Chapter 40: The Pit (Patreon)

Terry waited for Silver to answer, but was surprised to note the man was staring at him expectantly. His eyes went wide as he realized what his grandfather intended.

His hand went to his chest in surprise. “Wha—me?”

Silver’s eyes twinkled humorously, the corner of his lip flicking up for the briefest moment. “We didn’t come here for me, kid.” He waved toward Terraform. “Tell him what you need.” His eyes cut back to the super across the desk, his voice low and confident. “And don’t be shy. He’ll pay.”

Terry’s eyes whipped back toward Terraform, expecting the man to bluster or argue. But the S-ranker’s features were smooth, expectant, waiting for Terry to make his requests.

His thoughts suddenly felt frantic, the weight of two S-rankers eyes flustering him into a mental paralysis.

“Uh, um, let’s see.” He was just making noises, stalling for time. The two of them waited patiently—which somehow made his indecision feel worse.

He jumped to his feet, turning away from their stares. Taking a series of deep breaths, he let his mind run. Thoughts began to settle, his eyes unfocusing as his Quest loomed in his mind.

His first thought was to ask for food—and lots of it. If he could ferry enough food to Wichita, he’d finish his Quest, right?

But how long would that last? Feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day…

I need to build a farm, don’t I? The thought frightened him at first. What do I know about farming? Soil, seeds, water, light…and space.

For the first time, he wondered if his grandfather had known that he would need something just like the warehouse. Or was he just providing a ‘lair’ as he had said.

Let’s start from the top and work down. Soil. I need clean, unradiated soil. Enough to fill the warehouse. Rough estimate…200,000 square feet of space. Space per seed varies, but if we use one square foot per as a guide, I’ll need just as many seeds.

That’s the first step. Seeds should be the easiest part. Soil, the hardest.

Which brings me to the next bottleneck—water. The amount of water needed to accommodate that much square footage…yeah, scratch that, water is gonna be the hardest, isn’t it?

Silver’s voice cut across his thoughts. “Perhaps you should think out loud? The two of us can help flesh out what you need?”

Terry turned in surprise, just realizing that he had been pacing in silence for a full minute.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Well, I, uh, need to facilitate an indoor farm. Make enough food for—” He had been about to say Wichita, but bit his tongue. Chances were, Terraform knew who he was and where he hailed from, but there was no point in giving that information for free. “—for a medium-sized city. Or, at least supplement it. I have roughly 200,000 square feet of space—” He turned to Silver for confirmation and the man nodded. “—and I need to get production up as soon as possible. Soil, seeds, water, light…” He trailed off. “I’m sure I’m missing something.”

Silver turned expectantly toward Terraform, who pursed his lips in thought.

“Have you considered hydroponics?” the super asked after a moment.

The word was familiar, but he didn’t know the first thing about it. “No, what’s that?”

Terraform nodded. “It’s a soil-less solution that’s ideal for indoor growers. Water usage is typically ten percent of outdoor farming as well. The plants are submerged or suspended above nutrient-rich water. Because the roots don’t have to fight through the soil to hunt the nutrients, growth rate is accelerated by roughly thirty percent. With the right lighting setup, you can stack them vertically to maximize space.”

Terry’s mouth gaped open as Terraform talked. This sounds like exactly what I need!

The S-ranker couldn’t miss Terry’s excitement and he nodded, seeming to come to a conclusion.

“How about this?” He glanced between both Silver and Terry. “I’ll help get your operation up and running. Provide the gear and the supers.” He waffled his head back and forth. “Say, a team of D-rankers to serve as your growers—Earth and Water Elementalists that I trust.” Terry’s eyes went wide, but Terraform wasn’t done. “You’ll still need a light source. Could do lamps, but that’s costly and natural light is still better than artificial.” He tapped his lips in thought. “Light Elementalists are harder to find. I do know one B-ranker who should be available, but you’ll still have to supplement with lamps, I think.” His lips quirked up in a subtle smile. “There is an S-ranker who specializes in light, but I heard he was killed fighting Emperor Necroton.”

Terry kept his face blank, but his heart tried to pound out of his chest. But why was he nervous? His identity wasn’t exactly a secret. And if Terraform sent a bunch of supplies and supers to Wichita, it wasn’t like he couldn’t put two and two together.

Silver interjected, easing Terry’s anxiety with a casual wave. “Yes, yes, this is Terry Fairway of Wichita. Can’t exactly hide that fact, can we, Terry?”

Terry gave a chagrined smile in answer, rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess I thought my secret identity would hold up for more than a day.” He shrugged. “But I guess I’m a bit of a public figure.” His eyes locked on Terraform, his confidence rising. “And yes, I’m doing this to feed Wichita. Our farms are dust and Topeka isn’t providing enough to supplement.”

Terraform interlocked his fingers on the desk, leaning forward. “I respect you very much for that, young man. It’s rare for supers these days to truly live up to the name, ‘hero’.”

Terry felt a flush of pride fill his chest, though if he were being honest, his System had picked the Quest, not him. But he did agree, this was the best way to use his influence—if not his powers—and help the people of the city he loved.

Terraform seemed to study him a moment longer, than nodded as if he had come to some decision. “I’ll provide whatever you need, young prince.” His eyes cut toward Silver. “And in exchange, we’re even.” It was less question and more statement.

Terry felt himself nodding, more than pleased with the outcome of their conversation—even if he would have the image of that woman’s brain being pulped stuck in his head for a long time to come. But movement in his peripherals drew his eye, only to see Silver shaking his head in disagreement.

“Not quite.” Terraform frowned, but a small smile touched his grandfather’s face. “One last, tiny request.”

“Yes…?” Terraform replied with a hint of annoyance.

Silver turned to Terry, his eyebrows raised expectantly.

A message came across their channel.

[Silver]: Any F-grade Skill you think you might want? Don’t think we have time for you to learn an E-grade, but maybe you could defer something to later?

Terry’s eyes widened in surprise, then his thoughts began to churn.

What is the coolest and most useful Skill? The answer came to him instantly.

He turned back to Terraform, incapable of hiding the smile itching its way across his face.

“I’d like a few hours of time with a Traveler—any rank is fine.” He hesitated, sending a quick message to Silver.

[Terry]: Should I keep my powers a secret? Play it off as something else?

[Silver]: No point. He’ll know no matter what. It’s worth it, though. Plus, we can trust Terraform. He’s good people.

Terry considered that statement, a bit surprised by Silver’s trust in the purveyor of a black market. Not to mention he’d been playing a bit of hardball with the super from the start.

But if Silver thought he could trust Terraform, then that was enough for him.

“I can copy Skills,” he admitted. It felt strange to be so open, but the excitement of getting a crack at a Traveler’s Skill—even an F-grade—overrode his concern. “I’d like a couple hours with a Traveler to copy their F-grade teleport.”

Terraform leaned back, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “Incredible. That’s a very interesting powerset.”

“And that stays between us.” Silver’s posture was loose, casual, but his eyes were full of fire.

Terraform held up his hand to ease his concern. “I’ll consider it part of the arrangement. Everything we’ve discussed today will be in strict confidence.” He turned toward Terry. “Though I can’t guarantee the same for this Traveler. If your Skill is subtle enough, perhaps you can maintain your secrecy…”

Terry shook his head. “No, it’s about as obvious as a copycat can get.”

He spread his hands wide as if to say, there’s nothing I can do, then.

“Terry will wear a mask and a robe while he copies the Skill,” Silver proclaimed. “At least he can maintain his anonymity with whichever Traveler you provide.”

Terraform nodded. “That should work. It’ll take me some time to gather your growing team and the necessary supplies, but I do have a D-rank Traveler in my employ that can assist you.” His eyes locked onto Terry, the corners wrinkling in a soft smile. “I’ll take you directly. He can be a bit…of an acquired taste?”

***

Terry had expected to take another tunnel down to the Market proper; perhaps one connecting to the see-through glass bridges crisscrossing across the cavern.

Instead, Terraform had literally punched a magical hole through the window overlooking the Market, a bridge of twinkling glass extending out into a path that wound down to the central cavern.

The vertigo of walking hundreds of feet above a lava floor inside of a glass tunnel had only lasted a minute or two. Now that he had sort of adjusted, he was able to get a close up look of the Market—and he was stunned speechless.

The glass bridges that had looked like gossamer strands of glass interweaving across the cavern were much longer in person, extending wide enough for ten people to walk side-by-side. And there were at least a hundred of these bridges.

Traffic had picked up since they’d first arrived in Terraform’s office and Terry had to wonder if that was in some part due to the seismic event of Silver’ fight with Skipper. Whatever the case, hundreds of people were out and about now, displaying dazzling magic so casually that it made Wichita feel boring and mundane.

He saw Elementalists ferrying packages with telekinesis, Duelists zipping around pedestrians with superhuman speed, Summoners with teams of summons to carry supplies, and more.

Terry felt dumbstruck at the casual displays, having never been around so many Awakened at once. He doubted if there were more than a hundred supers total in Wichita—most of them below the C-rank. But each of the dozens of bridges seemed to have at least a handful of supers openly displaying powers as they went from one side of the cavern to the other.

“How many supers are there?” he gasped, his eyes trailing from one bridge to the other in giddy delight.

Terraform shrugged at his side. “My Market is a self-sustaining ecosystem, so many choose to live here full time. Perhaps a thousand?” he replied casually.

“A thousand!” Terry blurted in shock.

Terraform chuckled. “Residents, yes. Another couple hundred come and go daily. And many Awakened have retinues of unpowered that attend them. This morning’s census put the population at ten thousand people, give or take.”

Ten thousand…ten thousand people living underground, going about their days as if they weren’t beneath a million tons of rock suspended above a pit of lava.

Terraform noted his open-mouthed shock. “Keep in mind, most are in the Cs or Ds. I don’t allow many S-rankers into my Market.” His eyes flicked toward Silver with a flat look. “They tend to be territorial and difficult to manage.” Silver placed a hand over his heart in mock outrage. “But many of the A- and B-rankers present represent an S-ranked faction.”

So many supers…

“How do you maintain control?” Terraform’s head whipped around and Terry blanched. Only after the words left his mouth did he realize how the question sounded, considering what had basically been a breach of security less than an hour earlier. He held up his hands to protest his innocence. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound smart. I just mean…” He looked around, taking in the number of people—and that didn’t include those tucked away in the rooms honeycombed in the cavern wall. “I imagine it’s a fulltime job.”

Terraform was quick to wave away Terry’s concern that he had offended the man. A wry smile touched his lips as he regarded Terry. “Look where we are, young prince.” Terry glanced down, his stomach doing somersaults as his vertigo kicked in. “Everything you see is my domain. There isn’t a super alive that could challenge me here. Even Skipper took a quick snipe at Silver here, then bolted when he proved too resilient. Qui Shen himself couldn’t claim the Market—not without paying dearly, anyway.”

Mention of the other Singularity owner besides Dancer and Silver piqued Terry’s interest. He turned toward his grandfather. “How did Skipper know you had the Physical Singularity? From earlier conversations, it seemed like something that wasn’t completely transparent.”

Silver’s face dropped and Terraform crossed his arms smugly.

“Yes,” the Elementalist asked with a wry tone. “How did Skipper recognize the Singularity in you?”

Silver rubbed at the back of his neck, a chagrined smile on his lips. “Mighta shown off a smidge.” He suddenly pointed an accusatory finger toward Terraform. “He denied me a token of entry and I got a little…annoyed.”

“Oh, it’s my fault, then?” Terraform asked sarcastically.

“Well, it was your partner who tried to kill me and take my grandson hostage!”

Terry blanched at those words. Had Silver accidentally let slip that they were related, or did Terraform already know. Whatever the case, the man didn’t acknowledge the information as new, instead whirling around to face Silver.

“And how long are you gonna hold that against me, Lance?”

Lance…?

“Wait,” Terry interrupted. “You guys know each other?”

Terraform scowled, while Silver chuckled. “Course we do,” his grandfather replied. “All us old birds know each other. Super community was lot more tight knit back in my day.”

Terraform rubbed at his face, a weary look taking home there. “Times were simpler, that’s for sure.” He looked off, seeming lost in thought. When he looked back, there was sadness, maybe regret, in his eyes. “If I had to trace the fall back to anything, it was your disappearance. Soon as it became clear you weren’t coming back, the factions started nipping at each other’s heels.”

That information shocked Terry silent and he whipped around to stare at Silver. Just who was his grandfather, that he had been so important forty years ago?

“Yeah, well…what’s done is done,” Silver replied wearily.

Terraform simply nodded and silence reigned for the rest of the trip. It was only another minute before their moving glass bridge connected with another bridge near the top of the cavern. The passing traffic glanced over curiously, though they seemed to be staring more so at Silver and Terry than Terraform’s casual working.

Before they’d left Terraform’s office, he’d at least provided a mask and robes, so Terry wasn’t feeling completely exposed. But he couldn’t miss the curious looks bordering on hungry that were cast his way.

“Enough reminiscing,” Terraform suddenly said as they settled on the connecting bridge. “That way is the residence.” He pointed to the right. “Mostly private apartments—nothing that would interest you. But this way are the service sectors. There’s a crafter’s sector for the Artificers, Catalysts, and Alterants. A healer’s sector for the Infusers. There’s also a mental health wing inside the healer’s sector where you can hire Hypnotists.” He glanced toward Terry. “If you’d like, we can remove the memory of Irilan’s death.”

Terry narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Irilan? Oh…oh.” His mind flashed to that sticky ichor creeping across the hardwood toward his foot, the sounds of her primal screams as her skull was compressed into splinters. But worse than that, was the idea of letting another person inside his mind. “I’ll be okay…thanks.”

Terraform nodded as if he had expected the answer.

“We call this large open cavern the Pit.” Terraform indicated the large drop down to the lava below with a grin. “You can probably guess why. I’ll take you to the service sector, but if you get hungry or thirsty, the food and entertainment sectors are toward the far wall.” He indicated the section of the Pit directly opposite his office. “There’s cafeterias, street vendors with infused food, theaters, sims, and so on.” He pulled out a small coin from a breast pocket and held it toward Terry. It appeared bronze, but as he looked, it shifted colors to silver, gold, emerald, ruby, and back to brown in an ever-shifting kaleidoscope. “This is my token. Present it to any of the vendors or entertainment venues in that third sector and you’ll be fed and entertained free of charge. It’s not valid tender in the services sector, though.”

Terry reached out and took the coin, surprised at its warmth and the rough texture despite its smooth appearance. “Thanks.”

Terraform nodded and continued leading them toward the services sector. “Let’s go see Marlon. He’s the D-ranked Traveler I mentioned. Once I’ve made the introductions, I’ll need to leave you two. Despite the seemingly placid nature of the Market, Skipper’s betrayal has left a lot of loose ends to be snipped.”

“Fine with me,” Silver replied easily. “Don’t need a chaperone, anyhow.”

Terry looked over to see a mischievous glint in his grandfather’s eyes.

Terraform sighed, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. “Don’t get into any trouble, hm? My attention’s split enough as it is.”

“No promises,” Silver said with a wink in Terry’s direction.

Terry rolled his eyes at his grandfather and turned to Terraform. “We won’t, sir.”

Terraform smiled, thumbing toward Terry while he spoke to Silver. “Seems like growing up without you as a bad influence has done wonders for his manners.”

Silver chuckled. “Yeah, lots of habits to break on that one.” He arched a brow toward Terry, then laughed as the boy crossed his arms.

As they neared the end of the glass bridge leading toward the wall holding the services sector, a man rushed out from the end of the tunnel, his eyes catching on Terraform with a look of recognition. He beelined for the three of them, in a state of clear agitation.

“Terraform, sir, news on Tunnel 37—”

Terraform cut the man off with a raised hand and continued leading Terry and Silver toward the interior of the services sector. Terry looked back, shocked at the man’s apparent rudeness, only to see that a golem made of pure glass had risen from the bridge and was taking the runner’s report.

“How do you split your attention like that?” Terry wondered out loud. “You must be pulled in so many directions.”

Terraform looked down at him with a smile. “Most Elementalists think Presence Attributes are the most important. And they are important, don’t get me wrong. But they use that as an excuse to neglect their Mentals. But that’s the trick, Terry. I worked decades to get my Processing Attributes into the S-ranks.” He glanced toward Silver. “I’m sure Lance will explain more in time.” He looked back, his eyes narrowed intently. “Don’t neglect your Mental Attributes. They’re important for every Class, not just Savant.”

Terraform continued to lead them into the interior of the services sector, which was well lit by Artificed lamps that exuded a subtle aura to Terry’s senses. At first, he considered asking to stop in order to test if his Skills would work on the Artifacts. But then they entered the crafter’s area and his eyes widened at the scene before him.

A wide boulevard stretched out before them, cut directly into the stone. Shop fronts lined either side and both neon and magical lights flashed in competition for his attention. Pedestrian traffic was thicker here as people came and went from the shops or traveled the boulevard.

As the three of them started down the road, eyes followed them surreptitiously—no doubt wondering who the two strangers were that warranted Terraform’s direct attention rather than that of one of his golems.

Terry tried not to wither under the stares, his mask and hood giving him some semblance of mental armor under those questing eyes. Thankfully, they didn’t have to travel far before Terraform turned down a side street, heading straight for the building at the end. Above the doorway was a flashing neon sign with a stylized portal flickering invitingly. As they approached, a smaller handwritten sign was taped to the inner window.

No, I can’t portal people into or out of the Market! Stop asking!

Terraform chuckled as his eyes flicked over the sign. He turned back with a shrug.

“Seems some folks have been trying to bypass the Market restrictions on Travel.” His lips pinched with realization. “It’s only gonna get worse without Skip on hand.”

A voice called out from inside the store, full of heat and impatience.

“Get in or clear the way! You’re blocking the way for actual paying customers!”