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Needing Cassidy Chapter 14

Writer's picture: Lacey St. SinLacey St. Sin


CHAPTER 14


The next morning was something of an event for the compound. The nearby water facility had finally been repaired to working order and since it ran off of it’s own solar power system, the power that had been devoted to ensuring there was water to the compound was now freed up. That meant two very important things; first was that there was no longer a three minute limit on shower length. Though Draven, the Livarian’s leader, or Prime, had asked that they only extend the limit to six minutes at first, until they were certain that the system wouldn’t be overwhelmed. The second benefit was that the energy field could be expanded.


The first step of the expansion had taken place that morning, the field that had previously been set firmly behind the learning center was now three streets beyond that building, encompassing a whole new set of structures, and a few spaces that were to be turned into gardens.


Since Becky was ill, Cassidy and Emily had been sent to assess the new areas. So far it looked promising with the same deep and rich dark earth that the vegetables seemed to be doing so well in. There were a few smaller spaces, too, that might be ideal for some of the botanic project Becky was running.


They should return to the dorm, and Cassidy had to get to the medical building and see how Becky was doing and if Tor needed any help. Some of her samples from the orchard should be ready for testing as well, not that they were a priority at the moment, but she didn’t want to lose momentum with that project either.


...But the opportunity she had right then to explore, to learn more about the history of this world, her world now, while still within the safety of the energy field, was impossible to forego.


She looked at the buildings around her, they were mostly in good shape, which was why the field had been expanded in that direction, but they hadn’t been cleared out. Not totally anyway, the Livarians were working on it diligently. Pulling out furniture and personal items.


She found herself drawn to a stack of various things that had been placed on the path in front of one of the buildings. A home, or several homes divided into apartments, by the looks of it. She picked up a fist sized cube, the strange material gave beneath the gentle press her fingers, and yet, when she tightened her grip it firmed. There was a multitude of seams that ran along it, indicating that it might be manipulated.


Curious, she picked at one of the lines with a fingernail. It resisted at first, before a small, disk like section slid open. She was startled into nearly dropping the thing when an image flashed into her mind. A landscape, viewed from above. Stony outcroppings topped in long flat plateaus stood out from a desert floor. The crevices between them creating an endless maze of passages, most ending abruptly or splitting off into progressively narrower cracks. Near the center of natural maze stood what looked to be an oasis. A lake of blue green water surrounded by greenery, complete with a pyramid-like temple on the lake’s shore that rose up several stories before flattening off at the top.


“The wastes of Giniue,” a voice to her left startled her. She blinked and the image faded enough that she could make out one of the Livarian guards who had wandered over to see what she was doing. “That will be the holy city of Ninaqui, see how well the buildings are hidden around the temple?”


It was weird, but when Cassidy’s attention was directed back to the image it seemed to get stronger, so much so that she couldn’t make out the shape of the Livarian any longer. She wanted to ask about it, but first she squinted at the temple, barely able to make out slight wavers in the greenery around it. Houses? Some sort of man...or Livarian made structure anyway.


“The people of Giniue are...were...generally nomadic, they traveled the wastes, in tribes, dealing and trading with those on the wasteland’s edges. The country lies north and east of here, at the far side of the continent. There are many valuable minerals that litter the area, but the Livarians that populate the wastes, the Ninaq, were secretive of their location, as well as the tricks to surviving the many dangers the wastes present. They passed down the secrets, orally, from one generation to the next. Anything they once knew is lost to us now,” the Livarian said a little sadly. Cassidy blinked toward him and found the image had dissipated entirely.


“This is a child’s toy, a learning book, like the encyclopedias that were brought back from Earth for the learning center,” he looked up from the cube in her hand and met her eyes. Golden flecks sparked at her with good humor, surrounded by a mass of lashes so thick she couldn’t help but be a little jealous. His features were kind and good natured, handsome as the Livarians tended to be. His markings were minimal, just a dark band on his ears and some soft shading along his jawline. “I wouldn’t have thought it operational after all this time,” he gestured to the device.


Cassidy tucked the emerged disk back in its slot and turned the cube over, studying it.


“How does it do that? Get the picture into my head?”


The Livarian smiled and tapped his temple. “It’s all about the neurotransmitter, it transmits to any within a short distance unless you know how to block it.”


“But it’s for children,” Cassidy protested. “How would they interact with it, they wouldn’t have a chip...would they?”


“We found it easiest to be outfitted at birth, by the age of two or three most of our children could run a vast amount of our technology with a simple thought.”


Cassidy shuddered. She had raised her siblings, all five of them, while her parents worked their assess off trying to make ends meet. She’d had a challenging enough time of it without them being able to control random technology with their minds. Especially the twins, God, it would have been a disaster. Someone would have died for sure.


“I’m not going to lie, that sounds terrible,” she told him, startling a laugh out of him.


“You have experience with children then?” he wanted to know, a keen interest entering his eyes.


“You could say that,” she hedged, turning her attention back to the cube and its ability to transmit information straight into her mind. “Why would you want that? Didn’t it cause a lot of problems?”


The Livarain shrugged. “At times. The war had many effects on what once was. The biggest was that the as we became more desperate, the technology race with the Kirich started to direct many of our people’s decisions, for better or worse. It was long before my generation, even, when they began teaching children to to manage, create, or hijack any tech that would keep us one step ahead of our enemies.”


Well that was just...sad. She imagined tiny little Livarian children, pressured to perform, an overwhelming amount of information transmitted directly into their little heads.

As if the guard had read her thoughts he shook his head slightly. “It is just one part of our history,” he told her, “and one we would do well to remember, lest we find our selves repeating it.”





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