Ghost Monkey, стр. 18

A structure off to the side had an open yard of rock. An engineer said it was likely a warehouse with the yard for staging goods. There were hundreds around the city of Bahimatt.

The inside was barren, with a dip in the floor. A rail set in the dip, going in one side of the structure and out the other. Some rails glowed. Some went above the city. Shacks connected to the rail every couple hundred feet.

Sugriva's ears perked at the sound of footsteps outside, and he shifted into a monkey. The rails were convenient for running out of the warehouse without going on the main street, and his agility allowed him to easily traverse it, as it narrowed significantly above the city.

He glimpsed a shadow against the moon and street lights, though he couldn't make out the figure. He darted across the rail, up a line of shacks, then through a few buildings. After the fourth building, the shadow disappeared.

In front of Sugriva stood the massive dark blue dome. On the dome there were silver dots mirroring the sky above. The scholars debated most heavily on this astrological structure. What was it for? What was inside? Why were there no doors?

Most pressing, however, was why shadows went in and out at night, yet no one saw—

Then there was a light to interrupt Sugriva's thought. An amber glow briefly shot across the street, and then it was gone. It was at a bad angle, a door where Sugriva couldn't see, but he dashed down the rail, down the side of a building, and out to where he saw the light. It was just a wall.

"Ashtadash curse you." He pried at it, looking for cracks, but the wall was an entirely smooth alloy, some sort of metal that the people of Sankive knew nothing about. "Still means I've seen more than the scholars." He knocked on the wall and it reverberated.

"I'll be back," he shouted at the dome.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Sugriva darted about the streets and found a group of scholars. "Who works on the dome? I saw something last night."

The men laughed. "If a monkey warrior saw something we didn't, then I guess we're all going to be born blind in the next life." When they finished, one of them said, "But if we didn't listen to any rumors, we would miss some of our finds. Good warrior, what did you see?"

Irritated, and a touch embarrassed, he grumbled, "I climbed around a warehouse near the dome and saw a shadow."

Another scholar shrugged and walked off. "Shadows are nothing new. Everyone who strolls past that dome says they glimpse a shadow."

Sugriva let him leave. If he was going to be a jerk about it, that was his loss. Once gone, he continued. "I followed the shadow through the streets until it arrived at the dome."

"Oh." The scholars were interested now.

"I lost sight of it, but stuck around a while. Then a light poured out onto the street."

This made the scholars gasp, elbowing each other. Frantic words shot back and forth as theories were altered and conjured. The monkey couldn't make anything of their ramblings.

"Monkey," one said, breaking out of the tizzy. "Show us where the door was."

The validation made Sugriva’s chest puff out.

THE MORNING BROUGHT a rude awakening. A shadow hovered over Sugriva's bed—a man with a staff. "Good morning, Sugriva, feral monkey of Sankive, Ghost Monkey, bane of demons. There's a woman in the north who will soon have similarly pompous titles. It exhausts me to say them all. Anyway, did you sleep well?"

Kill it, the voice screamed, and Sugriva saw the wisdom.

Sugriva gave into the voice and reason faded away. His body flung forward. Claws swiped through the air. The intruder had a staff which detached into seven segments held together by metal links. Wood and metal slammed into the monkey's temple, dazing him. As Sugriva tried to shift into a janaav, he was brought out of the form, his mind too fuzzy to maintain it.

"Bad monkey," the stranger scolded. "You're meant for great things, but here you are, attacking wildly."

"You broke into my house!" Sense came back to Sugriva, as he shook his head. The room spun from the pain. "You could at least be a beautiful woman."

"I'm not a bad looking man, but I can see the disappointment." He paced the room. "Leaping out of bed, the graceful monkey king assailed his opponent with little difficulty, using his enchanted earth staff to pin the man to the ground. That's how the battle should have read, but no. Feral monkey flies into a rage and paws blindly at nothing. Then he gets knocked upside the head." He got close to the monkey's face. "Do you see the difference? It's really shameful."

"What do you want?" He pushed the stranger away.

"I misjudged you. I'm guessing those scholars yesterday didn't know who you are."

"Why?"

"They listened." He paced the room, looking up at the ceiling, hands behind his back. "You see, I thought, a monkey with your reputation for madness would be swept aside as a lunatic. Everyone but the children treat you that way." He looked out the window, hands behind his back.

The words were matter of fact, but it hurt. Truth usually hurt, Sugriva reflected on the pain in his heart physical. He clutched his chest and loneliness entered.

"I'm sorry," the man said, stopping a moment to grimace. "I struggle with niceties. It's why I bring difficult people together."

"Stranger, you spoke the truth." The words were weak, that of a dying man.

"Stranger? Oh." He laughed, then put a hand to his mouth, the laughter obviously louder than he thought it was. "Sorry. I'm Han Lou. You can call me Lou. My story is a strange one, and stranger yet where I've been. There are lands you can't even imagine and futures you'd consider insane. But you need to know about the dome and the Seers."

"There are people in the dome?"

"Some. Most of us are