A Fine Black Sky
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Kid turned seventeen.
Kid was ever mindful of the words of Ryla. After the mystery of the machine had been solved, and the Aplombinate Vesy of Kombayn began its function once more, Kid attempted to maintain the connections he had made socially speaking. But soon after the initial excitement had quietened to a murmur and life slipped back on track for the Apprentices, a general undertone soon sounded to the rising resentment felt amongst some of the others.
It was of a suspicion that was principally focussed upon a perceived exclusivity because of a presumption that there were high bourn advantages for Noble children such as Kid, which led to further seditious utterances and questions to their worthiness and their inalienable ability to always ride so high, on luck, through privilege or even upon some kind of external influence such as fate. Were they, the non high bourn, to be only the servants of the Noble ones?
This was felt no greater than by Kateus Zavist, Son of an aspiring Merchant, Erne Zavist and a Noble’s Maid, Berna Zavist. All they had ever wanted for their boy, Kateus, was to give him the opportunities they had never been presented with. Erne payed for his Son’s education, wanting more for him than to become simply an Attendant to a minor Noble, living an unfulfilled life, of servitude and resentment.
Everyone still talked about Kid and his achievements. Why should such riches be beyond Kateus? They were of the same age, similar in stature and of intellect? Was it the damaged boy, changed by his fall and transformed into something far beyond normal? He certainly kept to himself, kept his own council. Was this because he schemed? Was he secretly planning a rousting of debilitating proportions? Kateus’s thoughts were running away with him, and he needed to reign them in. Young Zavist dug his heels in and made good on his promise to himself - to be Kid’s superior, in everything, everywhere, for all time.
Emulation, at first, was slow, but a determined streak continued Kateus’s pursuit of his prey. He continually failed in his efforts, spending many an hour outside of official study, engaged in extra curricular experimentation. But all he was left with at the end of a studious deliberant nature was continued defeat and frustration, malfunction, a collapse, a foundering upon the shores of a ruination, and no further forward.
Kateus, still determined, solicited opinion from his peers, who provoked him, admittedly through coercion of their own private humour. It fired up Kateus, unable to see the joke that was being made on his behalf. He became very much aggrieved, frustrated all the more by the continued and privileged machinations of the Noble born. Fairly soon after, something snapped, like an elastic band pulled beyond its tensive strength.
Kateus gripped the Giant’s Tooth, a family heirloom that had been mounted upon a silver chain which was wound tightly around his wrist, gently massaging the carving upon the marbled green surface of a serpent wrapped around the top half of the tooth. His Father had given the object to him, upon entering the Apprenticeship Program, and it remained an ever present totem to the faith he owed to his aspirational parents. Before Kateus was Tutor Kurban, an erudite and long-jacketed man of middling years, who orated clearly the descriptive narration for the room he stood beside.
“Within these rooms are the life blood of the Four Towers and the City of Unity, maintained and attended to by the hard workers - the skilled workers - of the Towers. These are the Machines, the mechanical engines of industry, and as long as they function, so will Unity and its people.
“There are citizens, businesses - livestock to some extent - that rely upon these machines, doing what it is they were created for. Now, history of their construction is largely in the hands, minds and mouths of others. For me it is the continued motion and maintaining the same which is predominant for your studies here.
“In this room is the Indevitate Obcase Machine, a mechanism of powerful motion. Look,” The Tutor opened the door to reveal a mass of gears and cogs, all combining to cause a cacophonous flurry of animated life, “See how the function of mechanical optimisation drives - whoah, yes it’s fast. That is the Signature Arm. It maintains a measured pace so that the Machine does not overwork itself. Efficiency before power.” quoted the Tutor, of the maxim within the Guild of Machinists, obviously a point of pride for the Tutor, as he paused to allow that thought to sink in, determined by duty to the Guild to feed the next generation with the truth of industry in all its available parts.
The Signature Arm itself was a honeycombed buttress that glided upon a rail the entire circular diameter of the room, roaring as it pushed the air out of the opened gap and into the corridor. Every thirty seconds, another thump and whoosh denoted it had made a further cycle.
Kateus stared at the motion of the Machine, hypnotised by its repetitive action, turn, grind and the rotation of each element to the whole, “Does it need all those parts to function?” asked Kateus, suddenly aware of an intelligent question forming within his mind. Yet all Tutor Kurban gave to Kateus was a blank stare and a shake of the head.
How dare he! Who was he that he could dismiss such an intelligent question?! See how he pays attention to the child of a Noble, giving them time and a benevolent dialogue?
There was a disparity here, and it began to grow a seed within Kateus that had long been dosed, retained and hidden until the correct stimulus sent the kernel on a never-ending forward movement toward chaos. Kateus was sure he had been subject to the continued unfair treatment afforded his type and his class, also of himself, which was made more heavy and more serious with the realisation of that which he did not possess, and he yearned to own what the children of Nobles took over and over again as a matter of course. By any means.
Once in his room, late into the evening, Kateus Zavist festered the diseased carbuncle within his mind. He grew impatient, envious, craving with an unhealthy hunger the object of his covetness. He was irritated, frustrated and rebellious of mind, which pushed him into an action that was far beyond reason and would place him on a course that could lead to nothing more nor less than destruction.
He remembered his encounter with the Tutor then, and this built his infuriation to a fever pitch. His insanity worked overtime at him, persuading him dangerously who was to blame for this continued disparity. It was the establishment who were the threat. He could see now, clear as mud, that the children of the Nobles were merely victims of their class, which couldn’t, with any kind of justification, be their fault. It was an accident of birth, nothing more, much like himself, for him being a victim of not belonging to that of high bourn class. He had to strike, and decisively, at that establishment - which in this instance was represented by the Tutors, being one Tutor in particular. Kateus flicked the Giant’s Tooth distractedly, the familiarity of the clink as the chain slid through the hole and the smoothness of touch-sense strangely soothed him to sleep.
And relentlessly, the morning came.
Darkness. Always darkness. The darkness of night, the darkness of the sky - even the darkness of the inside of his eyelids. Darkness greeted Kateus everywhere, upon waking. He found Tutor Kurban somewhere near the corridor named Mechanism Alley, as the man would often be found in an odd mood about the constant clatter of cacophonous convention, a thousand yard stare within his sunken eyes. At first Kateus was congenial, a questioning session about certain functions of the Machines beyond the doors that he knew would motivate the Tutor into conversation. They walked as they talked, until they came outside the room that contained the Indevitate Obcase Machine, a rhythmic thump passing regularly as the Signature Arm crashed past the door.
“The question I asked yesterday wasn't a foolish one, Tutor. I simply wished to know if all elements were essential for the Machine to operate as efficiently as it does?”
“Oh, Kateus. Why do you continue with such inanity? Of course each component is needed for the function of the whole! Else it would - not - function? See? This is week one knowledge, Kateus. Perhaps a word with your parents -“
“But can you tell me if -“ Kateus pulled the door open suddenly, just as the Signature Arm swept past and ruffled his clothes and hair, “- this is necessary?”
“To what are you referring? I cannot see to what you - Kateus! What have you done?! Why did you push me in? Get out of the way! We must -“
Kateus laughed. He laughed harder and longer than he had ever dreamt of, “Now! Now we are equals! Now you have no option but to see me as you do those children of the Nobles! Now you have to accept me! Now you have to listen!”
“Kateus! Alright! So, we need to talk! We need to have a conversation! But not here! the Signature Arm -“
“Oh, don't worry about that.” smiled Kateus as he took the Giant’s Tooth and the chain from around his wrist, jamming it into the clasp on the interior side of the door so that it would not budge.
And then - Whoosh!
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