Chapter 9: Inside the Tower

When Uncle Friendly said they had a lot to talk about he wasn’t kidding, and he did most of the talking. Magic Rock asked him questions about what had been going on since everyone disappeared—what Uncle Friendly referred to as “The Awakening”—and why all the Vendors were gathered at the tower.

Most of what he said didn’t make a lot of sense to Wonder since she hadn’t been around before and wasn’t as familiar with Ur. He talked about how the Vendors already had a plan in place to meet up if the world didn’t end when the Giants woke up. Once it was apparent that Ur was still there they all teleported to Jethimadh Tower. They had been near the tower since then trying to figure out what to do next.

As the conversation went on Wonder’s earlier excitement turned to boredom and she found her attention drifting to the Vendors standing at the base of the tower. They had mostly turned to each other, coming together in groups to chat while Uncle Friendly figured out what to do. Wonder wondered what their lives had been like before and what it would have been like to trade with them if she had been given the chance of a normal life.

While she was daydreaming Magic Rock and Uncle Friendly had apparently come to a decision and were staring at her. She slowly turned back to them and realized they had asked her something and were waiting for a response.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Uncle Friendly seemed exasperated. “Of course not,” he grumbled to himself followed by something else she couldn’t make out.

“It’s OK,” Mr. Trinkets said. “I was starting to nod off myself.”

Magic Rock pushed on. “Yes, yes, very funny. The long and short of it is Uncle Friendly here believes the Giants are still somewhere between waking and sleeping and that if we can get them back to sleep the world will be restored to its former balance.”

“Really?” Wonder was excited about the possibility, but couldn’t see how they could put the Giants back to sleep. “So, how do we do that?”

“Well, that’s where they’re kind of stuck. There is a theory that we can somehow use the store of Wine of the Dead that Hell’s Bartender brought up with him. Maybe make it into a concentrated powder. It’s deadly to Glitchen and Vendors alike, but it might be just enough to put the Giants back to sleep.”

“OK, so can we try that?”

This time Uncle Friendly answered her. “We’d love to. The problem is we’re not sure how to deliver the powder. How do you sprinkle something on a Giant when you live inside its mind? That’s where you come in.”

Wonder was confused. “I’m sorry?”

“We know that Glitchen in the past have called the Giants into our world and talked to them face to face. We think that if you can do that we might have a chance to dose them up and put them back to sleep.”

The longer she listened the more far-fetched Uncle Friendly’s plan seemed. “And how exactly am I supposed to call the Giants?”

“Well, we don’t really know that either, but we know it’s been done before. Our thought is that if there is a way to call the Giants you’ll find that information in the tower.” Uncle Friendly was waiting for a response.

It seemed to Wonder that he talked a big game, but underneath his cool exterior he was extremely worried. The plan would need several miracles, at least, if it had any chance of working. On the other hand it was the only plan they had. “So why do you need me? You’ve obviously been here a while; haven’t you searched the tower by now?”

“And now we’ve come to our first problem, which you have easily solved just by showing up!” Uncle Friendly seemed pleased to reach a question he could answer with confidence. “The tower will only open for a Glitch. Until now we believed them all to be gone and our hope was lost, but now here you are: the last Glitch in Ur.”

Wonder finally understood her part in this conversation. “So you need me to go in, figure out how to call the Giants and then come back here and tell you so you can put them back to sleep.”

“Yes, well, almost. We need you to go in, figure out how to call the Giants and then actually do it so you can put them back to sleep.”

Wonder was shocked at Uncle Friendly’s suggestion. “What? Why do I have to do it? You are all much smarter and understand this world better than I do. I’m the last person that should be calling the Giants!”

“That’s just it, Wonder, you’re the last person, or at least the last Glitch. You’re the only one that can do it. The Giants don’t listen to us, but they might listen to you.”

“He’s right, Wonder. We have no idea if any of this will work, but right now you’re our best hope.” Magic Rock spoke softly trying to convince her. “We’ll wait for you here, but this is something you’ll have to do alone. So, will you do it?”

Suddenly Wonder felt the weight of what they were asking. That morning she had been nothing more than a traveler hoping to find some answers and now all of a sudden she’s the savior of Ur? She couldn’t imagine how any of this could make sense, but at the moment she didn’t have any better ideas. She felt her mind split. One part was completely numb from the shock of what was being asked, but the other part was suddenly kicked into overdrive. There were so many things she still didn’t understand about this world; maybe they were right, maybe she is their last hope to put things back together. Maybe this plan will work and everything will go back to normal and she can lead a normal life with her own home street and her own butler. Maybe Uncle Friendly’s idea isn’t crazy at all, it just needs a Glitch—any Glitch—to make it work.

It was this part of her brain, the hopeful, but slightly illogical part, that agreed to enter the tower alone and look for a way to call the Giants back to Ur.

“OK,” she said. “I’ll do it. Just tell me where to go.”

***

The next few hours were spent discussing the layout of the tower and likely locations of knowledge and resources that would be helpful. Magic Rock and Uncle Friendly did most of the planning without consulting Wonder which irritated her until she realized neither of them seemed to really know much about the tower and most of the search was going to be up to Wonder and her instincts. This did not make her feel any better about the plan.

As far as she understood there were several rooms, likely near the top of the tower, which would have been used as museums or libraries or something similar. Much of the tower was still under construction and there were hallways that suddenly ended and doors that opened into nothing, so she should be careful. Other than that her goal was to head as high in the tower as she could get and search the rooms there.

When it was time for her to go there was little fanfare. Though all the Vendors realized what was happening and were watching her intently there were no announcements made or any official words said. Instead Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets quietly wished her luck and then stepped back. She took one more look around before opening the large front door, taking a deep breath and stepping inside.

The entrance was not quite what Wonder was expecting. For such a grand tower she somehow thought the inside would feel bigger. Instead she was in a relatively small corridor warmly lit by lamps hanging overhead. There were several doors along the walls and then the corridor just ended.

“Well,” she said to herself, “here goes nothing.” She opened the first door she came to and stepped through.

Jethimadh Tower was at least as confusing as they had warned her it would be, if not more. She didn’t have a map or a guide or really any sense of general direction other than up. The doors all had signs, but they just seemed to be random numbers and letters; none of them made much sense to her. She just kept climbing and going through door after door, finding more hallways and more doors. After what felt like the hundredth corridor she wondered what idiot architect had designed this place, and then worried that even if she found what she came for she wouldn’t be able to get out again.

She was beginning to feel like she would never reach the top when she came to a door with a wooden plank across it and a sign that said “Under Construction.”

Wonder thought to herself, ‘At least this is something different,’ and decided to have a peek behind it. She tugged the plank off of the door and pulled it open.

What she saw when she stepped through was another hallway, but this one was clearly still being finished up. The lamps weren’t all hung and the walls weren’t quite finished. Along one side were two doors. One labeled “Interrogation Room: No Admittance,” the other labeled “Mezzanine.”

Wonder thought a room where interrogations happened was likely to have lots of information, so she tried the Interrogation Room first. The sign wasn’t lying when it said “No Admittance,” because the door was locked and she couldn’t get in. Disappointed, she turned to the other door.

Wonder didn’t know what a Mezzanine was, but the door was unlocked so she opened it and went through. She was in another hallway, but she felt like she was close to her goal as the doors here had signs that read things like “Hall of Records” and “Hall of Rejected Concepts.” Hall of Records seemed like a good place to start, but as she was reaching for the door knob another door caught her attention. The next door over was labeled “Rook Museum” and Wonder’s fascination kept her rooted to the spot.

She knew almost nothing about the Rook, except what Magic Rock had told her, which wasn’t much, but she clearly remembered the fear in her friend’s eyes when they thought they had seen one. She had asked about the Rook several times on their journey to the tower, but the rest of the group had always changed the subject or feigned ignorance. Now here was her chance to find out what they had been keeping from her. She was eager to complete her task and get back to her friends, but she figured a quick peek couldn’t hurt, so she turned away from the other doors and stepped into the Rook Museum.

At first there was nothing to see. The room was large, but it was very dimly lit. There was a small log crudely carved with arms and a face lying on the ground next to the door. She poked at it with her foot, but it didn’t move. Wonder stepped a little further into the room, but couldn’t see much. There was a large picture on the wall near her, but it was hard to discern in the dark. Looking a little closer she noticed a small red button next to the frame.

She pushed the button and a light flickered to life over the image. A crackling noise startled her and a voice began speaking from the wall next to her. Wonder jumped back in surprise, but she quickly realized the voice was narrating the story in the picture.

“Back in the early ages of Ur,” the voice began, “small islands formed spontaneously from the primordial chaos.”

While the voice went on about the dangers of the early days of Ur, Wonder examined the picture. It showed a scene of some early Glitchen running away in fear from a darkness in the background, and flying with them were several large black birds that looked just like—

“Oh no! Koro!” In all the excitement of meeting the Vendors and her new quest she had completely forgotten she still had Koro tucked away in one of her bags.

Wonder tore open the bag and lifted Koro out carefully. “Koro I’m so sorry! You’ve been in there for hours and I completely forgot!”

Koro hopped down to the floor and fanned her wings. She looked a little ruffled, but no worse for the wear. “It’s OK, I’m fine,” she said. “Where are we?” By this time the voice had stopped talking and the light over the picture had gone out so there wasn’t much for Koro to see but a big, dark room.

“We’re in the tower! You missed out on quite a bit. You really should have joined us. I know you said you were nervous, but there was really nothing to worry about.”

“Where is everyone else?” Koro asked.

“They stayed behind. I’ll fill you in on all the details later, but I had to come in alone because they said only a Glitch could open the tower. I guess you got in because I brought you here with me.” Then turning to the picture on the wall she went on excitedly, “But, Koro, look at what I found!” Wonder pushed the button and the picture lit up as the voice began speaking again.

“Back in the early ages of Ur…”

Wonder pointed up at the picture. “Look, it’s us! Our people, together, back in history!”

Koro’s eyes went wide.

“...The ancient Glitchen tribes suffered under constant threat to their very survival…”

“Wonder, where are we?”

“I told you, we’re in the tower.”

“…But by far the most dangerous and terrifying of these was The Rook…”

“Where in the tower?”

“The Rook Museum, why?” Wonder looked at her friend, confused.

“…The Rook, enemy of imagination, visited its wrath upon whatever the Giants created…”

Koro was suddenly panicked. “We shouldn’t be here!”

“Koro, what’s the matter?”

“…It was the very manifestation of fear, doubt and uncertainty…”

“We can’t stay! We have to leave now!”

“Koro, you’re scaring me, tell me what’s wrong!”

“… It pecked and clawed relentlessly at the periphery of the Giants’ domain…”

“Please trust me, we need to go!”

“Koro, what’s the big deal? It’s just…“ but Wonder’s words fell short. As she looked back up at the picture something in her mind clicked. She made connections she hadn’t been able to make before. All of those odd looks between the others, Koro’s unusual behavior, it all suddenly made sense. Those birds weren’t flying from the terror, they were the terror.

“…Black winter to the Giants’ spring of creativity…”

“Koro…” Wonder whispered in horror. “You’re a… a Rook?”

Koro looked up at Wonder pleadingly. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted a friend.”

Wonder looked back at Koro as if for the first time. She stared in silence for a long moment and then turned and ran from the room while Koro watched her, defeated.

“…It was—if I can say so myself—most awful.”

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