puzzles did not help him develop his upper Nil’Gu’ua abilities.

  “Level One – Moja’Nil’Gu: formally, the ability to perceive simple glyphs for concrete objects, with secondary retinas, only.

  Level Two – Mbili’Nil’Gu: the ability to see complex glyphs with primary and secondary retinas, and project simple thought glyphs.

  Level Three – Tatu’Nil’Gu: the ability to project complex thought glyphs and connect vuu’erio tennae fully to secondary retinas, to perceive the decomposition of complex glyphs into constituent, simpler glyphs. At this level, the eyes go semi-compound. This level also includes the ability to sense Nil’Gu’vua. (This is thought to form the basis of the ability to apply Nil’Gu’vua to glyphs, to bring objects into existence.)

  Level Four – Nne’Nil’Gu: the ability to apply Nil’Gu’vua, to simple glyphs of concrete objects, to bring those objects into being. These objects are non-organic, in nature.

  Level Five – Tanos’Nil’Gu: the ability to sense the remnants of the Living Glyph with tertiary retinas, and apply Nil’Gu’vua to simple, organic glyphs, such as plant matter. With Tanos’Nil’Gu, fruit and vegetables and provender can be produced if the glyph is known.

  Level Six – Sita’Nil’Gu: the ability to manipulate glyphs of existing objects, or projected glyphs of non-living things found in nature, and to apply Nil’Gu’vua to these altered glyphs. This level also includes the ability to apply Nil’Gu’vua to more complex organic glyphs, such as animal matter. Meat and chitin can be produced at this level.”

  He sat back in contemplation. Most people fell in the range of level five and six. That was as far as they had been taught in Primus, and drilled in those skills in the early terms of Secondus.

  Now, level seven, and beyond, he thought, feeling a thrill of excitement. He had, of course, looked at these levels before, but now he would be looking at them with a vuu’erio toward testing them.

  “Level Seven – Sabol’Nil’Gu: the ability to conceive of things not found in nature, and bring their glyphs in their entirety into conception and apply Nil’Gu’vua to them, to create entirely new objects.”

  Kreceno’Tiv glyph-conjured another platter of food for himself, and thought about that, munching. To perceive a glyph meant to know what an object was. To be able to decompose the known glyph meant to know the object in its entirety, the quantum mechanical equivalent of the wave-function of a particle. To know the wave-function was to know everything there was to possibly know about the particle. To know the glyph-constituents of an object or idea was to know everything that made up that thing, down to the atomic level – and further, perhaps. So, level seven meant being able to think up something, and know what parts needed to be included, so that when Nil’Gu’vua was applied to it, it came into being as the originator had conceived it.

  Like the transport glyph, he thought. It was a glyph that he and most people took for granted, used with impunity, but someone had to have conceived it, first, and bring it into existence, successfully. So – I should be able to conceive of something, and apply Nil’Gu’vua to it.

  He let the thought sit in the back of his mind as he went on to level eight.

  “Level Eight – Nane’Nil’Gu: the ability to see the Living Glyph with secondary retinas, and manipulate it to modify existing lifeforms.”

  That made him sit up. Had such been applied to the World-Trees? Is that how the land-forms came about? Or – or the Peace-Forcer males used by the Malkia? Such abilities – he shivered at the implications. He was not sure that he wanted to try to modify a living thing, just to prove level eight.

  “Level Nine – Tiso’Nil’Gu: the ability see the Living Glyph with primary retinas, and also project the Living Glyph of something conceived, not found in nature, and apply Nil’Gu’vua to it, to bring about new lifeforms.”

  Kreceno’Tiv blinked. He had not ever remembered seeing the Living glyph with his primary retinas. But would I be able to distinguish it from any other glyph? he wondered, looking around. Have I ever really tried? I’m so used to using my secondary retinas – but that is when I want to understand something. Not just simple seeing. He looked down at his deshik – and he saw the glyph for it, right enough. But it was living. Or quasi-living – he was not sure. It required nutrients, and had a rudimentary circulatory system. It could move, after a fashion, to accommodate his body, change size and shape.

  And Mother made it. She is at least level nine, though, she is only officially level seven. Why had no one ever mentioned anything about that? Gesturing bemusement, he continued reading.

  “Level Ten – Kumi’Nil’Gu: the ability to see Nil’Gu’vua with tertiary retinas, to directly manipulate Nil’Gu’vua, and conceive of glyphs that can affect Nil’Gu’vua. The eyes can go fully compound at this level.”

  Like the vuu-blitzed short-travel glyph, he wanted to groan. And Ro-Becilo’Ran had watched him do just that. So, if Becil is doing what I am doing, he knows that I am level ten, at least. He’s going to be upset when I evaluate at level eight. But – I’ll cross that World-Tree Limb when I come to it.

  “Level Eleven (theoretical) – Kumi-Moja’Nil’Gu: the ability to bring Nil’Gu’vua to places it does not populate, and apply glyphs to Nil’Gu’vua.”

  I’ve already done that, he thought, rubbing his vuu-brow. Then he did a double-take. What was the difference between directly manipulating Nil’Gu’vua, and applying glyphs to it? He opened a search parameter link, but found no explanation of the distinction. He had applied the travel glyph to Nil’Gu’vua. But what was it to manipulate Nil’Gu’vua directly?

  “Level Twelve (theoretical) – Kumi-Mbili’Nil’Gu: the ability to see Nil’Gu’vua with secondary retinas, and to generate Nil’Gu’vua directly.”

  He felt his vuu’erio waving in circles at that. How did one generate Nil’Gu’vua? He stopped reading, even though there were other theoretical levels – though he did glance at the last.

  “Level Eighteen (theoretical) – Kumi-Nana’Nil’Gu: the ability to perceive the Glyph of the All.

  Level Nineteen (theoretical) – Kumi-Tisa’Nil’Gu: the ability to decompose the Glyph of the All.

  Level Twenty (theoretical) – Ishirini’Nil’Gu: the ability to manipulate the Glyph of the All.”

  He sat back and laughed. Was there ever a case of a level twenty? Perhaps some real Deity, not pretend ones, like us.

  He went back to the puzzle of manipulating Nil’Gu’vua. He did a more in-depth search, and found an explanation that made his vuu’erio tennae curl.

  “Nil’Gu’vua is not just the amalgamation of expanded dimensional time and space, but the impetus that gives the world around us form, and allows for the flow of events, and the existence of life. Direct manipulation of Nil’Gu’vua, an ability at Nil’Gu’ua level ten, is the ability to influence events for a particular outcome. This involves influencing time, space and the Living Glyphs surrounding the particular desired event.”

  Kreceno’Tiv shut down his study-station.
He did not want to think about the implications of that. So then, applying glyphs to Nil’Gu’vua – would be creating events, not just manipulating them.

  For a moment the desire to create an event, where he would meet the young Tiphi woman of the rainbow eyes, gripped him, was almost a glyph he could apply Nil’Gu’vua to. Or apply to Nil’Gu’vua. It trembled before his eyes, brightened for the briefest moment, then seemed to expand into nonexistence.

  View Eleven

  Shaking off the thought that he had created an event, Kreceno’Tiv took his too-small deshik with him to the Nil’aris.

  Level eight – I’ll try level eight. Seven seems too easy, he thought, placing it, folded, on the floor. Then he took off the new deshik he was wearing, folded it, and placed it alongside the first. He looked at both, actively resisting using his secondary retinas to vuu them. Their glyphs hovered faintly about them, and he focused on the glyphs rather than the deshik. The two glyphs came clear and sat quiescent for a moment, then began to decompose before his primary vision. He trembled as it happened, studying the simple processes that the near-living garments had.

  Now, to... to modify it, he thought, studying both glyphs, without killing it. They were almost identical, the quasi-living glyphs more intricate than he realized, even more so than the short-travel glyph, for the processes of life were many and varied and inextricably intricately intertwined.

  He studied them without touching them, having a care before he made any move to change them. One glyph-line bent or broken, and the deshik would die. He watched and watched, trying to see where they were different. Then he had it – the relatively simple genetic code for the older deshik had a cut-off gene that limited the size of its growth. The new one had the inhibitor in a different place on the sequence, allowing it to become bigger. He made a shallow tray and went to get some of the nutrient gel for the deshik, placed the smaller one in the tray. He made sure to study the glyph of the gel so that he could make more if necessary. Then he turned his mind to figuring out how to move the inhibitor gene within the garment. He watched the processes and the glyphs, both, and noted that there were carrier strands of genetic material that were not attached to the main strand, but carried out some of the mobile functions of the living cells.

  Is there one that already does something like what I want to do? he wondered, watching the processes, and the glyphs of the processes. There – an RNA strand that tended the main helix, making repairs, and very occasionally, moving genes so that the garment remained able to change shape and size. He gently, gently stroked the glyph-whorl that represented that particular RNA carrier, barely stirring it. It responded to his touch, as if coming to attention. Carefully, so carefully, it was as if he were trying to write prose on a grain of sand, he added the slightest imperative glyph to it, that would fade once the task was done: remove the inhibitor gene from the receiver molecule that it inhabits, cap the molecule, move the gene to the new receiver, uncap it, and add the inhibitor to the new place. Store the cap.

  The RNA strands within each cell shivered, then moved to do his bidding. He stood ready, ready to supply more nutrient gel if needed. And ready to undo his command, should something go wrong.

  The carriers went about the task with quiet efficiency, removing the inhibitor gene and capping the raw end that it had been stuck on, and moving it to the new place before the garment grew to grotesque proportions. The carriers placed the gene, storing the cap molecules on themselves so that they did not become free radicals. The imperative dissolved.

  He watched with trepidation, as the deshik shivered with the new instructions. It began to absorb the gel beneath it, and it perceivably grew larger. Would the placement by the carrier RNA work? He studied the two glyphs as it writhed. They looked identical, now, but with living things, there were no guarantees that modifications would give the desired result.

  It grew in the tray. Then – it stopped growing and lay, motionless. He picked up the new deshik and put it back on, then picked up the tray with the old one. He took it to the refresher – if anything were going to go wrong, it would be in the refresher, which parsed its genetic code to provide for it.

  The refresher went through its normal cycle, and then the indicator turned to positive, showing the end of the cycle. Nervous, he took the garment out. It looked fine, normal, just big enough to fit him, now. He went to his suite for the final test. Before his mirror, he stripped off the new deshik and with the slightest of hesitations, put the old one on. But he was ready to glyph-cut it, should something go wrong.

  The garment did its familiar writhing dance to accommodate his frame. Then it settled into place, comfortable, familiar. And that was all.

  Kreceno’Tiv sighed, and dropped down onto his rest-pad, feeling as if he had been stretched between Algna Suprum and Segela Miridum. He noted that it was dark – the entire turn had been taken up with his experimentation. His eyes closed.

  View Twelve

  When he woke up the next turn, he could tell that he was not alone in the domicive.

  Vuu-blitz! he wanted to swear. He only had a few more turns to use the Nil’aris uninterrupted. But it was Vespa Karaci’Tiv, and hopefully she would not stay too long. He got up and began looking through the dataSpheres, still hunting for a hint of why his parents had warned him from placing too high in Nil’Gu’ua.

  As if the thought of her had glyph-conjured her, Vespa Karaci’Tiv knocked on the port to his suite, then stuck her head in. “Krece?”

  “None other,” he said, smiling despite her disruption of his plans. She came over and looked over his shoulder as was her usual wont.

  “Investigating the skill levels?” she asked, an obvious question, meaning that she knew that their parents had warned him. That meant that they had warned her, too.

  “I was curious,” he said, acknowledging her implied question. He was, in effect telling her that he wanted to know why, what was behind the warning. And even more implicitly, that he was of a high enough level for it to matter to him, especially.

  “I did the same thing – if you’ll wait a few deci-marks, I’ll send you the data that I found, so that you don’t have to start from the beginning.”

  So, she has figured out why, and is willing to share. He looked up at his older sister. It did not surprise him – she had done most things first, though she never used that as a digging point... or not recently, at any consequence.

  “Thank you,” he said quietly, grateful. She tugged on his deshik playfully, which writhed in protest, and skipped gracefully out, closing the port behind her. He waited, and as promised, quads of data began to transfer to his uplink. He began wading through it, and saw that Vespa Karaci’Tiv had arranged it in a logical pattern, and with her layout, the reason was perfectly clear.

  He leaned forward, pinching his chin and furrowing his vuu-brow as he digested the information. His vuu’erio waved a little in agitation.

  Am I seeing this correctly? he wondered, incredulous again. People of acknowledged higher skill-levels – they aren’t in the highest positions of power or governance! He sat back again. Even the One was only level nine, though there were acknowledged level ten skilled persons going to the Solidarim every few orbises. And the very few level eleven Nil’Gu’ua – they never seemed to even finish Tertius!

  A cold feeling of dread or foreboding settled into his belly. Dare he even ask the question?

  Was this why Mother and Father warned me against showing my full ability? Are – are these the ‘highest’ voices that the anonymous post, that had answered the Alighter, had talked about?

  He could not help himself. His elytra-pace clacked in agitation, and he felt his vuu’erio tennae trying to retract defensively. People of the lowest levels are being forced to places they don’t want to go. People of the highest levels are disappearing quietly. And everyone in the middle is being sent to the Second Star Whorl, if they are not in Tertius. Just what is happening, here? It’s almost like – like...