Chapter 9 of The Other Breed: The Spider and the Mysterious Metal Object

It’s not long before Ibei sweeps us out of the room, telling us that Ki both wants us to ‘greet the gods’ and to ‘create profiles.’ I’m not sure what either of those entail, but Ibei’s brisk attitude tells me that they’re important.

Hombre’s silent, deep in thought. I bite my lip, wondering if I should say something, but not sure if he wants to talk to anyone. Ibei begins to lead us to the lobby and the guards stationed by our door follow. I think that these are different men and women than the guards yesterday, but there are still six of them and they’re still just as intimidating.

“It’s busier in here today,” Beth says, staring over at the dining area as we walk across the lobby floor.

I nod in agreement. The tables are full of people. Their skin tones and features advertise a range of ethnicities and backgrounds, both Iidan and Evenen. They wear even stranger costumes than those I saw yesterday, more elaborate and complex, clearly made for people with wealth. There aren’t any children, or really anyone below the age of forty.

We barely have any time to look at them, though, as Ibei marches briskly to the doors that lead outside, the guards hurrying us after her. She’s quiet, her lips pursed, and I assume that she probably has more important things to do than to escort us.

We exit into the same muggy heat as yesterday, the dim light signifying that it’s early morning. The mirrors are only barely starting to catch the light and funnel it down, but the sun’s rising quickly to greet them.

Beth fans herself, making a face.

Alyssa frowns, “It’s not that hot.”

“Maybe not to you, but I’m dying,” Beth responds.

Hombre’s the last one of us out of the hotel, the two guards at his side looking a bit impatient as they try to hurry him forward. He ignores them, his face cloudy.

“Are you alright?” I ask him.

He pauses briefly before the edges of his mouth turn up, “Are you worried about me?”

I gawk at him for a moment, my cheeks growing hot before I blurt out: “No.”

He grins, “Sure.” He tames his smile a bit, his look becoming more serious as he reassures me, “I’ll be alright, chica. Just give me a bit of space for now, okay?”

“Okay,” I agree and turn around before I embarrass myself further. I can’t help but to copy his smile, though, glad that he can still joke around.

Two other people are waiting by the elevators, both with the roughly-textured skin that seems to be an Iidan trait. One is a tall, stately woman whose wrinkled skin is as pale as snow, her cheeks tinged pink. She wears a stiff, white dress and her silver hair is pulled back into a tight bun. Ornate tattoos decorate the area around her eyes. They depict two bizarre animals fighting and devouring each other, one like a wolf, but with horns and skin like a rhino, and the other resembling a giraffe, but with fangs and lavender spots that mimic the color of the woman’s irises. She examines us coolly, though a sheen of sweat and the fan she carries makes it obvious that, unlike the other Iida I’ve seen, the heat affects her. A man stands next to her, dressed all in black. He’s young, with short-cropped hair, and from the way he stands he seems to defer to her, like he’s a bodyguard or a servant. He tugs his collar a bit, as if he’s hot, too, and I can see some lines on his neck from a tattoo hidden under his suit.

“Ibei,” the pale woman says, nodding to her. “Is Ki using you as a guide, now?”

Ibei gives her a tight smile, “These are important guests, Maera Amisa. I suppose you are on your way to lunch?”

“Yes,” the woman confirms, her eyes sweeping over us curiously, “I promised to dine with the new delegate from Espis.”

The elevator arrives. I take a step forward, expecting to get on, but step on Alyssa’s heels, instead.

“Ow!” she hisses.

“Sorry,” I apologize, watching as the woman nods once more to Ibei and then steps into the elevaor. Apparently she’s important enough to make Ibei defer to her.

“Who is she?” I ask as the door swivels shut and the woman and her bodyguard disappear.

“A delegate from the Southland,” Ibei responds. She watches as the next elevator swings open and then gestures for us to enter as she continues, “She’s second in line for their throne.”

It’s a bit claustrophobic in the elevator, but we file in, anyways. Hombre goes to the corner, leaning against the wall while he glares at the guards, and Beth, Alyssa, and I clump together, near Ibei.

“Why is she here?” Alyssa asks Ibei as the doors close behind us and we start to descend.

The woman looks at Alyssa and frowns, as if she expected a better question, “Fyeptari Command has been sending delegates to the towers so that others can appraise our situation. The more important they are, the more sway they hold. Unfortunately, now that Iifa’s been spotted, I suspect that none of the delegates will be here much longer. They will, no doubt, evacuate via the tunnels to the coast. As this tower is the furthest from Iifa’s encampment and the only one still reliably connected to the outer world, I suppose that we will have to pray to the Spider that what they’ve seen is enough to convince other countries that we need aid.”

“The Spider?” I ask, frowning.

Ibei sighs, as if bored by the question, “The Spider is one of the main Evenen gods, under Vehnia, of course. Both of them are among the dieties we’re going to greet in the temple.” She pauses, her eyes sweeping over us judgmentally, “Well, only should you wish to, I suppose. The Highest is a believer in respect for the gods, though it’s clear you know none of them. Just consider it tradition.”

The elevator doors open again and Ibei leads us through another small, empty lobby and out to a catwalk, the guards moving into formation around us.

Beth groans, looking at the metal path leading away from the pillar, “Do we have to go across the pit on these? Don’t you have something a bit more stable?”

“No,” Ibei says, shortly, eyeing Beth with annoyance.

Beth pleads, “Can’t I just go back?”

Ibei emphasizes, “The Highest wants these things to happen today.”

Beth lets out a sigh, then closes her eyes and grabs my hand, telling me, “Please tell me when we reach somewhere not scary.”

“Sure,” I tell her. As I guide her forward, she peeks out from beneath her eyelids and then sucks in a breath and shuts them tight.

“Do you want me on your other side?” Alyssa asks her.

“Uh . . . maybe?” Beth responds, her grip tight on my hand. She peeks out again at Alyssa, “Just don’t make fun of me, alright?”

Alyssa heaves a sigh as she moves to her other side, “You’re taking all of the fun out of this.”

“Shut up,” Beth mutters.

Ibei’s already charging ahead, and I can see the guards getting antsy, so Alyssa and I lead Beth forward.

I hear Hombre speak to the guards, “So, there are three of you staying behind with me, but six guards in total. Shouldn’t you break it up a bit more evenly?”

“This was the Highest’s command,” one of them says.

“So you can talk, now?” Hombre asks.

There’s no response.

He sighs, “Great. Ki apparently thinks I’m a violent idiot.”

There’s still no response, but Hombre doesn’t provoke them further.

We’re walking on a different level than yesterday, though still close to the top. These catwalks crisscross between the pillars and the wall, only occasionally leading out to the fields that fill the central area around the tower.

“Whoa!” Beth shouts in surprise as a train whistles underneath us. It moves along a strategically-placed track which disrupts as little of the fields’ intricate lighting set-up as possible. The cars are nowhere near as full as they were last night. Perhaps everyone’s at work. They have to work here, too, right?

“You’re okay,” I reassure Beth. “It was just a train. The station’s close by, but it doesn’t look like we’re going there.”

She nods, looking relieved. I see Alyssa bite back a comment I’m sure Beth wouldn’t have approved of.

This path isn’t particularly busy, but every person we pass carries themselves with arrogance, or at least importance. Many have bodyguards and nod to Ibei like they know her, their inquisitive gazes on us.

“It’s too bad you don’t want to look,” I say to Beth as a thin, older woman passes by us in a fur ensemble streaked with electric blue, hot pink, and goldenrod. “I think you’d like some of these fashions.”

Beth mutters, “I’ve seen enough. I’m fine.”

As we keep walking, drawing nearer to the wall and the temple-like building I’d observed yesterday, I’m surprised that Alyssa isn’t more vocal, considering how much she’d been babbling before. I guess that’s a good thing? I eye her warily, but she seems alright.

The catwalks above us are much busier. We must’ve passed through a main thoroughfare yesterday. It looks like some of the areas below us have just as much traffic, but the buildings down there are nowhere near as polished. Some areas have been built up, but the quality of the structures steadily declines the further down you go. I think about the people we saw in the main tower’s lobby, the ones in rags, and wonder if they hail from somewhere far below us, where the light is only artificial.

“Ibei, does it get a lot hotter as you go down?” Alyssa asks, looking over the edge.

Ibei nods, “Yes. My people cannot stand the heat after a certain level. We must rely on the Iida who live down there to man the geothermal plants and provide us with energy and raw materials from the earth. For this reason, the Iida mostly reside near the bottom and the Evenen reside near the top. We tend to crops and trade while they do some of the work we can’t.”

Alyssa nods and falls silent, considering what she’s said. I suppose that the furs I’ve seen most of the Iida wearing make sense, now, if they’re used to hotter temperatures. But how much hotter is it down there? I frown, not sure I want to find out.

We step onto a long path, which is anchored to the wall underneath two ordered rows of beautiful, shiny houses. We can’t get much more solid unless we walk into the tunneled pathways to our right, so I tell Beth, “You can open your eyes, now.”

She lets out a sigh of relief and releases both Alyssa’s hand and mine. The guards are insistent on walking on both sides of us, so Beth and Alyssa step in front of me and our single-file line continues to follow the silent Ibei.

“I don’t like how much they’re staring at us,” Hombre remarks, behind me. I look back at him to see him grimace as he looks up at some Evenen on a balcony, eyeing us as they sip from pretty cups.

I shrug, “I don’t really like it, either. But I guess if I were looking at us, as a stranger, I’d probably stare, too.”

Hombre sighs, “I was hoping that, when I encountered other people, they’d be a lot less like the ones I knew. I guess that was too much to ask for.”

I frown, curious about what he means by this, but bite back my questions, “Well, not everyone’s the same. Maybe it’s like this here, but it could be different elsewhere.”

He meets my eyes for a moment and then looks away, “I hope you’re right. I saw enough evil when I was little, and then, when I finally found somewhere safe . . .”

I smile, cautiously, “Whatever happened, it allowed you to meet us. You don’t think we’re evil, right?”

He pauses, staring at me, and then finally smiles, “Alyssa might be.”

I laugh, and feel lucky that she doesn’t seem to have heard him.

The path begins to slope upward as we pass through a number of shops. The smells of cooking waft through the air as we pass by restaurants, the patrons inside feasting on strange delicacies. Other stores are filled with clothes, bizarre technologies, or books, among other things, and the paths are decorated with art from vendors, as well as advertisements for businesses, products, and entertainment. Parks branch off from the paths, extending out into the pit over office buildings which are covered with flashy facades. They occasionally host statues or gaudy performers. As we keep walking, we cross in front of a huge, elaborate theater and on the other side of it I see what must be our destination: the gigantic temple and the grounds which surround it.

As we begin to walk through one of the outer gardens, heading toward the main building, Ibei says: “The Highest wanted me to show you this place not only for the greeting, but also because it is where we store what knowledge remains of the portal and the murals. He believes that this information may be useful in your time here. The priests tend to the books, so they will likely be a future resource,” She gestures at a few of the violet-robed men and women littering the area, many of whom are lost in prayer or books.

We pass a group of children, singing as they form a pinwheel: “The Spider, the Spider! Crouching unseen, he creeps and creeps – crawling up high to feel the breeze. He weaves his web and the Evenen sing: Spider, Spider! Give us what we need.”

A violet-robed woman approaches the children, her eyes wary as she watches us pass, and she tells them, “Time for lessons.”

They all clumsily fall into a line.

The woman shakes her head: “Come, come. You can do better. If your parents had sent you all to study with the soldiers or the Noble Protectors, you would have punished by now.”

“The Spider, the Spider!” One of the children starts to sing again. The woman shushes him, but he keeps talking, “Can we sing the one about Menilyrth?”

Ibei turns to glare at them and the children fall silent instantly.

As Ibei leads us up the broad steps of the temple, Alyssa tilts her head and asks, “Who’s Menilyrth?”

Ibei responds, “The sea-dragon goddess, the ruler of all the waters. According to those who believe in the Spider, she is our mother and he is our father.”

The tone of her voice doesn’t encourage us to try questioning her further.

We walk through the open doors of the temple to see a huge hall, relatively plain except for the statue in the center, which mimics the one in the lobby where we’d first met Ki. The woman in this sculpture strikes an identical pose, though she’s only about half the height, and the same dragon comes down to meet her.

A number of other carvings adorn plinths in small alcoves on the side, some of them people and some of them animals. I can’t help but notice that one space is conspicuously empty near the front. There are a few other people here, and, though they approach and consider each statue in turn, clearly performing some religious ritual, I see them deliberately avoid the empty alcove. I vaguely wonder who or what might have once rested there and I can think only of Iifa. I’m not brave enough to ask Ibei.

I find my gaze pulled toward a painting on the opposite wall, far above us, of a hideous creature, with lots of arms and a set of wings. It’s posed as if about to spring, its arms tangled together.

“What is that?” Hombre asks. He nods at the painting.

“That?” Ibei looks at it, “Perhaps some type of creature that used to live in the pits. Whatever it is, it’s long gone.”

“Who are the statues of?” Alyssa asks as she draws close to the nearest one, a haughty man whose hands sweep turbulent water around the base of his form.

“As I said before, the gods and goddesses we worship here. The statue in the center is Vehnia.” Ibei looks impatient. Beth and I exchange a glance, wary of her temper. Ibei says, “I am sure they are all of little consequence to you, but I was told to let you greet them, so do as you will.”

Beth and I hesitate a moment and then wander forward together, both of us silently agreeing that the center statue seems to be the most important. Beth pauses, unsure, and then decides to bow to the woman, and I glance back at Ibei before I do the same. After another moment of hesitation, Beth steps toward Alyssa to join her in examining the statues lining the wall. Both of them seem legitimately interested in the carvings, though I’m sure for different reasons. I don’t know what else to do, so I drift back to Ibei. I see Hombre staring at the carving of Vehnia, as if he wonders if he should go up to it, but he doesn’t move.

I look around. I can see doors on either side which lead to side rooms with massive shelves full of manuscripts, small groups huddled at tables to study them. I wonder how far back into the wall the whole place goes, but I’m not particularly eager to linger. There’s an odd feeling here, a disquiet.

Ibei’s tone is sharp as she addresses Beth and Alyssa, “Come. We have other things to do.”

They both look a bit reluctant to leave but neither complains.

We exit and begin to wind our way along pathways, some of which are orderly and some of which seem to have been added on as an after-thought. Ibei points out some of the core landmarks, whether they be government buildings, museums, or historical sites. The sun has stretched high into the sky above us by the time we find ourselves outside the structure I’d noticed last night, the one that ripples constantly with images. A vast courtyard marks the entrance to the building, a park behind us, and grand stairs lead up to a number of glass doors, the images moving above them. Small pockets of people stand and observe the building as it changes, though a few walk by it easily, as if accustomed to such a dazzling sight. Ibei and the guards seem almost smug as we stop to stare up at it, though I’m sure that they’ll soon be tugging us toward some new destination.

Beth’s jaw is slack as she gapes up at it, a “Wow,” escaping her lips.

“How does it do that?” Alyssa asks as the building displays a view off the top of a mountain, under which the ocean is split by an uncountable number of islands. The edge of the building seems to move as birds rush through the scene and out the corner. I back up to take it in more, stepping away from the guards, and am surprised that none of them grab me. Maybe they’ve figured out we won’t run off.

Ibei shrugs, staring up at the image as well as she answers Alyssa, “This is Espacorp’s building. Joiri Tema founded the company out of Moasin in Erita. It’s currently one of the largest companies in the world. He’s an inventor, most notably pioneering the technology which allows individuals to print products at home.”

Beth frowns, “Print products?”

Ibei looks as if she can’t believe that Beth doesn’t know what she’s talking about, “If you wish to have, say, a chair, you would simply send it to the printer in your home. It would get made for you immediately, so that you don’t have to waste time travelling to the store.”

Suddenly I’m sprawled on the floor, not quite sure how I got there. I rub my elbow, where I connected with the ground, and wince.

“Apologies, apologies,” a voice says, a hand shooting out to help me.

I look up to meet the gaze of an Iidan man with the kind of features which make his age difficult to pinpoint. A boyish grin stretches across his face as I take his hand and he pulls me up.

“Alright then,” he says. He looks at me, frowning, and then whispers, “Do you mind doing me a favor and taking this?”

“Uh – ” I start, but there’s already some strange, metal object in my grip.

He smiles at me, pats my hand, and says, “Just get rid of it.”

A guard is at my side, now.

The man grins up at him and says, “She won’t like it if you hurt me. I’m gone, anyways.”

Before either the guard or I can say anything, he dashes off, disappearing into one of the tunnels. The guard grabs my elbow and pulls me back to the group, the metal object still in my hand. Alyssa, Beth, and Hombre stare at me, though Ibei’s still answering a question.

Beth frowns, speaking underneath Ibei’s monologue, “You alright?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Just gonna have some bruises.”

Ibei stops in mid-sentence, blinks, and then looks after the man. “Was that - ?” she begins, but she’s almost immediately interrupted by the shouting of a crowd of people as they charge into the courtyard.

One skinny, desperate-looking man stops next to us and shouts, “Sir! Sir! Where did you go?” He suddenly catches sight of Ibei, freezes, and then hurriedly says, “Apologies. Not trying to bother you.”

A woman flies into one of our guards and then goes sprawling onto the pavement. The place is suddenly full of people, the paths congested, and the guards draw in close to us.

“It’s time to go,” Ibei says as the crowd flows through the courtyard. She looks around, “We won’t be able to create your profiles today.”

“Why?” Beth asks, clearly not eager to brave the catwalks again.

Ibei frowns, and I realize that she’s reading some flashing text on the display over her eye, “There is a . . . situation. It is not of your concern. Come.”

The guard who led me back to the group still hasn’t released my arm, and I shake him off as we drop back into a single-file line, the guards pushing away the people swarming around us as we follow Ibei to a path that leads us away from the area. As I press my fingers into the metal object in my hand, I look up to see another view fill the screen, one of a deep pit, placed right alongside a mountain. The camera sweeps along a city that stretches from the bottom of the pit to the very top of the mountain, huge skyscrapers reaching up past the snowy peak. Then we pass under a building and my view is blocked.

There isn’t even enough time to look at whatever the man’s given me as Ibei rushes us back to the pillar, clearly spooked by something. I wonder what it is and if it has to do with that man I bumped into . . . or the small object pressing into my palm.