NC Chapter 2

In which Nira begins her first day with Gerya and strange things already begin to happen.

2

Her awakening was nowhere near as peaceful. One minute she was dreaming, the next it was as if the Creator’s own deluge was drowning her. Nira sat straight up, sputtering and trying to spit the water out of her mouth.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Gerya said, holding an empty bucket with which she had just drenched Nira, “It’s time to start.”

Nira groaned, which caused an inhalation of more water. A fit of coughing followed.

"Goodness," Gerya laughed, "You're not allergic to water are you?"

Nira rolled her eyes, her lungs clear. "I'm pretty sure that's not even possible, Gerya."

"It actually is. There was a single case while I was working in a Science hospital where someone broke out in rashes whenever they were touched by water. No one figured it out completely, but we conjectured that the shape of the water molecule caused abrasions in the skin. So there."

Nira grabbed a pillow to try and dry herself off, but it wasn't absorbent at all. She looked around helplessly for a towel, a rag, something. She hated being wet; her hair was always stringy once it dried, and she spent a fortune on shampoo.

"Oh, sit still, Nira," Gerya said, "I'll take care of it."

It looked like she did nothing at all, but suddenly Nira felt an enormous amount of heat inches away from her skin. She helped. But it didn't hurt, and it vanished a moment later. Her clothes and hair were perfectly dry. She pinched one of her locks, and was happy to see that it was perfectly silky and smooth. "What did you do?"

"I caused the layer of air around you to go to boiling temperature, then drop to normal temperature once the layer of water was evaporated. It's why I wanted you to sit still; if you had moved, your skin would have been severely burned from the boiling heat."

Nira stared at her in awe. "How did you do this? Was it the same thing you did that warmed me outside yesterday?"

"The exact same. It is not, however, something that I can teach you. I can guide you to discovering it, but this kind of talent is something very rare and very precious. The Creator only knows how many people have it in the world. It was why I took you in."

"But how did you know that I had this talent?"

Gerya stared at her for a moment; the gaze was unsettling. "Do you remember when you convinced me to teach you?" the older woman finally asked, "How you knew exactly how to convince me?"

"Of course. It was only yesterday evening."

"You were able to understand exactly how my mind worked and exactly what it would take to convince me. That is a very clear sign that you have the talent."

"So I can learn how to do what you do? The miraculous things?"

"You have the potential, yes. But it is not up to me as to whether you will be able to."

Nira was becoming frustrated. Why was Gerya being so cryptic? "Then who decides?"

"The Creator," was all Gerya said.

Nira stared at the other woman, trying to figure out what she meant by that answer. No explanation was forthcoming. "Fine," she said, "Don't tell me. What will we be doing first?"

Gerya smiled; it was slightly mischievous. "You remember what I was doing when you found me yesterday?"

Nira groaned. "I don't see how sitting around staring at the mountainside is going to help me."

"Oh, pardon me, Nira, I hadn't realized that you are more knowledgeable than I am. I apologize for insulting your vastly superior intelligence."

She blushed in shame. She had spoken rashly, and they both knew it. "I'm sorry, Gerya," she said quietly, "I spoke foolishly."

"Apology accepted. By the way, have you noticed that you have a habit of speaking formally when you're nervous or ashamed?"

Nira realized that she did have that tendency. "I hadn't thought about it before you pointed it out, but I think you’re right. I was always told to speak formally when I was a child, and I was constantly berated when I refused to."

Gerya frowned. "What kind of Science family makes their child do that? I thought they were proud of not forcing their children into foolish traditions like the Faith."

"My family was... eccentric. They weren't like the Faith, of course, but they did have their strange demands. Formal language was one of those." Nira shuffled her feet uncomfortably, staring at her hands. "In all honesty, Gerya, that kind of home was one reason why I wanted to escape them and study with you.”

“Even in parenting, Faith and Science are more similar than people would think. But that’s a tangent. You’re never going to be able to mold your talent if you don’t clear your mind. I know, it sounds stupid, but talent requires immense concentration, so you can’t be thinking about what you had for breakfast this morning and expect results.”

Nira’s shoulders sagged. “That makes sense, I guess. Speaking of breakfast, can I get something to eat first?”

“Nope!” Gerya said cheerily, “It’s better to meditate on an empty stomach. We’ll have breakfast afterwards.”

Nira groaned again.

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Meditation was hard. As Nira attempted to calm her mind and regulate her breathing, all she could think about was the growing cramp in her left leg. Sitting cross legged was hard enough, but the way Gerya did it was with her feet on top of her thighs with the soles pointed upward. It was much easier to balance once you sat like that, but Nira was only barely flexible enough to pull it off, so now she had to deal with leg cramps.

“Calm,” Gerya instructed, “Is the first step. You must try to clear your mind entirely. I know that sounds like a cliche, but it’s true. Any stray thought, any tangent that your train of thought might follow could potentially shatter your concentration. Breathe deeply, feel the sunlight across your face…”

This sunlight is blinding, even with my eyes closed, Nira thought. Still, she’d agreed to allow Gerya to teach her. If meditation was the first step, so be it.

Maybe if she focused on a single thing, she could concentrate. So she thought of her mother.

Her mother had been a beautiful woman. In her mind’s eye, if such a thing was real, Nira saw her face. Liran’s beauty was not the only thing that Nira remembered; her intelligence and scientific theories had been unparalleled, and even then, Liran had been a wonderful mother who taught her daughter all she knew. Nira thought back on when she’d first entered Liran’s lab…

“Mother?” Nira asked as she opened the door, “Why are you in here so much of the time? Can’t you come out and play with me?”

Liran smiled as she took off her safety goggles. “I could ask you a similar question, Nira. Why don’t you ever come in here to play with me?”

Nira’s eight year-old mind couldn’t handle the paradox. “Well… but…” she stammered, unable to think of a sufficient response.

Her mother laughed. “Did it never occur to you that the best play happens in a lab?” She gestured to all the instruments around her. “There are infinite possibilities here, Nira. Here, look at this,” she held up a piece of paper, “What would happen if I lit this on fire?”

“It would burn,” Nira said immediately.

“Just burn? Are you sure?” Liran asked inquisitively, eyeing Nira.

“Of course. What else would it do?”

“Well, let’s find out.” Liran took out a lighter, lit the paper, and tossed it up in the air. Instead of burning slowly, as Nira thought, it gave an almighty flash of light and disappeared.

Her jaw dropped. In her excitement, she forgot to speak formally. “How’d you do that, Mom?”

Liran frowned. “What have your father and I told you about proper speaking, Nira?”

She lowered her head, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry, Mother. How did you do that?”

Liran smiled, all seriousness vanishing. “That paper was soaked in a certain chemical beforehand. Now, when lit, it immolates instantly.”

Nira frowned at the large words. “What does that mean? Immo-immola…”

“Immolation,” Liran finished, “Means that it burns up. Normally that happens slowly, as you thought, but not in this case.”

“But what makes the chemical and the paper react in that way?”

“If you’re curious, I’d love to teach you, but I can’t start there. We’ll have to start with something simpler…”

Her memories were shattered by Gerya saying, “Well, now that’s interesting…”

Nira glared at the older woman, but Gerya wasn’t looking directly at her. In fact, she was looking at the ground beneath Nira.

Or, more accurately, the air beneath Nira.

Nira was hovering above the ground. True, it was only a few inches, but she was doing it. That is, until she realized that she was. In her surprise, she lost whatever it was that was holding her up, and she dropped. At the same time, she heard a distinct voice say “Very good…”

“What’s very good?” Nira asked.

Gerya looked at her, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You said ‘very good.’”

“I most certainly did not, child. Maybe your mind has been frazzled by all that meditation and no food. Come inside; we’ll have breakfast.”

Nira wanted to continue the conversation, but she could somehow sense that Gerya wouldn’t say anything further. She followed the old woman back inside the mountain.

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Gerya’s idea of breakfast was widely different from Nira’s. Nira’s family had been moderately wealthy, and their morning meals were always large and widely varied. Gerya just took a bunch of ingredients, tossed them into a pan, and started cooking.

“Nothing like a nice, simple skillet to start the day,” she said brightly, “Especially after being blinded by sunlight.”

“I thought that you wouldn’t be bothered by that,” Nira replied, “Because you’ve been meditating so long.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter how long I’ve been meditating; the distractions are always distracting. The real problem is that sunglasses are even more distracting than the sunlight. I’ve just learned to ignore it.”

Nira looked bemused. “From how it was today, I’m not sure that would actually be possible.”

Gerya laughed. “Everything gets easier to ignore the more you try, Nira. Now, this skillet will take about ten minutes to finish frying. Why don’t we sit down and talk about what happened out there.” She led Nira back over to the living area and sat down on one of the chairs. Nira sat on the sofa.

“So tell me, Nira,” Gerya said once they were settled, “What were you thinking about while you were meditating. I have to admit that I’ve never seen anything like what you did. That certainly didn’t happen to me the first time I meditated.”

“Well,” Nira said, thinking back to her thought process, “I started out just feeling annoyed by all the distractions. The sun was in my eyes, my legs were cramping, I felt that this was all stupid and pointless… you know, things like that. But then I started thinking maybe it would be easier if I focused on one thing, so I thought about my mother. I saw her face in my mind, somehow, and then I was in a memory, like it was actually happening to me all over again…”

“You weren’t just seeing it happen in your mind?”

“No, Gerya, I was in it. I was eight years old again, and my mother was showing me her laboratory for the first time.”

"Eight years old? You told me she died when you were a baby.” Gerya had a very suspicious look on her face.

Nira froze. Damning mud, she thought, using a curse she didn’t say often, Did I say that?

“I… lied, Gerya. My mother did die in the experiment I told you about, but it was only three or four years ago.”

Gerya still looked angry, but the suspicion was gone. “I see. Well, at least you don’t persist in your falsehoods. I should throw you out of this cave right now, girl.”

Nira paled visibly. Why had she been so stupid? She should have just told Gerya her mother’s real identity in the first place. Better that than tell a lie and then forget about it, of all things.
“I’m sorry, Gerya. I should have been honest with you from the beginning.” Wait, why did Gerya look confused, rather than angry? The old woman should have been angry, yelling, doing something to punish Nira for what she had done. Instead, she was thinking. What could possibly have torn her mind away from Nira’s lies?

“Three or four years ago… your mother didn’t happen to have died on the twenty-fifth of Jilu, did she?”

Well, there goes the mystery, Nira thought. “Yes, Gerya.”

“You’re telling me your mother was the chairman of the GBSF? Liran herself?” She stared at Nira’s face. “Come to think of it, I can see the resemblance. I assume the experiment you were referring to was the famous catastrophe of Khienca?”

“Yes, Gerya.”

“So that’s what they were doing,” Gerya whispered, “I’d never been able to find that out. Proving Faith false? What a lofty ambition.”

Gerya was quiet, which made Nira uncomfortable. Would Gerya tell her that she was a lost cause and banish her from the mountain forever?She’d certainly be justified in doing so. But no, Nira had definitely done something out of the ordinary. Hopefully that would overcome Gerya’s anger at her and allow Nira to stay, to learn why exactly that had happened.

“Well,” Gerya finally said, “Anyway, the experience you described while meditating was definitely weird. Re-living memories certainly never happened to me, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people rarely have the same reaction to something. The same goes for food, so let’s see how you like my skillet.”

Nira stared at her in astonishment. “You mean, I’m allowed to stay?”

“Oh come now, Nira, you’re not the only girl who’s lied about her famous parents. I understand why you wouldn’t want Liran to make me prejudiced against you. Now come on, I’m just as hungry as you are.”

Nira followed Gerya back over to the kitchen and looked somewhat distastefully at the pan. She was used to delicate pastries or smoothies made from foreign fruits, so the conglomeration of eggs, potatoes, and meat she saw seemed less than appetizing. Still, she didn’t want to offend Gerya. Nira spooned some onto a plate and took it to a nearby table. She grabbed a fork and took a bite.

All her expectations were trashed. There was a conflict of flavors in her mouth: the savory-ness of the ham, the eggs, the hint of garlic in the potatoes, it was wonderful. How could her parents never have made her this for breakfast?

I guess it just goes to show, Nira thought to herself, Sometimes the simplest meals are the tastiest.

She’d eaten half her plate before she realized that Gerya was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m assuming,” Gerya said with a slight smile, “That you’re enjoying it. Either that, or you are far too eager to please me.”

“I’ve never had anything like it,” Nira replied, then returned herself to shoveling it into her mouth.

Gerya raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, you’ve never had anything like it? Did you not eat breakfast? This is one of the most common dishes I’ve ever made.”

“Common was not something my parents wished to describe themselves with. Breakfast in my home was always a complicated affair, with my father reminding me to use whatever culture’s silverware was used to eat their food, and my mother instructing me on the ingredients, cooking process, and cultural significance of whatever thing we were eating, which was always some complicated delicacy. The simplest thing we ever had was Lamian pastries.”

Gerya snorted. “That was their idea of simple? You have a lot to learn about simplicity, Nira.”

“I’m starting to realize that more and more.”

They finished their food (Nira ate two whole platefuls) and Gerya instructed her to put her dirty plate carefully on a strange conveyor-like device. It led to a large metal box that was humming softly.

“I hardly use any dishes,” Gerya explained, “So I don’t have to use one of those complicated dishwashers used by everybody else. These just go in one side dirty and come out clean on the other.”

Nira wondered what would be next on Gerya’s itinerary for the day, but it didn’t take her long to find out. Gerya led her straight to the door at the other end of the cavern, the one that led to the chemistry lab. Nira’s heart started pounding. Her father had never let her in a lab after mother’s accident. He’d set off on his excursions into the Unexplored and left her with Aunt Clana, who was one of the people who didn’t really care about scientific experimentation, despite her faction. Nira had almost gone insane with the desire to be back in a lab, with the beakers and balances and chemicals and test tubes and…

She gasped as Gerya opened the door. The woman had been as good as her word; the lab Nira saw inside was one of the most sophisticated she had ever seen. There were four entirely separate stations, each with numerous tables and full cabinets of chemicals and glassware. The three electron microscopes were lined up against the far wall. Each was fully fitted with all lenses and viewing screens.

Everything about the lab was wondrous to Nira, and she simply stood there, taking it all in. It wasn’t until Gerya coughed conspicuously that she’d realized that she was so stunned. She turned back to the old woman. Gerya was holding a lab coat that had been hanging on a hook.

“How long has it been since you’ve worn one of these?” she asked.

“Too long,” Nira replied.

“Well, it’s about time you wore one again. Turn around.” Nira did so, and Gerya draped the coat across her, guiding Nira’s arms to the sleeves. It was much softer than her mother’s old coat had been, and Nira wondered if it had ever been worn. Gerya also handed her a pair of safety goggles.

“What will we be doing here?” Nira asked excitedly.

“Whatever you wish. I told you, I’m not much for chemistry.”

Nira frowned. “But aren’t you supposed to be teaching me?”

“As I’ve said before, this kind of thing can’t be taught. I can guide you in the steps of how I discovered it, but you have to learn for yourself. One of the principle things I did to learn was conduct tests designed to outline as many of the fundamental laws of science as I could.”

Nira blinked. “That seems like a pretty daunting task.”

“Then let’s start smaller. What are some of the laws of science you can think of off the top of your head? Ones that you can test here in the lab?”

Nira thought for a moment. “Well, we could do a simple experiment to support the existence of the Law of Pressure and Law of Thermodynamics…”

“Good. And how would we do that?”

“Well, it shouldn’t be that hard. Let’s see…” She began examining the equipment cabinets. “I’ll need an aluminum can, a tray of cold water, a hot plate, some tongs…” She grabbed these things and placed them together at a station. She filled the can with water and held it in her left hand.

“What do you plan to do?” Gerya asked with interest.

“I remember my mother showing me an experiment where she filled an aluminum can with water, boiled it, and then quickly placed the can upside-down in the cold water…”

Once again, it was as if Nira was standing in her mother’s lab as Liran did the test.

“So Nira,” she said, “What do you think will happen if I place this can of boiling water in the cold water?”

Nira stared at the can. “It would cool down?”

Liran laughed. “Yes, of course, but what would happen to the can?”

Nira frowned, trying to think of what could happen. “Is something supposed to happen to the can?”

“I don’t know, Nira. Think hard. Try to apply what I’ve taught you about the laws of physics.”

Nira thought. She really did, but she just couldn’t figure out what would happen. She was too young to fully apply abstract scientific laws to real life. Eventually, Liran smiled and said, “I guess I’ll have to show you.” She took the can of boiling water in a pair of tongs, then swiftly turned it over, simultaneously placing it in the ice-cold water, the hole in the top completely covered. The can immediately crunched inward violently, flattening without pause.

Nira gasped. It had sounded like the can had been punched from all sides. “I understand now!” she cried, “The law of pressure! When temperature drops, the pressure inside lessens. Soon, the air outside the can was pushing harder than the air inside, and the can flattened!”

Liran smiled. “Very good, Nira. I see you have been listening.”

Nira, back in the present, gasped as she realized the can of water she was holding was boiling hot. Her hand stung and burned, and she dropped the can with a yelp, stepping back. The can dropped to the ground and splashed boiling water everywhere. Gerya hurriedly jumped out of the way, pulling Nira with her.

“What was that?” Gerya demanded curiously, “Why did you pour boiling water into the can?”

Nira shook her head, dazed somewhat, and cradling her burned hand in her other. “I don’t know,” she said honestly, “But it wasn’t hot when I poured it in there.” She gasped as a fresh wave of pain shook her hand.

Gerya looked at it worriedly. “Come on,” she said, guiding Nira out of the lab, “I’ll clean this up. You go to the medical area; I’ll be there in a minute.”

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Once Nira had left, Gerya turned back to the puddle of still-boiling water, grabbed a mop, and began to carefully mop it up. This was not how it was supposed to work. True, Gerya had had flashbacks when she was discovering her talent, but she was always conscious of the fact that they were simply memories; Nira seemed to fall into them like they were their own little worlds, and that worried Gerya. Nira was displaying talent already, and that was strange as well. It had taken Gerya several months before she had first had a manifestation; Nira was showing them within hours! What other wonders did this girl hold, and why did she have them? Gerya had to keep the girl near her, watching how she developed. She already had an inkling as to the girl’s power.

With a loud punching sound, the now-empty can suddenly scrunched, crushing itself instantly. There was nothing that explained or heralded such a reaction.