The Places Above, Between and Below (short story)

After their daughter goes missing, Hassan and Mary Emory hire one Nanna Ahmed to find her. The couple claim that their daughter was kidnapped by the sirfathers and wired into the Mainframe and also claim that the events are tied to a prophecy. Though she does not believe this, Nanna decides to visit a friend of hers within the Maintainers named Harshini.

Nanna asks Harshini where the sirfathers would take someone if they intended to put them into the Mainframe. Though Harshini also doubts the rumours of the sirfathers placing people in the Mainframe against their will, she claims that they would do it in "somewhere critical, where the Maintenance is most important". Harshini also begins to explain the prophecy but is interrupted by Nanna's AI companion Civy (whom Nanna has gotten through a free trial) noticing incoming sirfathers. Nanna leaves just in time to avoid them completely and escape into a series of tunnels. While running, Nanna encounters an odd "void".

Soon, Nanna enters into the Apex Temple of the Cult of Maintenance. While inside, Nanna finds a man hooked up to the Infrastructure. After breaking his connection, Nanna interrogates him and learns that the prophecy states that "the Infrastructure will be made whole" by a "child of the first city and the last city" in three days. Nanna then returns the man to the Infrastructure just as temple guards find her. Nanna flees from them and asks Civy to give her a route out of the Temple. She soon finds a bolthole and hides into it while thinking over the events that have happened so far.

Several years previously, Nanna's mother (who already had ties to the Maintainers) vanished. As Nanna lives with her father in the Eanna District, Civy suggests that the prophecy is not about the Emory's daughter but is instead about her. She also suggests that the Emory's daughter is simply a lure for her. Shortly after this, Nanna leaves the bolthole and breaks into the warehouse holding the Tube chain of the Temple. She uses one of the Temple carriages to return to the Eanna District but is unable to stop it before it crashes. Fortunately for Nanna, she escapes without any major injuries and soon returns to her and her father's home.

While at her father's house, Nanna explains what has happened recently and finds a collection of Maintainer technology left behind by her grandparents. This includes a stabiliser for a time manipulator - something which should be useless due to the time protocols of the City of the Saved. Soon, a meeting of an Eannan trade guild (including Nanna's father) arrive at the house. They notice two figures shadowing the house - which Nanna assumes are from the Cult. The trade guilt debates what to do about this and decides to sweep into the streets while Nanna returns to the Temple.

Nanna (armed with various pieces of temporal tech) travels to an apex of the Infrastructure within the sky-dome as a new day begins. She uses smoke bombs to sneak past some guards and uses Civy's help to travel through the Infrastructure. While she is soon caught between the guards and one of the "voids", she uses her temporal technology to walk right through it. Nanna soon enters into the Temple and drops in on a ceremony being held by the sirfathers (including Nanna's mother). She is nearly sacrificed but is able to stop this by repairing the technology within their "altar". The Senior Teacher still claims that the prophecy has been fulfilled.

Shortly after these events, Nanna's free trial to Civy expires. When she tries to renew the trial, she can find absolutely no trace of the being anywhere.

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

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Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

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Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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