Bryan Davis - Eye of the Oracle

Mara grumbled under her breath. Elohim had spoken to her before. Why didn’t he want to speak now? Was he just too busy? Or maybe she did something wrong, and he was mad at her.

She pushed on the top of her head with her hand. There was just too much to think about! It felt like her brains were about to explode!

She laid her head on her dress and sighed. For some reason, she still wanted to hold the egg close, so she pressed its cool glass against her cheek and nuzzled her dirty pillow. As her mind wandered toward sleep, a low voice whispered in her ear. It was so soothing, she didn’t want to wake up to see if it was real. If it was a dream, she wanted to keep dreaming, imagining that a gentle stranger cared enough to speak to her.

“Sapphira Adi,” it sang. “You are Sapphira Adi, a gem as beautiful as the clearest sky, and your value to me is greater than any gem in all the world. . Sapphira Adi.”

Mara smiled and whispered, “Sapphira Adi,” then drifted off to sleep.

Sapphira closed the scroll and slid it to the edge of the table, pushing aside an embryo jar to make room. With Mardon away for so long, there was no one to dispose of the weaker plants, and she didn’t have the heart to do it herself, so the worktable had become crowded with the new genetic combinations she had tried over the last hundred or so days. She set her chin on her hands and sighed. All she really wanted to do was to climb into the tower shelves and read their literary treasures, but Morgan kept making excuses and giving her more work to do.

In a sarcastic tone, Sapphira mocked her mistress’s harsh voice. “Not until I find the scroll I’m looking for. If you don’t have enough work to do, perhaps you would like to return to the trenches.”

She blew out a loud sigh. At least she had one scroll to look at, but only a few minutes each night to read it. She couldn’t risk falling asleep before putting it back in its hiding place, a narrow hole in her mattress. But those few moments of drinking in Enoch’s mysterious story were worth the risk, even though she couldn’t understand most of it.

A soft, rustling sound made her turn her head. Her spawn had awakened, yawning and smacking his lips. Grabbing a tin full of plant food and her piece of graphite, she shuffled over to Yereq’s chamber and knelt in front of him. “Hungry?”

Yereq gave her a short nod and grinned.

She showed him the hunk of graphite. “Do you want this?”

The little pod’s brow lowered, and a tiny tongue protruded from his lips.

She laughed and dipped her finger in the food. “How about this?”

Yereq pulled his tongue back in and opened his mouth.

Sapphira stuffed the damp morsel in. “I think you’re already smarter than Nabal was. I’m not even going to tell you what I saw him eating once.” As she dipped her finger in again, the control room door opened, and a little girl peeked in.

Sapphira jumped up, leaving the food tin on the floor. “Paili! You’re not supposed to be in here!”

Paili waved her hand frantically. “Come now!”

Sapphira ran to the door and escorted her out, spinning the wheel behind her. “How did you unlock it?”

She pointed at the wheel. “I watch you.”

Sapphira set her hands on her hips. “Okay, what did you want?”

Paili waved her hand. “Come!” She picked up a lantern next to the door and ran into the tunnel. Sapphira chased her, following the bouncing ball of light through the darkness. Paili turned into a side room, and when Sapphira caught up, she leaned against the doorway to catch her breath. Inside, Paili set the lantern on a flat stone table that dominated the center of the small chamber. Atop the table, various breads, fruits, and vegetables were spread from end to end. The aroma of stew drifted through the room, wafting from a huge pot dangling over an open floor vent against the wall.

Paili stirred the pot with a ladle nearly as long as she was tall, and the light from the magma stream underneath the kitchen washed her face in an orange glow. “I cook,” Paili said. She skipped over to the table and picked up a red, oblong fruit. “Morgan bring.”

Sapphira took the fruit and held it in her hands. Instantly, the Ovulum in her pocket stung her leg like a hot poker. She dropped the fruit onto the table and stepped back. “Morgan wants you to put that in the stew?”

Paili nodded.

“How did you know to come to me?”

“I dream.” She pointed at the fruit and stuck out her tongue, grimacing. “That bad.”

Sapphira wrapped the girl in her arms. “Oh, Paili! You did the right thing! You were so brave to come into the control room and find me.”

“I knock.” She pushed her finger into Sapphira’s stomach. “You not come.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.” Sapphira picked up a knife from the table and tapped it against the stone. “If you don’t put it in the stew, she’ll probably figure it out, and then you’ll be in big trouble.” She chopped down on the fruit and split it in two. Inside, a half dozen tiny red seeds spilled out from the core of the cream-colored flesh.

Sapphira snapped her fingers. “Is there another pot in here?”

Paili pointed under the table. “Two more.”

Sapphira pulled out one of them and hustled it to the bigger stewpot. Transferring ladle full after ladle full, she filled the new pot about halfway with stew. “Okay,” she said, grunting as she lifted the new pot to the table. “Go ahead and put the fruit in the big pot, and I’ll hide this one in our hovel. We’ll pass the word that Morgan’s up to something and warn them not to eat the stew tonight. If anyone listens to us, she can come to our hovel and get something to eat after baths.”

Paili nodded and picked up the two halves of fruit. “I eat. . our stew. . later.”

Sapphira patted her on the head. “Good girl.” She let out a long sigh. “But will anyone else believe us?”

In the darkness of the hovel, Sapphira slurped stew from a ladle. “Ahhh!” she said, handing the dipper to Paili.

“Good?” Paili asked.

“Excellent!” Sapphira wiped her mouth on her sleeve, then jerked her arm down. “Oops. I shouldn’t have done that. Now there’s stew on my tunic.”

“No one come to eat,” Paili said.

Sapphira nodded slowly. “I know. Not even Taalah. I guess they all ate that fruit.”

Paili pointed at a light in the mouse hole. “Qatan have lantern?”

Sapphira pressed a finger to her lips and slid down to the floor. “Elam?” she whispered, “Are you there?”

“Yes,” came the quiet voice.

She put her lips near the hole, hoping a whisper could make it through. “Have you had dinner yet?”

“No. I don’t eat until Nabal’s finished. I get whatever he leaves behind. I don’t know if I’ll get anything tonight, though. I haven’t seen him in quite a while.”

Sapphira drummed her fingers on the floor. “Listen. Even if they do feed you, don’t eat the stew. Morgan made Paili put something bad in it, some kind of poisoned fruit.”

“Maybe it was fruit from the tree in her room.”

“No. It was from the tower museum. It’s growing in the middle of ” Sapphira paused, furrowing her brow. “Did you say, ‘Morgan’s room’?”

“Yes. I saw a little tree growing there with blossoms and fruit. She’s using our magneto bricks to give it light.”

“She let you into her room!? That’s the most forbidden area of all!”

“She summoned me, so I had to go.”

“What did her fruit look like? The bad stuff is red and kind of oblong.”

“I’m pretty sure it was white. As soon as I heard what she wanted, I told her I wouldn’t do it and walked out, so I didn’t get a real good look at it.”