Tski

  was just an ordinary woman. Her mother was a school-teacher. Her

  father was a plumber. She was the first member of her family to

  become a scholar, but aside from that, she was nothing special. But

  somehow, just four seasons ago, she was standing before Lord Capield,

  the Minister of Knowledge. Imagine that! Plain, ordinary

  ‘Short-Yellow-Tski’, in the same room as a Royal Minister! Not

  even the wealthy and influential were guaranteed such an honour!

  And

  now, at this very moment, she was before him again. But not among a

  flock of several eights in a grand conference hall. But on this bel,

  aside from his guards, the minister presided over an intimate

  audience of just four in Skai’s modest office.

  Researcher

  Skai, Professor Pito, Chief Nalor, and herself, the simple scholar

  herself, Tski.

  If

  the researcher and the professor were nervous about being in the

  Royal Minister’s presence, they concealed it well. Nalor and Tski

  however, were little more than vibrating clumps of frayed feathers.

  “Thank

  you again for making time for us, Minister Capield.” said Skai with

  a restrained bow.

  “Yes,

  of course Researcher Skai” the Royal Minister responded with a soft

  huff. “I have been receiving your reports regularly and can see

  that you are making remarkable progress. But when you suddenly

  requested a personal audience, well, I feel no shame in confessing I

  was terribly curious to learn what had you so excited.”

  The

  researcher’s fore-feathers twitched slightly as he prepared to

  respond. “Yes, well, you are quite correct. My team has had some

  rather… Interesting conversations with Adwin

  “Adwin?

  That’s the name of the frost-fae specimen, correct?”

  “Uh,

  yes…” Skai hesitated for just a fraction of a moment before

  continuing. “But his species apparently calls themselves ‘human

  “Oh?

  Interesting.” the Royal Minister exhaled with dryly.

  Skai

  scratched the base of his wing. “W-Well, anyway…” he continued

  “So, Adwin arrived with some spectacularly advanced technology. His

  clothing, satchel, writing materials alone imply a civilization at

  least as advanced as ours. But his electronic devices prove that his

  culture far surpasses our own.”

  “Ah

  yes, I heard about those.” interjected Lord Capield. “A phone,

  I believe it was called?”

  The

  researcher bobbed his head. “Yes My Lord, a phone and a

  tablet. Those two devices are so small and light a child can

  carry them in their cloak pockets, but each are almost eight-frol

  times more powerful than our most advanced supercomputers. And simply

  by scanning the devices we have made incredible scientific leaps in

  power storage, power regulation, materials science, electronic--”

  “Researcher,

  I just told you that I’ve been reading your reports.” chuckled

  the minister. “Did you call me away from my other royal

  responsibilities just to give me an in-person summary?”

  Researcher

  Skai bristled at the royal minister’s jab. “O-Of course not my

  Lord! I-I am simply trying to establish how positively Adwin

  has impacted our Great Kingdom!” replied Skai, his arms lifted

  slightly before him.

  “To

  what end?”

  “Well...”

  the researcher paused for a bit, formulating how best to continue the

  conversation. “Recently, Adwin has revealed some new

  concepts that, frankly, require a lot of faith in him and his

  culture. But, if he’s right, it will introduce entirely new fields

  of scientific discoveries.” Skai paused again. “But first, we

  need to discuss the dark-lights.”

  The

  minister narrowed his eyes at Skai. “Very well. Explain.”

  “Of

  course. Thank you, my Lord.” The researcher patted his plumage and

  straightened his posture before continuing. “As you know, the

  dark-lights are enigmatic specks of light that are sometimes seen

  near the dark-ward horizon. No one has ever been able to study this

  phenomenon in detail, due to how difficult it is to travel dark-ward.

  Although…” he gestured over to Tski, “… My scholar here has

  expressed interest in investigating them.”

  The

  royal minister hummed. “I vaguely recall a proposal for a research

  grant to study the dark-lights.” He turned to regard Tski, who

  stiffened under his gaze. “That was you, scholar?”

  “Ah,

  yes sir! Er-- My Lord!” she confirmed, if a little too loudly. “I’m

  surprised that that it e-e-even reached your desk at all, sir...”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Indeed.

  Well, it was a particularly… Unusual proposal.” He turned his

  attention back to the researcher. “And I take care to stay informed

  on notable developments from Researcher Skai’s office. But you

  still haven’t explained what this has to do with the specimen.”

  “Ah,

  yes, sorry.” Skai cleared his throat. “Well, according to Adwin,

  the sky can sometimes be completely covered with dark-lights;

  hundreds, thousands, more than anyone can count.”

  “I

  see… This agrees what we’ve always believed about the

  dark-lights; that more will become visible as we travel dark-ward.”

  He mused for a bit. “I cannot imagine how any creature could

  survive in such cold darkness...”

  “But

  that’s the incredible thing, Lord Capield. Adwin insists

  that he experiences sunlight regularly, without having to move at

  all.”

  “What!?

  How?”

  “According

  to him, the sun itself moves, cycling around the world every…

  errr--” the researcher trailed off as he tried to remember the

  length of the celestial cycle.

  “Ten

  and a half bels.” usefully interjected Chief Nalor, before

  withering under the pressure of every pair of eyes in the room

  turning toward him.

  “Ah,

  yes. Thank you Chief.” Skai said. “So yes, Adwin says that

  his people experience a bit more than five bels of light, then five

  bels of darkness, then the cycle repeats, forever.”

  The

  Royal Minister of Knowledge remained silent for several clegs. “That

  doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I

  agree. But Adwin swears it’s true. Apparently, he has a

  theory about why his lived experience is so different to ours, but he

  believes that it would be easier to explain if we had a way to

  observe the dark-lights.”

  Lord

  Capield pondered silently for a few more clegs. “This is indeed a

  fascinating scientific conundrum, but we still can’t justify the

  expense of such a project; not after the loss of Project Fal’Grine,

  and especially not with the current instability along the border. If

  am to bring this before the cabinet and the King, I need to know if

  this research will have strategic military value.”

  “I

  was just about to get to that, My Lord. Remember his little device,

  the phone? It’s not just a miniaturised super-computer, it’s

  a primary purpose is a mobile communicator. It uses radio-waves to

  send signals to other, similar devices. In his culture, people

  regularly communicate with individuals across vast distances. Even

  far beyond the curve of the horizon.”

  “Fascinating.”

  Lord Capield’s curious and analytical nature were sparked by this

  revelation. “I suppose they used a chain of tall relay stations;

  something we could do if those frost-damned Pitangs weren’t so

  impossible to negotiate with…”

  “That

  is a very good answer, My Lord. It’s similar to what Adwin

  explained, except they don’t use towers. Their relay stations go

  much higher.”

  The

  minister went silent again, puzzling over how one can lift radio

  equipment even higher than the tallest tower. “Do they perhaps

  suspend the relays from balloons or airships? That may be doable, but

  it would be quite expensive refuel them regularly, not logistically

  plausible to keep them aloft.”

  “That’s

  true, My Lord. But the humans’ method does not require

  regular refuelling, though the initial... Installation… Would

  consume a lot of resources.”

  The

  Royal Minister exhaled forcefully in defeat. “Well, I can’t think

  of anything else. Are you willing to tell me what this… Human

  method is?”

  “Yes,

  My Lord. It’s actually quite ingenious. The method they used was to

  launch the comm-relay into the sky at such a speed that it soars

  above the atmosphere. At the right speed and angle, and without the

  friction of air particles, the object should remain floating above the globe

  indefinitely.”

  Another

  contemplative pause. “Is that even possible?”

  “We

  believe so, yes. All our preliminary calculations were quite

  promising, so far.”

  The

  royal minister went silent once more. “I need to see him.”

  ?

  ? ?

  A

  short while later, the royal minister and his entourage marched into

  Adwin’shuman, noticing the commotion,

  looked up from whatever he was drawing on his notepad. He glanced at

  the two uniformed, stern faced men standing just behind the well

  dressed lord. He stood up slowly, wary at the way the way the energy

  of the room suddenly shifted.

  “I

  am Lord Capield, Royal Minister of Knowledge.” he announced.

  Adwin

  just stared at him for a moment, then looked at Pito with pleading

  eyes. She took the cue and walked up a bit closer.

  “D?s

  ?z l??d Capield. hi ?z… ?v?ri ?m?p??t?nt. hi z Skai's

  b?s. k??l h?m

  Minister.”

  “Ah.”

  said Adwin, just before facing the minister and bowing slightly.

  “Hello Minister. I am Adwin

  The

  royal minister gave an approving grunt and looked around the room.

  “Where are your devices. Your... Phone

  “Hi

  w?d la?k t? si? j? f??n.”

  Professor

  Pito helpfully translated.

  The

  human nodded and produced the device from his pocket, then

  handed it to the royal minister.

  Lord

  Capield looked the black, rectangular device over, feeling its glassy

  smoothness in his claws. “I was told this was was a communications

  device. Give me a demonstration of this function.” he said before

  handing the phone back.

  “D

  Minister

  w?nts si?…

  k??mju?n??ke???n, ?f??k??n.”

  the

  linguist interjected.

  Adwin

  put his paw over his chin as he silently thought for a bit. Then, he

  walked over to a desk and retrieved his tablet.

  After spending a few driks fiddling

  with both devices, he handed the tablet to Lord Capield. The royal

  minister noticed that tablet now was displaying an image of…

  Himself.

  A live video of him looking down on the tablet. He jerked his head

  upwards and towards the human, who was holding the phone up, directly

  facing him.

  Live

  video broadcast technology was not novel in of itself, but what was

  impressive was the clarity of the live video. Even from a few spans

  away, the details of his

  ministerial

  cloak were clearly visible. Even

  the certified markings on his lapel were discernable. If images this

  clean, this defined, could be transmitted from those… above-air

  relays…

  “I’ll

  talk to the cabinet as soon as I return to the capital.” He said.