in a tentacle, shooing the others away.
“She needs medical attention. Back please, plenty of time to congratulate her later!”
Yeel led her to a tent set up inside the walls for tending wounded. A Rikenese healer was inside. He looked up, quite surprised by the appearance of Yeel carrying Jymoor in full armor.
Yes, she is heavy, but I’m a bit stronger than you are.
A Rikenese soldier came in behind.
“What wounds?” he asked.
“Leave us,” Yeel said.
The soldier and the field surgeon obeyed. Yeel and Jymoor were alone in the tent. Yeel removed her helm.
“Jymoor. Look at me, please.”
The scout’s eyes fluttered, but opened. She gazed up. Yeel thought about his appearance. He let the illusion fall from his mind.
Jymoor’s eyes grew wide.
“Why do you look like…your servant creature?” she moaned.
“I’m so very sorry, Jymoor. But you see…what you now see…is my true form. You know of my powers? I make myself look like one of you, so that I may walk among you. To help you. I’m very sorry this deception was necessary.”
“Ah. I…see,” Jymoor whispered. “That…makes sense.” Then she expired.
Yeel replaced the helmet on her head, covering her face. Aruscetar entered the tent.
“How is she?” he demanded.
“Her wounds are dire. I’ll have to take her to my house immediately.”
“She’s a hero!”
“She is. But she’s only bought you a few weeks at most. It’s enough time to carry out our plan, if you’re a man of your word.”
“I am. Speak of it later. Now, take her and heal her, please!”
“I intend to,” Yeel said.
Chapter 17: The Balancer
The room was gently lit by glowing orbs in all four corners. Yeel slid in carrying Jymoor’s corpse.
“The location is logical enough,” Yeel said to himself. “A course of exactly nineteen degrees from north, departing from the main fountain, which corresponds to the nineteen machines made by the genius Jegerni. Or perhaps some other algorithm was involved? No matter, here I am.”
An altar of shiny metal dominated the center of the room. It had a lid which lay open, revealing a wavy substance filling a central reservoir. A fist-sized pyramid glowed a dull green atop the device. One of Yeel’s tentacles whipped out and adjusted a setting. In response, a humanoid-shaped depression formed in the filling material of the altar.
Yeel reverently removed the moon armor and placed it aside. Then he put the body into the depression and arranged Jymoor’s arms and legs to fit.
“Hmm. I hope I took care to remember this correctly,” he said to himself.
Yeel engaged the mechanism by turning the green pyramid ninety degrees. The lid slid shut over Jymoor’s body.
A steady vibration made itself felt through the floor of the chamber. Yeel’s massive foot picked it up immediately. It was a steady droning thrum, building in energy.
Yeel fished through his reagents and brought out a tiny cluster of plant bulbs. He wrapped the bulbs in a loop of tentacle and crushed them, emitting a puff of tiny pink particles into the air. The faint cloud dissipated almost immediately.
Finally, the vibration peaked, causing a snap like a heavy timber cracking under a load.
The pyramid turned red briefly, and then returned to its familiar green glow. Yeel unlocked the device by returning the pyramid to its original position.
Then the lid slid open, revealing the person within. She looked similar to the previous occupant, though Yeel immediately noted subtle differences in clothing and physiology. Most notably, this creature was breathing.
She opened her eyes and bolted upright in the altar.
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“I am Yeel. This is my house.”
Jymoor blinked. “Yeel? That name is somehow familiar.”
“No matter.”
“This is your house?” She sat up. “Why am I so calm?”
“I haven’t brought you here to harm you,” Yeel hastily explained. “You’re calm for now, because I thought it best to lace the air with a sedative. That is, I cast a spell to keep you from being afraid.”
“What is this stone bed I’m on?” Jymoor ran her hand over the edge of the human-shaped depression.
“It is a machine. A magnificent machine called Jergerni’s Balancer.”
“I don’t recall ever hearing of such a machine. Why can’t I remember my arrival? This is unlike any place I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m sorry for the shock of it all. This is not your world. You’ve been brought to another.”
“Is that even possible?”
Jymoor stepped up out of the machine.
“It is. Don’t worry, you’ll find much is familiar here. You won’t have to start over completely from scratch. That might be depressing. Now, you live in this world.”
“Why?”
“This place is very much like