Chapter 2

A charming, bald man with an overly bright smile pointed his finger at Ada and exclaimed:

“YOU have always wanted to KNOW EVERYTHING about the Wau! Who are they? How many are they?”

The screen on the wall replaced the man’s face with an image of a golden, featureless, oval mask reflecting the lens of a drone camera.

“What lies behind the mask? An AI? A transhuman? A Transient? Or perhaps a Xeno? Are they allies of the Human Society? Are they a control mechanism? Why do they want to speak to us today? What do they have to tell us? For the first time since their emergence during the tribal crisis on Escalus Prime, a Wau will speak on our screens. It will be a very special QUESTION OF THE DAY, brought to you, as always, by...”

Tomorrow, thought Ada. For a week now, the PanHS broadcasts had been advertising this special interview.

But Ada already knew perfectly well what a Wau was—not “a” Wau but “the” Wau: the antagonist in all the adventure stories of the League of Antioch.

Wau was a giant man, twice the size of an adult, clad in an old astronaut suit dating back to the early years of space exploration. His oversized golden visor reflected his sinister, deep voice. At dramatic moments, one might glimpse the face of a man behind the visor: eyes blazing with a manic passion, haunted by a cruel smile. Wau served as the armed enforcer of the Human Society. He would arrive on planets where humans and Xenos lived in harmony, corrupt them with gifts and wealth, seize power, and trigger a resistance. When the resistance rose, he would kill a few rebels. The Human Society rewarded him with heaps of golden coins called thalers, which he hoarded in a star fortress carved into an asteroid. Alone, he delighted in the demonic joy of simply owning his wealth.

But the heroes of the League of Antioch would arrive on the oppressed planet and aid the resistance. Chief among them were the sisters Aida and Yelena, warriors armed with a magical spear and a quantum whip gifted by a Transient who had, of course, joined the League’s righteous cause. Together, they stood against Wau, who could have won if not for his constant distraction by opportunities for wealth or the weight of his gold.

However, Ada’s favorite hero was Gorylkin: an ordinary man in a modern astronaut suit bearing the League’s colors. Gorylkin triumphed through wit and a good heart. His motto: “The mind triumphs over strength.”

Ada longed to be like Gorylkin. The promised three weeks in her room had stretched on endlessly, and today was her eleventh birthday.

Her room was a space of soft, indestructible off-white walls. One screen displayed artwork from the Human Society, while another broadcasted propaganda-filled fiction and news. A large bay window—seemingly real rather than virtual—overlooked what she had been told were “the Waterfalls of Calchas.”

The complex in which she was confined appeared to be part of a city suspended by bridges and pillars over a circular chasm of indeterminate depth. Towering green mountains plunged into immense waterfalls, their energy harnessed by turbines at various levels.

Brightly colored dragonfly-like murmurations darted through the air, avoiding placid Xeno creatures resembling floating balloons that hunted them with sticky mucus.

Below, a maze of bridges and walkways teemed with a predominantly human crowd, each dressed uniquely—a sight Ada found both fascinating and exhausting. Why wasn’t that man in red, with the wide-brimmed hat, dressed like anyone else? Was he dangerous? The crowd mingled, bumped into each other, and even children seemed happy, clutching small toys that stirred in Ada a mix of envy and shame.

The Xenos, praised by the League of Antioch for their immense wisdom, were equally diverse. Ada had been told, “They can take any form: invisible, a living echo in incomprehensible ruins, or as vast as a moon or as small as a grain of sand. Some live seven seconds, others are eternal. There are as many Xeno types as stars in the sky.”

From her window, she saw Calchas’ Xenos in all their variety: a fur-covered silver worm as long as an arm, sponge-like beings exuding vapors that formed purple words in the air, humanoids with eagle heads, dripping octopus-like creatures (apparently celebrities, given the humans taking photos of them), humanoids with extra limbs concealed beneath flowing robes, floating orbs clustered together, and even a massive black-and-white orca-like creature with three legs and two arms that stepped over dozens of passersby with each stride—an Escalusian.

Ada’s joy and frustration came from her LE (Living Encyclopedia - commonly called Ellie), a portable terminal containing the world’s knowledge. She used it to identify Xenos or ask questions about them, pointing them out through her window. The floating orbs, for instance, were a single entity often wandering space, considered close to transcendence (whatever that meant). The LE’s database labeled it simply as Calchas-Zeta-1.

Through the LE, Ada pursued her passion for science and mathematics. She developed a particular fondness for prime number distribution, immersing herself in its long history. However, the LE was also a gatekeeper. When she asked how to open a locked door or break the bay window, it responded that it didn’t know—though it knew everything else. This inconsistency was suspicious, especially as her HS chaperone, Solstice, would arrive half an hour later, feigning casual concern for Ada’s well-being.

Solstice was a small woman, her body compacted by life under permanent planetary gravity. Freckles dotted her face, and her hair was braided with finely crafted metal clips—personal possessions, which initially shocked Ada. Over time, she grew accustomed to Solstice’s far more shocking habit of wearing different clothes daily: red linen trousers, a floral-patterned skirt, a technician’s tunic. One day, Solstice remarked while seated across from Ada in the spacious room:

“These clothes, and others, belong to me.”

“Ada, the Human Society isn’t so different from the Shareplace. Every citizen who behaves properly is entitled to ‘food and shelter’ by law. That means you can stay in special housing centers or with host families who are requisitioned for that purpose nightly. You’ve probably heard that in our world, everything is traded with thalers. That’s true, but only if you want things beyond the basics provided. If you want special clothes beyond those issued by the housing centers, you’ll need to contribute to the community. But you can also choose to do nothing. In the Human Society, with its vast population, you can live like in a Shareplace — doing nothing but walking in nature and chatting with the LE every day.”

Ada remained skeptical. Solstice pulled a shiny metal coin from her pocket.

“Thalers are digital, but here’s a one-thaler coin. Do you want it?”

Ada eyed the coin but didn’t take it. She thought Solstice might be an agent of Wau. Sol placed the coin on the table corner, where it remained untouched—though Ada often inspected it closely, like a numismatist.

The Room was quite large. The bed was soft and comfortable, and every day a flying drone entered through a small opening to make it. However, Ada had already made the bed herself, so the drone would simply tuck the edges and wish her a good day.

There was a screen broadcasting various shows, and Ada started watching the youth programs—first with a mix of curiosity and defiance, then as “training to resist the HS.” But eventually, she had to admit she enjoyed them. She eagerly wanted to know what would happen next in the fictional adventures. In her mind, Gorykiln, the cunning hero of the League of Antioch, coexisted perfectly with another version of Wau: sleek, handsome — perhaps even female — venturing into the farthest reaches of the universe aboard a golden Endymion ship carrying a thousand men, seeking the secrets of the Blind Gods.