Read Online Spheria by Cody Leet - Free Book Online Page A

workbench and sat down. He placed the Qube into a small docking device next to the computer. It began to glow a solid bright red.
    “See, this is an exceptionally nasty one. The computer screen here shows the values inside it as a curve.” Indeed, the display showed a grid with a series of icons horizontally along the middle. A shallow curve snaked along the bottom. The vertical scale went from negative one to positive one. The curve for this particular Qube was almost entirely at negative one.
    “I would hate to meet this one in a dark ally,” said Min.
    “That’s for sure. And we don’t want to subject the virtual population to this negativity either.   So we choose not to reintroduce these bad ones into the world.”
    “How do you reset them?”
    “Unfortunately, that’s a limitation of using quantum phenomenon. We can’t clear the slate; the qubits have a permanent memory of their state. It can change over time, but can’t be cleared.”
    “So what do you do with them then?” asked Min.
    “Well, because they’re still functional processing units, we need to destroy them. We don’t want random people finding them in the trash. So this pillar here is a special incinerator we built.” He lifted the lid of the red hydrant-looking thing, revealing a small depression with vertical slits all around it. He removed the Qube from the computer stand and placed it inside the device. After closing the lid, he reached for a rubbery button on the side which read ‘Stop.’ “We salvaged this button from an old table saw, my idea. I think it’s an ironic play on words.” He pressed it. There was a click, followed by a fierce whooshing sound like a blowtorch. A moment later the sound ended and the pillar clicked again. Max opened the lid showing that the compartment was once again empty. He then pulled out a small tray from the base of the column. It was full of powdered charcoal dust. This he dumped in the trashcan beneath the workbench.
    “Yep, we destroy the bad ones. I guess in a way they burn for all eternity.”
    Min paused the video. “That was the good part.”
    “I have no idea what this guy is saying!” exclaimed Sheila. “He’s a total whack job if you ask me.”
    “Really? I think he’s hot,” argued Min.

Chapter 8 - The Rift

    “I love studying folklore and legends. The stories that people passed down for a thousand years without any sort of marketing support are obviously saying something appealing about the basic human condition.” - Tim Schafer

    They made camp next to the Rift. Sa∙ma, using the pointy tip of his leg, traced a circle on the ground between them. Le∙ma removed the small yellow shard she’d been carrying strapped to her underside. She laid it on the ground inside the circle. Then she sat on the other side, facing Sa∙ma.  
    They silently watched the Source fade above them and the world darken around them. All seemed quiet, calm, and a slight bit ominous. Normally, they’d be in their hives or gathered around the Colony center. Being in a group gave them a feeling of safety. Out here at the edge of the world, in the dark, they both were vulnerable and unsettled.
    Le∙ma tried to relax by taking everything in. In the dim light, the other side of the world looked different, like a negative image. They could see the mountain ranges on the opposite hemisphere like blue lines. Their maze-like meanderings twinkled as the glow from the red rivers illuminated them. In one area, an unusual formation of mountains created a large perfect triangle, with no rivers inside. Le∙ma knew this, as everyone learned as a child, to be the Valley of Three. It was a fixture in the sky at night, something that Soldiers used to navigate by when it was dark.
    Le∙ma pointed at it. “What’s the Valley of Three?” she asked.
    “Nobody knows for sure,” replied Sa∙ma. “It's said that the gods go there to play games, as there’s not enough room for that in the Source. Sometimes, on