rebuilt itself in her place.
Coming back this time was painful, and Marcus wasn’t sure he even wanted to. He could feel the different parts of himself, scattered across whatever now passed for reality, and seriously considered leaving them out there.. but the vision had passed, and he could feel the tug of normality trying to reassert itself, so he let it happen. Slowly, at first, and then with increasing speed, reality began to leak back in around him, and rebuild itself into the form of a small square room, where he stood with two other people. Details carefully layered themselves back in, revealing the room as empty but for a large, broken mirror, and the other people as Eira and Eustace, the former staring into space and the latter carefully attempting to recover his serenity.
“Still not dead, then?” Marcus ventured, checking his limbs and hoping he didn’t sound too glum. “What just happened?”
“I do believe,” Eustace replied, wobbling slightly, “that we just broke the training room.”
“We broke the – the Mirrorline?”
“Oh, no, where we were wasn’t actually the Mirrorline, thankfully. It was an artificial construct, exactly the same as the real place, but with a safety net. We were perfectly safe at all times. As I said, training room.”
“Oh, good.” Marcus relaxed. “Wait, hang on, you were terrified .”
“I just had the strangest dream,” Eira interjected. “You were both there, you know?”
“Yes,” Marcus and Eustace said together, “we know.”
“I had a coffee as well,” she added with a sigh. “So,” she continued, appearing to come out of her reverie, “what happened? Did I fall asleep?” Eustace nodded. “And you let me? ”
“Eira, you know the whole concept of dream space is incredibly interesting. Even if you don’t like it, it can tell us a lot about not just the Mirrorline, but-“
“But also about the extremely private factor of my dreams . And look,” she said, pointing to the broken mirror, “your ‘experiment’ has cocked up one of our training rooms. Nice work, genius.”
“Eira..”
“I believe the proper form of address is ‘Master’ in this circumstance, Eustace. What does it say on my desk?”
“Well, actually it says Master Eira..”
“Ah, then we’re on first name terms, that’s good. Now, do you have any other critically short-sighted explanations for why you decided to try and get us all blown up?”
“Look,” Eustace said, tugging on his beard. “I think, as you do, that we should be looking to expand past the vision of the soulless automatons that have set the standards of this organisation, and that to do that we need to look into these new ways of doing things. Right, Marcus?”
Marcus, whose mind had wandered back again to the more painful aspects of the memory he’d just forcibly relived, blinked at this sudden inclusion. Glad of the distraction, he attempted a gesture implying that he’d love to contribute, but his experience with the subject matter extended only to ten minutes in a rocking chair and everything Eustace had just said. It came out as an anarchic sequence of arm flailing and odd expressions that neither of the others actually saw, as they were already engaged in a stare-down for the ages.
“Eustace,” Eira said pleasantly. “Bugger off.”
“Pfft,” the old scholar said, “You’ll hear from me again about this.” Mustering his dignity in the face of being told off by someone roughly fifty years his junior, he strolled off in an obvious huff.
“No doubt,” Eira mused quietly, “and then again and again and again. Anyway,” she said, clapping her hands and narrowly avoiding becoming entangled in her own sleeves again, “shall we return to my study, Marcus? There’s coffee there, and I can tell you the rest of the story.”
“There’s more?”
“There’s always more.”
This time, Eira sat at the other desk, the one surrounded by bookcases. As Marcus
Coming back this time was painful, and Marcus wasn’t sure he even wanted to. He could feel the different parts of himself, scattered across whatever now passed for reality, and seriously considered leaving them out there.. but the vision had passed, and he could feel the tug of normality trying to reassert itself, so he let it happen. Slowly, at first, and then with increasing speed, reality began to leak back in around him, and rebuild itself into the form of a small square room, where he stood with two other people. Details carefully layered themselves back in, revealing the room as empty but for a large, broken mirror, and the other people as Eira and Eustace, the former staring into space and the latter carefully attempting to recover his serenity.
“Still not dead, then?” Marcus ventured, checking his limbs and hoping he didn’t sound too glum. “What just happened?”
“I do believe,” Eustace replied, wobbling slightly, “that we just broke the training room.”
“We broke the – the Mirrorline?”
“Oh, no, where we were wasn’t actually the Mirrorline, thankfully. It was an artificial construct, exactly the same as the real place, but with a safety net. We were perfectly safe at all times. As I said, training room.”
“Oh, good.” Marcus relaxed. “Wait, hang on, you were terrified .”
“I just had the strangest dream,” Eira interjected. “You were both there, you know?”
“Yes,” Marcus and Eustace said together, “we know.”
“I had a coffee as well,” she added with a sigh. “So,” she continued, appearing to come out of her reverie, “what happened? Did I fall asleep?” Eustace nodded. “And you let me? ”
“Eira, you know the whole concept of dream space is incredibly interesting. Even if you don’t like it, it can tell us a lot about not just the Mirrorline, but-“
“But also about the extremely private factor of my dreams . And look,” she said, pointing to the broken mirror, “your ‘experiment’ has cocked up one of our training rooms. Nice work, genius.”
“Eira..”
“I believe the proper form of address is ‘Master’ in this circumstance, Eustace. What does it say on my desk?”
“Well, actually it says Master Eira..”
“Ah, then we’re on first name terms, that’s good. Now, do you have any other critically short-sighted explanations for why you decided to try and get us all blown up?”
“Look,” Eustace said, tugging on his beard. “I think, as you do, that we should be looking to expand past the vision of the soulless automatons that have set the standards of this organisation, and that to do that we need to look into these new ways of doing things. Right, Marcus?”
Marcus, whose mind had wandered back again to the more painful aspects of the memory he’d just forcibly relived, blinked at this sudden inclusion. Glad of the distraction, he attempted a gesture implying that he’d love to contribute, but his experience with the subject matter extended only to ten minutes in a rocking chair and everything Eustace had just said. It came out as an anarchic sequence of arm flailing and odd expressions that neither of the others actually saw, as they were already engaged in a stare-down for the ages.
“Eustace,” Eira said pleasantly. “Bugger off.”
“Pfft,” the old scholar said, “You’ll hear from me again about this.” Mustering his dignity in the face of being told off by someone roughly fifty years his junior, he strolled off in an obvious huff.
“No doubt,” Eira mused quietly, “and then again and again and again. Anyway,” she said, clapping her hands and narrowly avoiding becoming entangled in her own sleeves again, “shall we return to my study, Marcus? There’s coffee there, and I can tell you the rest of the story.”
“There’s more?”
“There’s always more.”
This time, Eira sat at the other desk, the one surrounded by bookcases. As Marcus
Similar Books
