Chapter 66: KNOWING

  Our Cogwheel rolled to a stop at its final destination, the chain winding neatly around the awaiting capstan inside a chamber with a single, closed door.

  “KNOWING is just behind this door,” Becker said, hopping off the Cogwheel and gesturing toward the door. She stepped forward first, unlocking it by scanning her COG on the terminal embedded to the wall.

  We followed her inside.

  Behind us, the Cogwheel began retracing its movement, but Becker explained that since not that many people have access to KNOWING, there was only one Cogwheel operating on this line. She ensured us that when we’d decide to leave, she could call it back using her COG.

  Hearing her earlier, I had expected KNOWING to be some colossal Control Terminal spanning the entire room.

  It was nothing like that. Far from it.

  KNOWING, at least visually, was just a regular terminal – like all the rest in Solvane: a screen and a keyboard – placed on a simple high table at the room’s center. There wasn’t even a chair next to it.

  “Is that…it?” Alice asked, voicing the disappointment for both of us.

  Becker nodded, her smile widening. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Everyone expects some monstrous machine, but KNOWING has the same elegant terminal design we are all familiar with.”

  I let out a sigh – slightly louder than I wanted.

  Well, if it worked as promised, I supposed looks didn’t matter.

  “Can we start?” I asked.

  Becker nodded and approached the console, activating it with a scan of her COG.

  Immediately, a message flashed across the screen.

  [KNOWING]

  [Welcome, Archivist Sarah Becker]

  [The terminal is reserved for 14:30 by: Prime Casten Vorrick]

  “Oh my,” Becker murmured. “It seems Prime Vorrick scheduled KNOWING. I don’t think – “

  “We still have twenty-five minutes before he arrives,” Alice cut in confidently.

  Becker blinked at her. “But I thought if he’s coming, then you are – “

  “Irrelevant,” Alice interrupted again, calm and direct. “Prime Vorrick is a busy man. We’ll save his time by starting the investigation before he arrives.”

  “C-Certainly, Lady Verldson,” Becker said, nodding nervously at Alice’s assertiveness.

  “Thank you.” Alice turned to me. “Viktor, the stage is yours.”

  I nodded, clearing my throat. “Two people. The first is a man named Owen, the second a woman named Sam. They should both be in their late thirties-early forties now. Both grew up in Brondeck’s Orphanage.”

  Becker nodded and began typing the details into the terminal.

  Then, we waited as KNOWING processed the information.

  My heart thundered. The tension was palpable.

  But of course, nothing was ever easy…

  Becker cleared her throat softly. “I’m afraid there’s no one in Solvane – living or dead – who matches these criteria.”

  I shook my head.

  Of course. They were conmen. The names were either nicknames or fake names that had stuck.

  “Have you included possible variations in your search?” I asked just to be sure. “Sam could be Samantha, Samuella, whatever. And Owen could be…” I trailed off, coming up empty.

  “Owen could be Owain,” Alice offered.

  But even as she said it, I knew this line of thinking was a dead end.

  “Of course,” Becker replied. “I’ve already instructed KNOWING to search for every name variation.” She gestured at the screen, which displayed NO MATCHES FOUND. “As you can see…nothing.”

  I groaned. “Okay. Plan B. Search for anyone who grew up in Brondeck Orphanage and later worked for the Inventors Guild Blackthorn. Keep the age range the same.”

  Becker nodded and typed the new parameters.

  As we waited, a faint tremor rippled through the room, shaking a bit of dust loose from the ceiling.

  “What was that?” Alice asked, shoulders tensing.

  Becker waved a hand dismissively. “Most likely another Libra attack. Nothing to worry about.”

  Her reaction didn’t surprise me as much as it did Alice. Becker had probably sat through dozens of these incidents.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “You’re treating it like a normal Wednesday…” Alice muttered, still confused.

  “For us Archivists, it is,” Becker replied. “There isn’t a week that goes by without Libra attacking the Census Archives. Though I must admit, they only ever seem to target the Blood Storage.” She cleared her throat, offering a polite, reassuring smile. “In any case, even if they somehow breach the outer defenses, and bypass all of the Enforcers stationed outside, the Blood Storage is on the opposite side of the building. We’ll be safe either way.”

  “And Casten’s coming,” Alice added, seemingly reassuring herself.

  Becker nodded with a small smile.

  I gave Alice a “told you” glance, but before she could reply, KNOWING gave a sharp, chiming beep.

  “Well, look at that,” Becker said, eyes brightening. “Six matches.”

  She read the first entry and her eyes widened. “My – Cecilia Baines. A minor celebrity.”

  “Next,” I said – just a little bit too sharp.

  “Such an inspiring woman,” Alice muttered. “I didn’t know she was an orphan…”

  “Next,” I repeated, urging Becker on.

  Before she could continue, the hiss and clank of the Cogwheel echoed from outside.

  “That must be Prime Vorrick arriving early,” Becker said, already turning toward the door.

  Anger boiled within me. I was so close. But with Vorrick here, the search was as good as over.

  The door slid open before Becker reached it. But someone else stepped through.

  Riven. Still clad in his Aetherguard Mark II.

  He gave me a casual smile and a nod.

  Becker’s brow furrowed as her eyes flicked to the insignias on his shoulders. “Captain, has something happened?”

  Riven shook his head slowly. “Not yet. But we are under attack by Libra. Lady Verldson’s safety is a top priority.”

  My heartbeat quickened.

  He was Libra.

  He must’ve been sent here to stop my search. Yet…if that were the case, why hadn’t he stopped me at the blockade outside? No. That couldn’t be it.

  Alice, noticing my tension, spoke. “I don’t need protection. And Casten will be here soon anyway.”

  “Perfect,” Riven replied, smiling widening. “I’m sure when he arrives, he’ll appreciate that I kept you safe.”

  Then he turned toward me.

  “Please continue what you were doing, Viktor,” he said with a chuckle. “Ignore me.”

  “Like I can…” I muttered.

  He raised both hands in mock surrender and slowly paced back toward the corner of the room, the Aetherguard clinking against the floor with each step. “Here. I won’t stop you. Go on.”

  I wanted to retort, to call this a bluff, but it really made no sense for him to let me get this far in the Archives if he was lying.

  It meant one of two things: either he already knew this search wouldn’t bring me closer to Valdemar – or Valdemar didn’t care if I found him.

  I turned back to Alice and Becker. “What about the others? Who comes after Cecilia Baines?”

  Becker nodded and returned to the terminal. “Let’s see…oh.” She sounded surprised. “The other five are no longer among the living either.”

  Fuck.

  Well, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Someone like Valdemar could fake his own death before assuming his new identity. I mean, he didn't even have a COG.

  “Names?” I asked.

  “How would you carry them over, Viktor?” Riven suddenly asked, sending a chill down my spine.

  “W-what?”

  Riven shrugged. “You can’t store written objects, right? What good would these names give you if next run’s you won’t even remember them?”

  My earlier suspicion that he might be the second looper just got a serious nudge toward being right.

  “What is he on about, Viktor?” Alice asked.

  I ignored her.

  “Are you – “

  “That’s not the question you should be asking,” Riven cut me off. “The one you should be asking is why would you even want to know his real identity. What good would it bring?”

  “What do you mean why?” I asked, anger rising. “I need to stop him. His planned trick for today brings forth the end of the world. If you’re the second looper you’ve seen it yourself. And if you’re not, then he’s probably keeping you in the dark like the good tool you are.”

  Riven chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, I know about that. Don’t worry.”

  “You know about that and you’re still going through with it?” I asked, stunned.

  “What good would it bring to save the world if the status quo remains?” he asked, shaking his head. “He understands that. And I trust him. He planned for everything. So far, everything had been going according to his plan. I have no reason to doubt.”

  “You’re with Libra,” Alice said, reaching a hand to her COG.

  “No need for that, Lady Verldson,” Riven said, still with the same casual smile. “If you knew what I knew, you’d join Libra as well.”

  “And what’s that?” she asked, tone sharp.

  Riven shook his head. “Unfortunately, we don’t have openings for Skyhaveners.” Then he turned to me. “Look, Viktor.”

  He pointed a finger at Becker. “The next names on that terminal are: Harold Fenwick, Greta Holmsley, Edwin Kappel, Marianne Stroud, and Tobias Wexler.”

  We all turned to Becker. She stared at the screen, visibly taken aback, before nodding slowly. “That’s…correct.”

  His eyes never left me, and the weight of his gaze sharpened with each moment. “See?”

  My confusion prompted him to continue.

  “These are empty names, Viktor,” he said quietly. “Even if you investigate each one thoroughly, they won’t lead you anywhere. I searched for him once too. I reached the same dead end you’re staring at now. And when I did…he found me. On his terms. He found me and showed me the truth about Solvane.”

  My stomach tightened.

  Riven’s voice dropped lower, almost to a whisper. “You shouldn’t want to stop Valdemar. And if you finally tested what the note asked you to, you’d realize that as well.”

  Alice quickly opened the note and read aloud, slowly. “Have you ever wondered what would happen if you fed your COG an Aetheris?” She shook her head in confusion. “But that’s nonsense. Why would anyone even try that? Aetheris is a power source. Logically, it shouldn’t be any different than slotting it into the COG’s Channel Core. It should make it explode.”

  “Should,” Riven echoed. “Maybe if Aetheris was really the simple power source everyone wants us to believe it is.” His hands began to move as he spoke, voice growing sharper, more emotional. “No, Lady Verldson. Using steam alone to power our machinery – like our ancestors did for hundreds of years before the first crystal appeared – that was a ‘power source’,” he said, fingers flicking in exaggerated air-quotes.

  He continued without pause. “You’ll stop calling Aetheris a mere power source once you test what the note says.”

  I turned to Alice. “Has no one actually tried that before?”

  She shrugged, eyes wide as if surprised I’d even ask her that. “I don’t know. I haven’t. And no one I know has. And it’s not like every Skyhavener has a personal Dematerializer, you know?”

  Becker looked just as confused – though I hadn’t expected anything from her.

  “But you do,” Riven said, looking at me. “Use Cecilia’s Dematerializer, Viktor. Learn the truth.”

  All eyes shifted to me.

  Alice’s confusion deepened as her mind was making the connections.

  I glanced at my COG. Every instinct told me not to listen to him. But at the same time my damn curiosity was pushing me to test it.

  Who wouldn’t want to learn the truth?

  I recalled that Watson guy from the Memory Fragment saying that Mom learned Solvane’s darkest secrets - that was one of the reasons they killed her.

  Was he talking about this? About Aetheris?

  Before I could act, the sound of a Cogwheel approaching echoed from outside.

  “Casten,” Alice said, her tone hopeful.

  “Good,” Riven said.

  A second later, the door slid open. Entering the room was the Head of House Security, Prime Casten Vorrick.

  His eyes fell on me first, then quickly on Alice, surprised to see her.

  “Alice?” he asked.

  “How good of you to join us, Prime Vorrick. It’s been quite some time since our last meeting,” Riven said smoothly, drawing the oligarch’s attention to him.

  Casten Vorrick finally took in his full image, his eyes narrowing with pure hatred and anger.

  “You…should be dead,” he muttered through gritted teeth.