New Tokyo

The twins made their way back into the atrium and spent a few minutes browsing the towering bookshelves that lined every wall. Some of the books already looked like they were written long ago, others would have easily been found in their old school library, and some were clearly written in the far off future. Wentworth got lost in the pages of a book called Voyage of the Elysium, about the first spaceship to make it past the asteroid belt and explore the outer solar system. Leura stumbled across a book called Hoverboard champions of the 401st century, where she devoured details about famous riders and the hoverboards they used to win interworld tournaments, revelling at the idea of getting to ride one of the dangerous looking boards that could fly through the air at breakneck speeds.

They were both disappointed when Mika returned too quickly, but he promised them they’d have plenty of time to browse later. He led them across the atrium and through another large archway into a hall that had enormous windows looking out over the water. The sun was getting low now, and the sky was a brilliant mix of pinks, yellows, and blues. The hall was obviously used as a dining room, as it was filled with round tables, each big enough for about a dozen people to sit around it comfortably. It was already beginning to fill up with people. Groups were entering from one of its many entrances and taking up seats together. Leura noticed that they stuck to their colours, as a table to her left filled up with students all wearing purple robes.

“White robes sit up the front, near the Librarians,” said Mika, leading them through the tables towards the windows.

Leura managed to spot Sol sitting alone at one of the tables, even though she was so small only her head was visible. They made a beeline for her table and pulled up chairs beside her. Leura was relieved to see Cron, Stirling and Quillith take a different table, along with a bunch of other white robes.

“Good luck with the initiation, I’ll be over at the Librarian’s table if you need me.” Mika gave them one of his beaming smiles and headed off towards a table full of adults in red robes.

“What did he mean by good luck?” asked Wentworth anxiously. “What is this initiation thing anyway?”

“It’s a rite of passage for all new time travellers,” said Sol with a dramatic flair in her voice. “A way to prove to everyone we belong here.”

Leura felt her own nerves skyrocket. “What happens if we can’t do it?”

Sol gave her a cackling laugh and an impressively evil grin, clearly enjoying herself. “Let’s just say, failure is not an option.”

“Cut it out Sol! What do we have to do?” demanded Leura, half laughing along, but also worried she was being serious.

“No point ruining the surprise now, it’s about to begin,” said Sol, nodding towards the Librarian’s table, where Aristar had stood up, facing the rest of the hall.

“Welcome, everyone,” said Aristar, her monotone voice carrying around the room as if she was using a microphone, though Leura couldn’t see one. “This year we welcome our one hundred and forty first white robe class.” There was a round of applause, mostly coming from the Librarians themselves, and Leura felt her cheeks go red as the older students on nearby tables all turned to get a good look at them. “Since the first generation taught their children in these very halls, all new time travellers must go through initiation before their training can begin. White robes, please join me at the front of the hall.”

Aristar and a few of the other Librarians made their way over to the far wall, where there was a large open space. Leura, Wentworth and Sol joined the other white robes and crossed the hall towards them. When they passed Mika, still sitting at the table, Leura felt a stab of fear and wished he had been one of the Librarians that had joined Aristar.

Seeing all the white robes gathered together for the first time made Leura realise just how many of them there were. Around thirty kids, all roughly the same age as the twins, were moving to the front of the hall. Everyone looked about as nervous as Leura felt, except for Cron, who walked at the front of the group like he couldn’t have cared less about being stared at by hundreds of older students, and Sol, who looked like she was struggling to contain her excitement and smiling from ear to ear.

When they reached Aristar, the Librarians gathered them into a tight circle and spaced themselves around the edges. Aristar stood right in front of them, her back turned to the rest of the hall. “There is only one rule during initiation. You must do exactly as I tell you. Do anything else, and you will not be permitted to train here.” Then without warning, the hall around them collapsed in on itself with a deafening crunch and Leura realised with a gasp of panic that the initiation would not be taking place in front of the other students after all.

The hall sprung back to normal, but more than a few of the white robes let out frightened squeals at the sight before them, including Wentworth.

In the hall they’d left, the setting sun had been illuminating it with radiant yellow light, but now the windows were pitch black, and it was clear they were deep into a moonless night. The only light in the hall came from the flaming torches being held by two lines of people facing each other, making a path towards the centre of the hall. Each person was wearing an animal mask that covered their entire head all the way down to their shoulders. There was a mix of crocodiles, jackals, cranes, eagles, snakes, and lions. Aristar stepped aside, leaving the way open for the white robes. At the end of the path before them, Leura could see someone standing there waiting, but they were shrouded in shadow.

“You will walk between the torches and stop when you reach the Grandmaster,” said Aristar in a sombre voice, her features distorted by the flickering light.

Silence fell and it took a moment for the group to realise they weren’t going to get any more instructions. Cron took the first few steps, before the rest of them began to shuffle forward, walking as quietly as they could.

They reached the first of the torch bearers, who began to chant beneath their masks, a low, resonating song that made Leura think of something inhuman, like the sound belonged in some other world, the world of the supernatural. The eyes of each mask seemed to follow them as they moved. Wentworth was shaking, along with most of the group. Cron, however, walked ahead of them with his head high and arms casually by his side. Leura caught herself wondering what kind of life he’d had before this to be so calm in such a creepy place. Then she saw the look of pure happiness plastered all over Sol’s face and realised some people are probably just harder to scare than others.

It felt like it took a long time for them to reach the end of the torch bearers. Ahead of them was a few metres of empty space, and then a lone figure, draped in blood red robes with a hood covering its face. The figure stood perfectly still, waiting for them. The group kept moving until they were right in front of the Grandmaster, though Leura noticed with satisfaction that even Cron kept a safe distance from the ominous figure. Slowly, it raised its hands, which were withered and cracked with age, and removed its hood.

It was a woman, with long, pearly white hair and a face that was heavily wrinkled. When she spoke, her voice creaked in odd places, like her throat was set on a rusty hinge. “Welcome, my descendants. I am the last of the first. Each night I wait here, and each night the newest generation returns to me. They stand where you are now, and take the same oath that you must take. For I helped write the tenets that bind our world together, and now you must swear to obey them.” She surveyed the group like she was looking for any signs of weakness. “I warn you now, once you take the oath, there is no going back. You are forever bound by your words. Break the tenets, and you will face the harshest of consequences.”

The Grandmaster paused to let her words sink in, and there were lots of uneasy glances passed around the group. But no one spoke, and no one tried to leave. Satisfied, she gave them a crooked smile and continued.

“You will repeat the words, exactly as I say them. Miss a word and I will know. Misplace a word and I will know. Pretend to speak while staying silent, and I will know. If you want to leave this room as one of us, you will not fail me.”

Leura felt Wentworth trembling beside her. She grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

“I swear by the first generation, until the last, to uphold the following tenets.” They chanted back the words, their combined voices echoing around the hall. “That I will never attempt to alter my past, or the past of a fellow traveller.” Again they repeated it back to her word for word. “That I will never attempt to divine my own future, nor control its outcome.” A few nervous glances shot between them as they repeated this one. “And that I will never attempt to alter the course of history, from humanity’s rise, until its final fall.” Leura almost stumbled on the words as her mind exploded with questions, and she wasn’t the only one. Many in the group gave each other confused looks as they repeated the words. The Grandmaster, who had been sweeping her gaze over the entire group, stared straight at Leura and Wentworth now. “Should I break these tenets, may I be condemned for all time.”

Leura spoke the words but her mind had detached itself from her surroundings and was thinking only of her mother. Mika had said she’d been imprisoned for breaking an important rule. Had it been one of the tenets Leura just swore to obey? Maybe she tried to change something? Whatever it was, it must’ve been something big, for Cron and the others to call her a traitor.

The Grandmaster was still staring intently at the twins, and many of the other white robes had noticed and were now looking at them too. Finally, she turned away from them, and Leura felt herself let out the breath she’d been holding without realising it.

“You have taken your oaths, and may return now, as the one hundred and forty first class to learn what myself and the other members of the first generation have passed down before you. I know you will make us proud.” And with that, the Grandmaster placed her hood back over her head and turned away from them, walking slowly and silently out of the hall.

It took a few moments for the group to gather itself together and begin the walk back through the masked torch bearers. They were still chanting their arcane song, and Leura found it even more ominous the second time through. When they reached Aristar, she gave them no warm words, or showed any sign that she was pleased they’d succeeded in taking their oaths. The Librarians surrounded the group, and the dark hall, with its flickering torchlight and the staring animal heads, collapsed loudly around them.

The light from the setting sun hurt Leura’s eyes, and she had to squint to see the hall was once again full of students sitting at circular tables. There was a round of applause at their return, and Leura wondered how long they’d been gone for. Seconds? Minutes? She made a mental note to ask Mika next chance she got.

“The initiation is complete,” announced Aristar when the applause died down. “Now is the time to celebrate.” She lifted her wrist and Leura noticed one of the transparent bands just like the one Mika had given them. She made a few swipes and presses on its surface, and through a door at the back of the hall flew dozens of drones carrying enormous trays of food. The white robes made their way back to their tables as the drones dropped the trays off around the room. The smell was enough to set Leura’s stomach rumbling, and she was delighted to see a large pile of grupple included on each tray. Some of the food Leura recognised from Alexandria’s marketplace, like the frothy stews, and the fresh seafood. But there were some dishes that clearly came from far into the future.

“You’ve got to try this,” said Sol in between chews, “it’s Venusian, they have the best food in the whole system! Except perhaps Titanian food. Either way, it makes the stuff I grew up on taste like wet mud.” She handed the twins a dish that looked like a huge blooming flower, with petals made from delicate shavings of a fruit Leura had never seen before, and a delicious gooey centre that Leura could only guess at. She served herself a large portion and spent the next few minutes in total bliss, her mind wiped clean of anything other than the explosion of taste in her mouth.

Many more servings of strange dishes later, and Leura was feeling like she could curl up on the hard stone floor and fall asleep. The serving drones came and cleared the tables, and Aristar rose from her seat once more.

“Tomorrow, another year of training begins. You will find your new class schedules displayed in your living quarters. Black robes, please show our new white robes the way.” And without so much as a smile, she began walking towards the exit, a group of other Librarians in tow.

All the students rose to their feet and started making their way out of the hall. A few of the black robed students came over to their tables and started ushering them towards the main doors. Leura caught Mika smiling and waving at them over the crowd, but there was no way to get close enough to speak to him without being left behind, so Leura settled for waving back and reminded herself that she’d see him tomorrow in class.

The black robes took them through the atrium and into a courtyard filled with statues of Egyptian gods. The sun had fully set, but the moon was bright and the statues looked both impressive and ominous as they passed beneath them. They walked on in silence for a few minutes until they reached the white robe living quarters, which was in one of the many annexes built off the main Library.

It looked like it was once a temple. The main room was lined with columns and beautiful stone carvings covered every surface. Furniture had been brought in to make the place more comfortable, and their bedrooms were all up on the higher floors. There was also a bathhouse, with private showers and a large communal soaking pool in the centre, big enough for them to swim around in. Leura almost fell asleep soaking in the warm waters, and had to drag her feet all the way back to their bedroom. All white robes had to share with a roommate, but since the twins came as a pair they got a room to themselves.

Leura thought she’d be able to fall asleep the second she laid her head down, but something kept her from drifting off, a nagging thought that slowly grew into a compulsion. She wanted to look at her photo album, the one with pictures of her mother. But like everything else she owned, she’d left it behind.

Leura lay there for a long time thinking about how Cron had called Raya a traitor. She thought about the oaths they’d taken, knowing that their mum must have taken them too, and wondered, for what felt like the millionth time… what exactly had Raya done?

As the hours ticked by, Leura reassured herself over and over again, that whatever rule Raya had broken, she hadn’t meant to do it. It was all just some big mistake. She was not a bad person, and Leura was going to prove it to everyone… including herself.

The next morning the twins met Sol in their living quarters. A large table in the centre of the room had been filled with all sorts of breakfast food, and the twins enjoyed trying scrambled dodo eggs and mooncakes with Venusian maple syrup. Feeling very satisfied, they joined some of the other white robes that had gathered near the back wall where a projection of their class schedule hovered a few feet above their heads.

“Looks like we’ve got The Fundamentals of Quantum Relativity first, that’s a bit rough isn’t it, and straight after it’s History of Humanity!” said Sol, with great indignation. “But this afternoon looks great, we’ve got Mika’s class, and then Time Travel Theory & Practice!” She gave the twins one of her mischievous grins. “Do you think they’ll let us travel on our first day?”

“Guess we’ll find out,” said Leura, trying to sound less nervous than she felt.

Their first class was held in the antechamber that was set up like a traditional classroom, with sarcophaguses instead of desks. Within about ten seconds the twins realised that becoming a time traveller wasn’t going to be as easy as they’d thought. The class covered the scientific breakthroughs that led to the creation of time travel. They were being taught by Librarian Teone, a tall, slender man who reminded Leura a little bit of Aristar.

“We will begin by introducing you all to the building blocks of the universe. Quantum Relativity explains not only the what of reality, but also the how. Today’s lesson will be on superposition. It’s a very old theory, predating Quantum Relativity by many centuries. It’s about how the quantum world exists in multiple states all at once until we observe it. That nothing is real until our brains make it so. It turned out to be mostly wrong, but it opened the door to our current theories and it’ll help you get familiar with the basics.”

Teone tapped his wrist band a few times and suddenly a 3D projection sprung to life above each of their desks. It looked like some kind of computer game, with puzzles and challenges that would teach them all about superposition from the ground up.

“Work your way through this in your groups and let me know when you’ve reached the end,” then he began wandering between the groups helping them get started.

The class turned out to be more fun than Leura expected. The game was challenging, but satisfying, and the more time she was spending with Sol, the more she liked her.

The next class had a similar turn of events. History of Humanity was taught by Librarian Zenodot, a normal looking man that Leura wouldn’t have looked twice at if he’d passed them in the grocery store back home. While Leura had never enjoyed learning about history in her old school, she found that learning about humanity’s future and all the times she could one day visit was much more exciting. She spent a fascinating hour learning about the beginning of the space age, how Mars went from a small colony of scientists to its own sovereign planet just a few hundred years after Leura was born, with some added facts thrown in by Sol who seemed to know an endless amount of gossip about life on Mars.

They had a break in the middle of the day, and they ate lunch together in the green courtyard of the Hall of Creation. Sol kept them entertained by telling them all about the time her parents had taken her hiking on Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain on Mars, shortly after the planet had been declared habitable and how she’d narrowly escaped being eaten by a pterodactyl, which were apparently all over Mars at the time after an experiment with the local ecosystem went wrong.

Their next class was in the Sandbox. Leura felt excitement flow through her as she saw Mika waiting for them in a simulation that looked like a hangar of a spaceship. He had a box with him that was moving around a lot and making strange noises, like something inside wanted to get out.

“Gather round, gather round, welcome to Basics in Advanced Technology. It’s my job to make sure you know everything you need to know about the weird and wonderful things we humans have invented. Now, it’s a tradition of mine to make the first white robe class a bit of a treat, so we’re going to be covering Nex Pets today.” With his signature beaming smile, Mika bent down and opened the squirming box.

Out poured half a dozen creatures that made most of the class squeal with happiness. They were all unique, but had one obvious thing in common. They were outrageously cute and cuddly.

A round ball of pink fuzz came waddling up to Leura on fluffy little feet and gazed up at her with giant round eyes, doing little hops like it wanted nothing more in the world than to be picked up by her. Leura scooped it up and it gave a soft purring noise like a kitten, snuggling happily into Leura’s arms. Another Nex Pet was hopping around the room like a tiny kangaroo, that could easily leap over their heads and was covered in vibrant gold fur.

“I’ve always wanted a Nex Pet!” shouted Sol as she held a beautiful black and white creature that reminded Leura of a snow leopard mixed with a monkey.

“Genetically engineered pets!” exclaimed Mika, raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the excited students and equally excited pets. “Best example you’ll ever see of the power of gene splicing.”

They spent a happy hour playing with the Nex Pets, while Mika explained all about how they were created and what sort of things they could do. Leura’s head reeled at the news that there were hundreds of different types, and some of them could do truly extraordinary things, like carry a hundred times their own weight, or breathe fire. The only person who seemed unimpressed by them was Cron, who exclaimed loudly to anyone that would listen how the only pets he cared about were ones that could eat someone alive, like the beasts his dad raised in Jotunheim.

Leura felt her body tense all over, and a familiar sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Cron kept glancing over at her as he spoke, like he could sense her reaction. Even the Nex Pets couldn’t distract her from imagining Jotunheim once again, only this time with hideous monsters prowling around, preying on the prisoners inside… on a beautiful and terrified woman, with features just like Wentworth’s, and a heart just like her own…

“Enough chatting over there, we’re here to learn about Nex Pets, not the life of Cron Malabar, as riveting as I’m sure it is,” came Mika’s booming voice from across the room. He was frowning sternly at Cron, who gave a breezy shrug and went back to talking quietly with Stirling and Quillith. Mika gave the twins a concerned look, and Leura felt her cheeks go red, embarrassed she had to be protected by the teacher on top of everything else.

Finally, their last class for the day was about to begin. It was also in the Sandbox, so everyone stayed behind after Mika left and waited for the next Librarian to arrive.

The Sandbox was simulating the same peaceful forest clearing that Mika had shown them the day before, and Leura was so engrossed with watching the deer grazing across the stream that she didn’t notice the arrival of a very short and wide man, with a shining bald head and blood red robes. Trailing close behind him, was the entire class of purple robes.

“Well, aren’t you a sorry looking bunch,” said the man in a rough voice that made quite a few of them jump, including Leura. “I’m Callimachus. I’m the librarian in charge of teaching you how to travel through time without breaking every damn thing in it.”

Leura gave a nervous laugh, and Wentworth just gulped. Most of the white robes looked apprehensive and trying not to catch Callimachus’s eye, though he seemed to think that was the correct response.

“Ha! Good! It looks like you’ve already learned the most important lesson.” He stared them down with an intensity that caused even Leura to want to take a step back. “We are the most dangerous thing our species has ever created. And we can become a weapon if we want to be.” He paused and turned towards his purple robed students, a fierce look of pride igniting behind his eyes. “But that’s not what we do here. At Alexandria, we don’t make weapons. We make shields.”

Callimachus began the class by giving them all a speech that had a practised feel to it, and judging by the look on the purple robes’ faces, they’d heard it a thousand times before.

“The first principle of time travel is that time isn’t real. What we call “time” is just the way our brains structure reality. You don’t travel through time, because there’s nothing to travel through. You just temporarily change its structure, folding it together until two points become one, and slipping between them. The second principle of time travel is that the structure can be damaged. Changing something at one point will change things further along. But change the wrong thing, and the structure will defend itself. A paradox will cause the structure to reset, making itself stable again. The third principle of time travel is that you can’t travel to a time you’re already in. You’re spread across countless moments in time. You’re at the moment of your birth, the moment of your death, and everywhere in between, including right here and now. But there’s never been two of you in a single moment and there never will be. If you try to travel to a moment you’re already in, you’ll just end up at the closest available moment instead. The fourth and final principle of time travel is that it requires energy. And like everything else in our brains, the most powerful source of energy is emotion. The stronger the emotion, the further you can travel, but the more unstable the emotion, the less control you’ll have.”

Leura’s brain whirled trying to make sense of all that information. She wanted to hear the principles again, and then realised that was probably why Callimachus repeated them so much.

“The first lesson for all new white robes is more of a demonstration, which is why the purple robes are here. We’re heading to New Tokyo. For those who don’t know, it’s got the largest market in the system and it’s where we get most of our tech. You’ll each be needing a few things before your real training can begin, the most important being a timedial.”

Leura instinctively reached into her pocket and clasped Raya’s timedial, wondering whether she should let Callimachus know she already had one.

“Right then, let’s get moving!” Callimachus marched out of the room with the purple robes close behind, and the white robes scrambling to keep up.

“I wish we’d got mum’s timedial off dad before he left,” said Wentworth sullenly.

Leura opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn’t know why she was keeping it a secret from Wentworth, all she knew was that it felt like it belonged to her now, and she didn’t want to have to share it, even with her twin.

Callimachus led the group out of the library and over to the lighthouse. There were so many of them that they had to split up and travel from the time capsule in groups. Leura, Wentworth and Sol were part of the second group, and Leura ended up standing beside a lanky purple robe boy with long sandy hair. All the purple robes fiddled with their timedials for a few seconds, then started taking the hands of the people next to them. The sandy haired boy reached out to grab Leura’s.

“It’s easier this way, trust me,” he said with a friendly smile. “I’m Jason, by the way.” Leura introduced herself and took his hand, then grabbed onto Sol’s with the other, who was looking at her and Jason with raised eyebrows and a sly smile, making Leura’s cheeks burn red.

Luckily for her, all the purple robes had closed their eyes, and a look of calm concentration washed over their faces. Then the air started to shimmer and bend, and the familiar crunching sound rang loud in their ears.

Leura wished she could help them. She didn’t like being a passenger, just carried along by the people with all the real power. But she didn’t have to feel that way for long. Moments later the capsule sprung back into place, and they headed outside, into an Alexandria that hadn’t had a Great Library in it for many thousands of years.

The skyport took a little longer to get through this time. As they were taking an interplanetary flight, they were booked on a much bigger craft and there was a queue at the gate. Callimachus took the opportunity to brief the white robes on what was about to happen.

“Mars ain’t close, nothing in the system is. The trip takes just under three months each way, but don’t panic,” he added hastily, as quite a few of the white robes had looked at him in alarm, “it’s going to feel instantaneous, almost like time travelling. Interplanetary flights use cryogenic seating, you’ll close your eyes and open them again when we’ve landed, you won’t even have aged more than a few hours.”

Leura didn’t know how she felt about spending three months flying through space like it was as simple as taking a nap, but she didn’t have much time to worry about it as they were soon through the gate and making their way onto the craft. It had seats that looked very similar to the ones they’d taken to Alexandria, but this time Leura noticed with a flash of fear that when the passengers sat down they didn’t just sink in part ways, but were completely swallowed, the seats taking on the shape of an egg once they had a passenger inside of them.

“Nothing to worry about,” said Jason casually, about to take a seat a few up from Leura, “it’s like slipping off to sleep in a cosy bed. People can stay in cryo for years before there’s any bad side effects.” He sat down with a relaxed look on his face and let the seat swallow him whole.

“All I heard was bad side effects,” said Wentworth grimly. Sol laughed at him and jumped into a seat.

“See you on the other side,” she said cheerfully before she disappeared.

The twins looked at each other. Leura gave Wentworth a shrug and sat down. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Wentworth take a seat as well, and she felt a familiar comfort knowing that he would always be one step behind her, like he’d been their entire lives. Then a warm, tingly feeling swept over her body and she was plunged into darkness.

“Welcome, to the New Tokyo skyport,” said a pleasant voice from somewhere above her.

We can’t be here already, thought Leura, I’ve only just sat down! She opened her eyes and saw the inside of the craft come into focus. It looked exactly the same, and all around her passengers were standing up from their seats with no more fuss than a few light stretches and some yawning.

“Well that wasn’t so bad,” said Wentworth, a look of clear relief on his face.

“I prefer terrestrial flights, I’d rather be awake for the skyhook part,” said Sol, a little deflated.

“Alright, stick together now, purple robes keep an eye on the white robes, let’s get moving.” Callimachus led the way out of the craft and into the skyport. It was even more impressive than the one in Sydney. Not only did everything look brand new and shiny, it was also beautifully designed. The ceiling was made from crystal clear glass, opening up to a brilliant blue sky. It was held up by giant structures that looked a bit like mushrooms, and they were covered in beautiful vines and flowering plants, making it feel like some sort of artificial alien forest, which Leura realised with a shock, is exactly what it was.

They reached the exit quickly, as the light gravity let them take giant leaps forward with every step, and Leura stared in awe at the impossibly tall skyscrapers, with the lush greenery growing up the lower floors and cherry blossoms lining the streets. It looked just like it had in the Sandbox, although no simulation could truly prepare her for what it felt like to be standing there in the real thing. On an entirely new world built on a whole other planet.

Callimachus was busy rummaging through a bag he’d brought with him, and started handing out a small case to each student.

“It’s an ARI,” he explained as he gave one to Leura. “Augmented Reality Interface. You’ll see pretty quickly why we need them once you put them in.”

Leura opened the case to find a pair of contact lenses. She looked around to see all the other students putting them over their eyes, and hurried to do the same. As soon as they were in place they powered on automatically, and it was like a whole second layer of the city suddenly sprung to life.

Bright and colourful signs hung in the air all around them, pointing towards shops and attractions, advertising the latest tech products, or showing news from all across the solar system. Anything she looked at triggered a popup of information that explained exactly what it was. She even had a search bar she could use to find things, and when Leura tested it by searching for ice cream, the ARI showed her how to get to the most highly rated ice creamery in the city with floating arrows that spread out in the direction she needed to take.

“Enough playing around, the market’s this way,” said Callimachus, leading the students off down the street in front of them. Leura sighed, as the floating arrows were in a different direction and she really wanted to know what ice cream from Mars tasted like, but she knew better than to argue.

Callimachus led them on for a number of blocks, and Leura enjoyed watching the koi swimming happily along in the streams beside them, or watching the countless drones zooming high above their heads. Eventually they reached a building that seemed older than most of the others around it, and not quite as high. The entrance from the street was wide open, though they were the only ones that seemed to be using it. Looking up, she noticed that the drones could fly directly into the building at the height they were already cruising at, and Leura realised that must be how most people came and went from the buildings all over the city.

Leura followed Sol through the doors, with Wentworth close behind her, and they got their first look at the New Tokyo market. It was everything she expected a market from the future to be, yet still beyond anything she could’ve possibly imagined.

The whole place was one giant spiralling walkway that circled around the inside of the building, going so high up that Leura couldn’t see where it ended. The stalls themselves covered the walls of the walkway, or hovered in the air along the inside edge. Clear glass elevators floated up and down through the centre of the building, bringing people to whatever level they wanted. Small drones whizzed all over the place, some bringing fresh stock to the stalls, others carrying the enormous bags of bought goods for the shoppers. Leura’s ARI was working overtime trying to tell her what each stall was selling and for how much. It also let her search through what felt like an endless list of items and directed her to whatever stall sold it.

The people themselves were just as interesting. She knew now where the tall, thin people she’d seen on Earth had come from. Mars’s low gravity clearly made people grow much taller than normal over the many thousands of years they’d lived here. But it also allowed them to get away with wearing ridiculous amounts of accessories. Enormous pieces of jewellery hung from people’s ears, wrists, and necks. Hats so large Leura felt like they’d break your neck back on Earth seemed perfectly normal here. It felt like the whole city was in a competition to see who could wear the most amount of items.

“This way,” shouted Callimachus, directing the group towards one of the large glass elevators.

Leura couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious crowding into the elevator with all the other students in their plain robes. They stood out like a group of monks at a black tie event, but the people barely seemed to notice them, glancing at them briefly before turning back to whatever it was they were doing. Leura realised that people from here were nothing like the ones from her own time. They had an abundance of everything, and no reason to fear other people just because they were different. Despite how strange they all looked, Leura felt a strong liking for them. They were living in a way the people in her time could only dream of, and it seemed to suit them well.

The elevator dropped them off about 100 levels up. Even the floor of the elevator was made of glass, and the ground beneath them felt impossibly far away. Leura didn’t mind heights, but she could see Wentworth going white and desperately trying not to look down.

Callimachus gathered them in the middle of the walkway. “Okay, first things first! It’s time to get your timedials. Now, a good timedial is the most valuable tool for any traveller, and the greatest manufacturer of them is right here.” He gestured towards a modest looking stall with black and silver hangings and display shelves overflowing with timedials of all different shapes and styles. “If you’ve already been given one by your folks, then show it to them so they can make sure it’s up to scratch.” He led the group over to the stall. Leura read the sign embroidered into the hanging. The Artisan of Timedials and other Tachyon Technologies.

One by one, the white robes approached the counter and spoke to the wiry looking couple who owned the stall. Most of them got to pick out a brand new timedial for themselves, though Leura noticed that it was only from the selection on the front counter, never from the much more impressive timedials displayed in the shelves along the side and back walls. A few of the students handed over the timedials they’d brought with them, and the couple would spend a few minutes fiddling with the spinning rings, or opening up the back of it to take a look at the mechanics inside.

When it was Leura and Wentworth’s turn, they approached the counter together.

“New timedials dearies?” said the woman in a falsely sweet voice, and Wentworth nodded. Leura’s heart was pounding, and she kept her eyes downcast as she reached slowly into her pocket and brought out Raya’s timedial. She felt Wentworth go rigid beside her and knew she’d have some explaining to do later.

“Well, well… that’s quite the piece dear,” said the man, reaching out with his long, spider-like hands to take the timedial. “Definitely one of ours, see the gold trim on the blackened steel glyphs? A fine piece indeed… from one of our luxury ranges no doubt,” he turned the timedial over and read the inscription on the back. His face went blank and what little colour it had drained away in an instant. He showed his partner the engraving and she covered her mouth with her hands. “How did this timedial come into your possession?” He asked with a forced friendliness.

“It was a gift,” said Leura warily.

“Yes, of course it was, but a gift from who dear?”

“From Mika, the Librarian,” answered Wentworth, “It used to be our mum’s.”

The couple exchanged a look that seemed to have an entire conversation’s worth of context behind it, then the man handed the timedial back to Leura. “Well, it’s in fine condition - fine condition indeed- take good care of it please, I’d hate to see such an exquisite piece go to waste.”

“Who bought it off you?” Leura blurted out. She’d meant to ask casually but it came out with such force the couple both jumped in surprise.

“Hard to say - it was a long while ago - we’ve sold so many of these over the years,” said the man, attempting to pull off an innocent shrug but ruining it by glancing nervously at his partner.

“Please, it’s just, we think whoever bought it would want to know that it’s safe with us now,” said Leura, doing a much better job at speaking casually this time.

“Well, I suppose they might - now you mention it,” said the man grimly. “But she’s not someone you’re likely to run into, I’d think. She’s CI, you know, Continuum Intelligence. Head of the whole operation, her name’s Frey Thorisdottir.”

It was the twins’ turn to look at each other anxiously. They recognised the name. It was the person Mika had told them about, the one who came and took Raya away.

“Do you know why she bought it for her?” asked Leura, unable to keep the burning curiosity out of her voice.

“Well, I seem to recall it was a welcome gift, for joining the CI…”

“What’s the hold up!” growled Callimachus from the back of the group. All four of them jumped and the man hastily started pushing timedials towards Wentworth, clearly hoping to wrap up this encounter as quickly as possible.

While Wentworth picked one out, Leura let her mind dissect what she’d just learned. So her mother had worked for the very person who later arrested her. And apparently they were close enough for Frey to buy her a valuable gift. All the warmth Leura had for the timedial was gone, and she felt a strong urge to return it and choose a new one. But she couldn’t let go of something that connected her to Raya, even if it was only through pain. She put the timedial safely back in her pocket. At least now she knew why Cron had called Raya a traitor. The CI had arrested one of their own.

A few moments later, they left to go join Sol and the other students who’d already received their timedials. Wentworth had chosen a small silvery-white one with copper glyphs, and the couple had praised his choice enthusiastically, telling him it was one of the finest on display, and that he clearly had a good eye for the craft.

When the last of the white robes had chosen a timedial, Callimachus scanned his transparent bracelet against the wiry man’s. Leura assumed it was to make some sort of payment for the dozens of timedials they just gave out.

After that, Callimachus led them to a few other stalls. They each picked up a set of zero-g combat clothes, which looked like tight fitting sports wear, except they became rock solid when their user reached the limit of the range of motion, protecting their joints from injury. He also got everyone that didn’t have one a transparent bracelet from a stall whose sign read Phonelets, the everything device.

Back near the elevator drop off point, Callimachus gathered the group together and glared at them all until he was sure everyone was listening. “Right then! You’ve got 5 minutes to enjoy the market while I pick up a few things for the Librarians, then we meet back here. Anyone who’s late is banned from any trips further ahead in time than the first moon landing. Earth’s moon, that is, got it?” He gave them all a look that made it clear he wasn’t bluffing, then he headed off up the walkway.

“Exciting!” shrieked Sol, “let’s go talk to some of the stall owners.” She bounced off in the opposite direction as Callimachus. The rest of the students all dispersed amongst the stalls, and Leura and Wentworth hurried to catch up with Sol.

Leura was scanning the stalls ahead with her ARI to see what sort of things they sold. There were stalls with AI powered drones, so advanced they had their own personalities and many people seemed to have one flying along beside them like pets. Some were tiny and designed to look like cute little birds, others were more like big, bulky vultures, and seemed to behave like guard dogs.

A few stalls sold virtual reality gaming devices. There were ones like the ARI, just contact lenses you could put in and feel like you were actually inside the game. But the more advanced ones were entire bodysuits with neural headgear that simulated everything exactly like real life. You could feel a breeze on your face, smell and taste a delicious meal, even feel the impact and burn of a gunshot if you wanted it. The suit came with an adjustable realism setting.

Leura spotted a large crowd around one stall that sold Nex Pets, and an even larger crowd around a stall that sold hoverboards. Then she spotted Sol a few stalls ahead of them, talking to a stall owner who sold brain chemistry modifiers, a small device you attached to the back of your neck that let you send signals to your brain to make you feel anything you wanted to feel. The advertisement showed people shifting between laughing uncontrollably, weeping their eyes out, falling deeply in love, exploding with rage, and back to laughing their heads off, all in under a minute.

The twins were about to join her when another stall caught Leura’s attention.

Her ARI told her it specialised in Earth relics, and only sold the rarest, most valuable items. Maybe it was just the mention of Earth that drew Leura to it, something familiar amongst all this difference. She couldn’t be sure, but without really thinking about it she grabbed Wentworth and dragged him over to the stall with her.

The owner looked them up and down for a long moment. She didn’t seem to need to blink and it made Leura unsettled. She wasn’t tall like everyone else, and wasn’t dressed like them either. She wore plain clothes, a long sleeved top and trousers that probably wouldn’t have looked too out of place back in their own time.

“Two young travellers, longing for Earth.” Her voice sounded stunted, almost like it was an old recording that had lost its quality. “Let me guess. You’re from a time when this planet was nothing but a star in the night sky.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” answered Leura. “Um, don’t take this the wrong way but, you’re not a real person, are you?”

The owner’s face didn’t change, her eyes unblinking and voice crackling as she spoke, “I’m as real as most here, and older than all of them. I’m from Earth too, and came to Mars when its air was still toxic to those like you. I had many sisters and brothers with me back then, but times were harder, and we had the hardest jobs of all. We built this world, make no mistake. Not the people made from weak flesh and bone. But me, and those like me.”

“So, you’re some sort of robot then,” said Wentworth. The owner looked at him with the same expressionless eyes and he realised he may have just said something horribly offensive. “I mean, like, artificial, or built, but in a good way. I love robots,” he finished weakly, giving the owner a nervous smile.

“A robot is to me what a monkey is to you, but I can see you are attempting to be polite, however poorly.” She turned back to Leura. “What is it you’re looking for, child of the past?”

Leura hadn’t come to the stall looking for anything, but the question travelled deep into her mind and brought back the only thing she truly cared about. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked into the eyes of the ancient being and told her exactly what she was looking for. “A way to save my mum. She’s imprisoned… in Jotunheim.”

For the first time, the owner’s face portrayed a flicker of emotion, her eyes and lips narrowing, as if the question put a sour taste in her mouth. “We fear very little here, but the thought of disappearing into that abyss is enough to frighten even us.”

Leura couldn’t hide the eagerness in her voice even if she wanted to. “So you know where it is then! Can you tell me how to get there?”

The owner leant forward. “I am sorry child, I do not know where it is. No one does. All I know is that once they come for someone, and take them to Jotunheim, they never come back.” She paused for a moment, as if to think deeply about something, although it came across more like a slow computer loading up a new screen. “So young to be connected to something so dangerous… perhaps… there is something I could give you that might help.” She reached low behind the front counter, took a few moments to rummage around for something, then brought up two small objects and laid them down in front of the twins.

It was a pair of dice, but with twelve sides instead of six. They were made from a material so dark it felt like looking into a bottomless pit, and their surfaces were completely blank.

“These are not things you could find anywhere else on Mars,” said the owner, “they are from a less enlightened time, when the system was still governed by greed. They’ve had many names over the millennia, though I know them as the dice of serendipity. Roll them when you are faced with a difficult choice, and they will tell you how likely it is to work out as you hope it will.” Then she leant forward again and gazed at Leura with renewed intensity. “A word of warning though. These dice read quantum wave functions. They, and all technology like them, are banned across the system for the simple reason that we still do not fully understand them. They can have… unpredictable results. Use them as a guide, nothing more.”

Leura looked at the dark dice and felt a rush of panic. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any money, I should have said.”

“I did not ask for any,” replied the owner, gesturing for Leura to take the dice.

Leura hesitated for a moment, afraid to touch something so void of light, but she forced herself to reach out and grab the dice from the counter.

“There you are!” Sol’s panicked voice shouted from behind them. “Come on, get a move on, we’re going to be late!” She grabbed both twins by the robes and started pulling them back the way they’d come. Leura gave the owner one final look, and could have sworn she saw her force a crooked smile, like dusting off a skill she hadn’t used in a very long time. Then Leura turned and ran behind Sol as fast as she could, tucking the dice into a pocket as she went.

“Cutting it very close you three,” boomed Callimachus as they reached the rest of the group right as the elevator doors opened to take them back down to street level.

They walked as a group back to the skyport, and Sol showed them with whispering squeals of excitement the small pile of golden-yellow sand she’d bought at the market. As she held it out in front of her, it began to morph into a miniature version of herself, gave them an enthusiastic wave and wink, then morphed back into a golden blob. “Top of the range nanobots!” squealed Sol, bursting with happiness. “Spent all the money my parents gave me but it’ll be worth it! I’m thinking of calling them Stardust, because of the colour, what do you think?” Leura and Wentworth agreed wholeheartedly, and they spent the rest of the walk playing with Stardust, who turned out to have the same mischievous personality as Sol, although Leura got the impression that was only because it was programmed to mimic its owner.

As they lined up at their gate to catch the next skyhook back to Earth, Leura began to feel a powerful emotion build inside her like wildfire. She reached into her pocket and felt the smooth surface of the dice, rolling them around in her hand, her mind racing with possibilities.

She didn’t stop thinking about the dice the entire journey home. That night, she lay awake in bed once more. Moonlight brightened the room through their bedroom window just enough for Leura to reach over to her tunic and pull out the two small dice.

She didn’t know how long she lay in bed staring at them. All she knew is that for the first time since all this started, she no longer felt too small for this world. If these dice really could guide her to make all the right decisions, then saving her mum didn’t just feel possible now. It felt inevitable.

She stared into their depths, drinking in the sense of control and power they gave her until deep into the night, convinced that everything she’d ever wished for was about to come true.