Crossworld of Xai Read online

  The Crossworld of Xai

  by Steven Savage

  Copyright 2002 by Steven Savage. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, except in the case of historical reference, is entirely coincidental

  INTERSECTIONS

  Imagine Xai …

  Actually, if you’ve never head of it, it’s a bit difficult. Even if you have, it is still a challenge to visualize it. Xai has to be seen, experienced, felt for anyone to truly understand it. Still …

  Imagine an Earth where the paths to other possible Earths are easily opened by man and nature. Over time, people would come to that world by accident and intention, by science and by the supernatural; refugees, explorers, the fortunate, the unlucky. Small colonies would grow into towns, towns would grow into cities, as people realized the nature of the planet.

  Xai. The Crossworld. The where-we-all-go. The all-forgive.

  Try and imagine it …

  Jade had imagined Xai for a long time. The freedom of a world populated by people from an infinity of Earths. A dynamic culture forged out of the best of many. Of course, she had tried to keep a realistic perspective, to avoid disappointment.

  Fortunately, five minutes after arriving on Xai, any remaining illusions were hopelessly dashed. Jade would later reflect this was fortunate, but it was annoying at the time.

  Early that morning Jade had disembarked at Portal Aleph, the most well-known of the areas on Xai where paths to other Earths opened. Of course, being well known meant that it was also a chaotic nightmare of travelers, cargo, strange equipment, and easily annoyed members of the Travelers’ Guild. This meant that despite her planning, Jade’s glorious arrival had rapidly degenerated into explaining who she was, why she was there, and that she was sorry she didn’t notice the truck hauling all those boxes.

  She’d arranged this several months ago. She dreaded to imagine what accidental or poorly equipped new arrivals faced …

  Once that was over, she was packed onto a train to Metris, the debatably-capital city of Xai. That wasn’t the kind of thing you’d imagine you’d face on the Crossworld either - a cramped train and a boring ride through farmland. The people starting at her, all doubtlessly newcomers to Xai, was the last straw.

  Jade doubted any of her fellow passengers had seen a human like her - a woman with black fur and long black hair, white highlights on her hands and pointed ears, a noticeable white-tipped tail, and inhumanly green eyes. Perhaps they couldn’t be blamed for wondering just who and what she was. Perhaps she should have sympathized with their plight, having just come to this world-between-worlds.

  Jade, of course, didn’t care if they couldn’t be blamed and explained, with what politeness she had left, that she was indeed human, just a genetically-engineered variant known popularly as a Vulpine. She’d left it at that. If they’d had any other questions, they could damn well ask someone in a better mood - which was unlikely to be her any time this decade the way things were going.

  Imagine Xai? Jade had, had for what seemed like an eternity. Xai and the culture-maze of Metris, and the hope that it wouldn’t be like the Earth she came from …

  HuanJen stood on the balcony of his apartment, letting the feel of the city pour into him. The default capitol city of Xai was buzzing to wakefulness from the dull hum of evening activity. He could feel the ebb and flow of lives, feel the collection of souls out there.

  It was time to go to work. With that thought, he stepped off of the tenth-floor balcony, and vanished.

  Jade was lost in Metris.

  Not physically lost, something she’d never tolerate of herself. Jade was enough of a planner that she had maps, she had a strategy, she knew where she was going. Mentally however she was in unfamiliar territory. The physical reality of Metris was simple compared to its soul.

  The city was densely populated. Something like two million people lived in the sprawling city-state and its periphery, an impressive population for Xai. By her estimate, about half of that population them seemed to be out and about.

  Metris was busy. Its streets were infested with comical-looking electric cars, the occasional trolley, and many brave bicyclists. There were traffic signals and signs, but most appeared to be there just to warn pedestrians of potential doom. Dirigibles and less identifiable flying craft prowled the sky, safely above the cheerful disorder.

  It was chaotic. Architectural styles from a myriad Earths and an infinity of cultures were blended together. Every few blocks one encountered a new neighborhood, a new mix of restaurants and stores and apartments and the occasional tract of homes. The changes in neighborhood heralded noticeable differences in the residents, from accent to clothing, to age, to some other quality.

  It was Metris, the heart of Xai.

  It was going to be hone.

  Damn. This was it. Goodbye Earth (well, her Earth), goodbye Colony, goodbye life. Hello place-I’ve-only-read-about, hello no turning back. It was awe-inspiring and overwhelming.

  Jade thought about it for a few moments, sitting in a trolley station a few blocks from the train station, trying to decipher the city maps, and then got over being awed and overwhelmed. No used being impressed and everything when it was only going to mess up your plans.

  OK, mess up her plan, singular. No use lying to herself, she really only had one idea of what to do, as irritating as it was to admit. She hated looking at plan A and discovering the rest of the alphabet had gone unused.

  Her brother Slate had come here months ago, and they’d maintained irregular contact via the expensive services of the Messenger’s Guild, hoping for a time that she could join him. Ironically, she’d been the one to discover the information on Xai stashed away in the Vulpines’ stores of secrets, and he’d made a mad dash to the world and managed to land on his feet.

  Jade herself had done things differently. She had prepared carefully, acquired information and Xaian guilders, planned and researched - and then made a mad dash.

  She’d wished she could have warned Slate, but he told her she could come by any time, and damned if it wasn’t any time.

  Warning him however, certainly would have given her a chance to get better directions to where he lived. After finding the local equivalent of a used-goods store and trading the survival suit she’d arrived in for a modest black skirt/top set, she’d tried to figure out how to get to Slate’s apartments. There was no lack of transportation, merely a lack of cheap and coherent ways to do it - she wasn’t going to trust a cab, and she wasn’t quite sure about the trolley system. She finally resorted to walking, which was slower, but less confusing.

  Eventually, Jade found her way to the apartment complex he lived in, an unremarkable collection of blocky buildings, reassuringly normal. The numbers of the apartments were standard English-Arabic, and it was relatively easy to find Slate’s 349.

  Jade paused at the door. What was she going to say? “Hello, brother-whom-I’m-sort-of-close to, I’ve abandoned my entire life like you did. How’s it going? Mind if I crash here.” Etiquette and anything approaching subtlety wasn’t her strong point.

  Jade shrugged. She was his problem now.

  A knock at the apartment door brought a quick and unexpected response - another Vulpine. Her greeter was a short, red-furred-and-haired female who looked up at her quizzically. Jade concealed her surprise, for a moment assuming she’d gotten the wrong apartment.

  “Hello … Jade?” the red-pelted Vulpine’s voice was high, but soft.

  “Yes,” Jade groped for words, “is Slate in?”

  “Yes! I’m Garnet!” the woman ushered Jade
into the apartment. “Slate is just getting ready for work!”

  The apartment proved to be small for Slate and … well, whatever role Garnet played in his life. It was simply furnished, certainly less than he or Jade had enjoyed at Colony. It was also quite clean, which Jade immediately knew had be due to the presence of Garnet, since the Slate she’d known could untidy a room merely by sitting still for a few minutes.

  “Slate!” Garnet attempted to yell, something her voice just wasn’t designed to do. “Dear, it’s Jade! Your sister!”

  Jade raised an eyebrow at the “dear.” How thing changed.

  From a back room, apparently a bedroom, Slate charged out, grinning from ear to ear. It had been unusual to see the hulking, gray-furred Vulpine happy back at Colony, Jade reflected. The effect bordered on the surreal.

  “Jade!” Slate growled, sweeping her into a rib-crunching hug, her knapsack slapping against his side as he swung her about. “You made it! You made it here finally! Oh, sister, I have so much to show you …”

  “Um, and Corona’s expecting you,” Garnet said softly.

  “Ah, Damn.” Slate set Jade down. “Work, sister. I’m afraid I can’t take any time off, we’re reworking security for the Convention Center, putting in some new technology, rethinking old ways.”

  “Security?” Jade asked quizzically, looking at Slate’s blue uniform, and a bit stunned at the situation. She’d crossed over alternate Earths to have her brother talk about his job. It was a mind-numbingly absurd moment, akin to waking up in a magic kingdom and having someone ask you about your dental work.

  “Yes!” Slate grabbed a haversack proffered to him by Garnet. “It’s my job - planning security for our clients! Even part of the Gendarmes Guild, even though they do kind of keep us private people in check. I’ll have to tell you all about it … later.”

  “Why don’t we ride with you on the trolley?” Garnet infiltrated the conversation softly.

  “Yes!” Slate beamed. “I’ll show you where I work, and we can figure out how to help you settle in!”

  “Of course.” Jade replied weakly. She was going to follow her brother to his job. Yes, the excitement of coming to another world was pretty much dead and facing an autopsy, and all before the end of the first day.

  Slate and Garnet led her out of the apartment and onto the street. Slate began going on about his work in setting up electronic security and patrols for clients, and much to Jades lack of surprise he kept going even after the trolley picked the three of them up. Jade found that his absence from her life had somehow diminished her memory that, at times, he was boring. Standing on the trolley, clutching the handrails, she was reliving all the previous times he had gone on a mind-numbing verbal rampage.

  ” … it’s not easy, Jade, but it’s worth it. You’ll need to find a job or some place to work pretty soon. That’s the key here. What you do is important - and join a Guild. You read up what we had on Xai, right?”

  Jade nodded at Slate. She had read up. Xai and Metris’ economy and politics were based on Guilds - an amazing array of them representing different groups. Of course, Slate had assumed she hadn’t realized this. Some things didn’t change indeed, even if Slate was apparently more responsible and less of a … well, Jade wasn’t sure how to describe his relations with women in the past, but Garnet was quite a surprise.

  “Good.” Slate smiled, apparently having felt helpful. “Its a tough place, Jade, it’s not like Colony. But we’re free here. It’s glorious.”

  Slate continued to ramble. Jade tried not to scowl as dark thoughts ran through her head. Yes, Xai wasn’t Colony, but Colony hadn’t been an easy life either, something Slate seemed to have forgotten. Maybe you didn’t have the rest of the Vulpines and their little conspiracies and schemes to hide behind, but then again you didn’t have to put up with a life of deception. Slate had never seemed to realize that Colony was a lot freer than you had thought - if you didn’t mind manipulating your fellow non-Vulpine humans. You could be miserable among wealth and dead cold in your heart at the heights of power.

  Garnet was silent while Slate talked and Jade ignored, then she spoke suddenly. Though her voice was soft, the red Vulpine’s previous silence made her words seem like thunderclaps.

  “Jade will need a place to stay, Slate. I doubt she wants to spend Guilders on a hotel.”

  Slate nodded. “Yes. Er, Jade, you …”

  “I have money, Slate. I did prepare.” Jade tried to throttle the annoyance that crept into her voice. She was tired after all the walking around and did not need to be treated like a child.

  Garnet continued unperturbed. “I don’t think we have room, Slate, but I know someone that would.”

  “Excellent!” Slate’s brow furrowed as if he had forgotten a question, but the trolley ground to a stop, interrupting his thoughts. “Ah, here. Goodbye dear, goodbye Jade.”

  The gray Vulpine gave Garnet a quick kiss and tousled Jade’s hair, then leapt out of the opening doors. Jade saw him walk towards a large, bunker-like building bearing a blue-lettered sign reading “CORONA SECURITY”. Her brother, as dense as he was, was holding down a real job without Colony to call on. She had to give him credit for that, at least - as bad as she was at giving anyone credit.

  “Er … Slate?” Jade began.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m … I’m proud of you. You’re doing damn well.”

  “Thanks.” Slate smiled his winning smile, the smile that reminded her he wasn’t always the ogre she thought, and stalked off into Corona Security.

  The trolley started after passengers had made their exits and entrances, leaving Jade alone with Garnet. Right now her entire future was in the red-furred Vulpine’s hands, and Jade had known her for thirty minutes. It wasn’t reassuring at all - she hated having her fate in anyone else’s hands but hers, even if those hands did touch her brother.

  “So, Garnet.” Jade attempted to compose a smile. “Um …”

  “I met him when he did security for a few merchants in the southern part of town. I was working at a delivery service. He’s quite nice. We’re saving up for a better place.”

  “Ah.” Jade nodded. “I’m glad you’re happy. Um, about … where am I staying.”

  “Oh, someone I know.” Garnet looked at her feet. “HuanJen, a cleric from Guild Esoteric.”

  “A nun, a priestess?”

  “Um, no, uh … Fang-Sith?”

  Jade’s brow furrowed as she delved into the diverse languages she’d learned. “Fang-Shih? Chinese. Magician-priest?”

  “Oh, yes. He’s helpful. Very nice.”

  “He?” Jade’s voice glacially cold as a few random suspicions flared into full-fledged concern. This was the support she was going to get, her brother running off to work and his girlfriend boarding her with a man she didn’t know? This was it?

  Garnet seemed to shrink under Jade’s searing gaze. The shy Vulpine leaned forward, her tail twitching nervously. “He helped me out when I came here, he let me stay with him. Don’t worry, he’s a fine person, though I wouldn’t talk about him much in front of Slate. He gets jealous.

  There was an air of conspiracy to Garnet’s words that irritated Jade as much as they intrigued her. Either this magician-priest wasn’t what he seemed, or Slate was even more overprotective than he’d been at home. Either, at this rate, seemed probable.

  Unfortunately, she had no choice but to follow Garnet’s advice. It wasn’t exactly what she’d planned to do in Metris, though her plans had mainly been “get the hell out,” so she couldn’t really complain. Still, it had taken only about five hours for her to feel completely out of control of her life.

  Jade steeled herself. Damned if she was ever going to be out of control anywhere. If this was what she had to deal with, she’d make the best of it.

  “OK, let’s go see your holy man.”

  HuanJen tried opening the door of his patio and found himself locked outside. He sighed. Sometimes you forgot the littlest things when you were
in a rush. It was, he had always said, the little things that mattered, and that mattered most when you least appreciated them.

  Like taking your keys when you exit via your patio.

  Jade looked over the apartment building Garnet called “The Crosspoint.” It was different than the apartment Slate lived in, taller, perhaps a bit classier, but still not a thing of beauty. Most of the architecture in Metris was bizarre, practical, or a mixture of the two, and The Crosspoint was no exception. Attractive patios clashed with what appeared to be some kind of solar panels, and the single entrance was next to an ugly loading bay.

  “This is where the holy man lives?” Jade asked as Garnet guided her into the foyer after a quick exchange with the security guard.

  “Yes.” The short Vulpine nodded. “He, he gets a discount I think. A lot of people at the Crosspoint are here in Xai permanently. They help maintain the apartments.”

  Jade shrugged. Reasonable enough. It certainly looked like larger quarters than Slate and Garnet had, and that was a plus. Still, she didn’t know this guy - hell, did she know anyone? She wasn’t going to just jump into some strangers’ life just for a decent-sized room.

  A quick elevator ride up to the tenth floor left the two Vulpines in front of the door to the cleric’s apartment. Jade noted a few security measure here and there Garnet seemed oblivious too - layout, cameras, and so forth. Not a place for people who liked random visitors. She wasn’t sure if this was a plus or a minus.

  Garnet knocked on the door. There were a few noises from the other side, a moment of silence, and then the door opened.

  “Hello Garnet.”

  HuanJen was a tall, sinewy, oriental man, probably Chinese in Jade’s eyes. His features were rather plain, though his hair a dark shock with a streak of white in it, lending a sense of the exotic to his appearance. Instead of wearing anything impressive or religious, he wore a simple pair of jeans and a jacket.

  “Hello HuanJen.” Garnet’s voice was the most assertive Jade had heard yet. “I wondered …”

  “A border?” the mystic’s voice was calm and even, but friendly. Garnet nodded. The HuanJen’s dark eyes looked over Jade. “Please, come in Garnet, and …”