There was a second of silence. Keiro said, "So explain that."
Blaize turned his back. But almost at once he swung around and his face was grave. "I have no wish to upset you. But you've seen a girl and a man. How do you know where they are?"
Finn said, "They're not here."
"No?" Blaize glanced at him quickly, his pocked face tipped sideways. "How do you know? Have you not thought that they also may be in Incarceron? In some other Wing, some distant level where life seems different, where they don't even know they are imprisoned? Think, boy! This quest for Escape will become a folly that will eat up your life.
You will spend years in hopeless traveling, searching, and all for nothing! Find a place to live, learn peace instead. Forget the stars."
His voice murmured among the glass spheres, high into the timbered rafters of the roof.
Dismayed, barely hearing Gildas's angry outburst, Finn faced the window and stood there, staring out through the sealed glass at the drifting clouds of Incarceron's stratosphere, too high for birds, the icy landscape miles below, the distant hills and dark slopes that might be walls beyond his sight.
His own fear terrified him.
If this was true, there was no Escape, from here or from himself...
He was Finn and always would be, with no past and no future and there was nowhere to go back to. No one else that he had once been.
Gildas and Attia were angry; they were arguing, but Keiro's cool comment sliced through the noise and silenced everyone. "Why don't we ask them?" he said. He picked the Key up and touched the controls; turning quickly, Finn saw how adept at it he was.
"There's no point," Blaize said rapidly. "For us there is."
"Then I will leave you to speak to your friends." Blaize turned. "I have no wish to do so.
Feel free to treat the tower as your home. Eat, rest. Think about what I've said."
He walked between the spheres and out of the door, the robe flapping about his stained clothes, a faint scent of acid and something else, something sweet, drifting behind him.
As soon as he was gone Gildas swore, long and bitterly.
Keiro grinned. "You learned something useful from the Comitatus then."
"To think that after all these years I should find a Sapient and he should be so weak!" The old man sounded sick with disgust. Then he thrust out his hand. "Give me that Key."
"No need." Keiro placed it hastily on the table and stepped back. "It's working."
The familiar hum rose; the holo-image sprang out and cleared to a circle of light. Today it seemed even brighter than before, as if they were nearer its source, or its power had grown. Into it, as close as if she were among them, Claudia stepped. Her eyes were bright, her face alert. Finn almost felt he could reach out and touch her.
"They found you," she said.
"Yes," he whispered.
"I'm so pleased."
Jared was with her, one arm leaning against what seemed like a tree. And suddenly Finn realized they were sitting in a field , or a garden, and the light in that place was a glorious gold.
Gildas shouldered past him. "Master," he said curtly. "You are a Sapient?"
"I am." Jared stood and bowed formally. "As are you, I see."
"For these fifty years, son. Before you were born. Now answer me three questions and answer them true. Are you Outside Incarceron?"
Claudia stared. Jared nodded slowly. "Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because this is a palace, not a prison. Because the sun is above us, and the stars at night. Because Claudia has discovered the gate that leads to the Prison ..."
"Have you?" Finn gasped.
But before she could answer, Gildas snapped, "One thing more. If you are Outside, where is Sapphique? What did he do when he got out there? When will he return to release us?"
There were flowers in the garden, brilliant red poppies.
Jared looked at Claudia, and in the silence between them a bee buzzed on the petals, a small murmur that made Finn shiver with lost memory.
Then Jared stood and came forward, so close, he and Gildas were face-to-face.
"Master," he said courteously. "Forgive me for my ignorance. For my curiosity. Forgive me if this seems a stupid question. But who is Sapphique?"
23
Nothing has changed, or will change.
So we must change it.
-The Steel Wolves
Finn thought the bee would come out of the nimbus of gold and land on him. As it buzzed near his hand, he jerked back and it darted away.
He looked at Gildas. The old man had almost staggered; Attia was helping him sit, and
Jared was reaching his own hand out as if to help, dismay on his face. He glanced at
Claudia; Finn heard his murmur. "I shouldn't have asked. The Experiment ..."
"Sapphique Escaped." Keiro pulled a bench over and sat in the hologlow, its light rich on his red coat. "He got out. He's the only one that ever did. That's the legend."
"No legend," Gildas snapped hoarsely. He looked up. "You really don't know? I thought ... that out there he would be a great man ... a king."
Claudia said, "No. At least... Well, we could do some research. He may have gone into hiding. Things here aren't perfect either." She stood quickly. "Perhaps you don't know, but people here believe Incarceron to be a wonderful place. A paradise."
They stared at her.
She saw the startled disbelief in their faces, Keiro's changing almost instantly to an amused, acid grin. "Fabulous," he murmured.