It was part of what made her style Enutjat instead of something else, the frustration of dealing with her base making another style nigh-impossible. If she had only majored a different base study—
That was it.
Maybe.
...so if she took a different base, what would it be? What line of study would allow her to lead a more fulfilling life? What did she enjoy before her style took over?
Cavall sat on the ground, thinking. Her thoughts were even more piecemeal as she tried to remember her first memory. Before mentoring Arratoi, however, was not much of anything, which was disconcerting upon reflection because she couldn't possibly have gotten to Grade 17 by reverting herself so often. Something else had selectively erased her memory, but what...? Even more disconcerting was how she had never questioned it before now, as though starting in media res as a character in a book or movie purely as expositional advancement.
Well, she needed a plan, either way. She would graduate, try a new base, and/or take up something new entirely until an opportunity to discover her true past presented itself. In the meantime, she would help Arratoi how she could, even though the girl proved to be too immature and distractable to advance her grade beyond five—and even THAT had been a challenge.
Presently, the various sessions dismissed, and second face signaled the start of base study. Cavall wandered toward the ES/C camp when she noticed Kambing and a pup wandering towards – a cave? She couldn't recall any study session taking place so far from the main encampment. Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed them to see what they were doing there.
"Hurry up, pup," he snapped, to which the pup reacted in a manner suggesting he was indeed Monyet. Even more curious that neither was attending study though Kambing claimed to need graduation for terraforming.
The cave seemed ordinary beyond belief, even after Cavall followed them nearly to its end. It seemed to be a natural tunnel created through erosion vs. an abandoned mineshaft, which rocketed the curiousness to extraordinary levels.
"Your mission starts now," Kambing barked, flicking on a torch that blanketed the cave in light. "Are you ready?"
The pup nodded with hesitation, trembling. Kambing stared at the deepest point in the cave and thrust his arm in a crude gesture.
The walls of the cave crumbled in a violent quake, exposing a new series of tunnels. "Where next?" he snapped, clapping a hand on the pup's shoulder.
Monyet (she assumed at this point) recoiled in fear, then perked his ears at something Cavall couldn't hear. Even then, he seemed reluctant to follow the source of whatever it was he detected.
"Come now, is this the way or not?"
He nodded his head, shivering despite the warm air currents that persisted even in the shade of the tunnel.
"How far does it go?"
Monyet scented the air, proceeding with considerable caution. He stepped over the fallen debris, but it was clear that whatever lay ahead was terrifying – because he was a child, or because it was truly terrible?
Then he froze, immovable even at Kambing's orders. Rather than continue, he shook his head violently, his non-verbal language screaming that he would not go any further despite the light making the cave almost inviting.
"What has you so worked up all of the sudden?" the prior grumbled. "This is weak even for you. Need I remind you the consequences of failure? Don't you want to advance your grade?"
Monyet shook his head even more violently than before. Whatever had the pup so scared wasn't worth whatever Kambing had promised to do (to him?) if he would perform this mysterious task.
Frowning, Kambing stared down the tunnel, debating whether to go alone. "This is the correct path, though, isn't it?"
Monyet bit his lip, but nodded.
"Can you see the end?"
Head shake.
"Can you see the journey?"
Hesitation, lip-biting—some.
Kambing crossed his arms, flicking off the torch. "Let's go, then, you frightened bug." Monyet practically leapt from the cave, narrowly missing Cavall in her hiding place. He didn't act like he noticed her—she wouldn't revert his memory yet.
The prior stared down the tunnel for a min before turning back. Cavall didn't want to be seen by him all the same and crept farther into her niche as he passed by. When he reached the original endpoint of the cave, he gestured with his other arm—the rocks were piling back into place!
It took all of Cavall's finesse to create a reversion barrier to protect her from the rocks reforming on top of her without Kambing also noticing her do it. The feeling of being enclosed in rock was terrifying, as was suffocating from the lack of air. She held her breath as long as she could, waiting for Kambing to get as far as possible away before freeing herself—a min had passed, but it felt like an eternity.
- CTRL-Z, step .06
Breathing fresh air started to clear her head. No, she couldn't keep undoing the terrible things she saw, or it would just make her condition worse. She also ran the risk of unlearning what she had just seen, and it could prove important in the future.
- CTRL-Z, step 1
Well, that mystery would unravel on its own timetable. Cavall had another to manage in the meantime. It was getting late in the day—she headed toward the canteen, where Arratoi was most likely to be.
"What did you learn today?" she asked, feigning interest.
"Umm." Arratoi bit her chopsticks in thought. "I learned what the known limits of FR/B are. We can divine location, but a skilled Base-FR/B can change location on a microscopic level. If all the Base-FR/B worked together, we could change location on a macroscopic level—truly move the world."
"Hmph," Cavall snorted. "Why would you do that."
"It would be beneficial in terraforming," she answered, not picking up on Cavall's rhetoric, "because a planet with an orbit that's not an ideal distance from a star can be moved to a better orbit."
"Why meddle in things you know nothing about," she continued, not really speaking to Arratoi anymore.
"It's just an example, to demonstrate the potential of FR/B. Many FR/B take up jobs in moving or construction, but there are other applications possible that benefit from a gentle touch."
In dejection, Cavall thunked her head on the table, calculating the potential risk of reporting vs. not reporting Kambing. It felt as though laziness would win by default—
Wait. Win? "What is the goal of the Brigade?"
"Huh?"
"You want to join the Brigade. What is their purpose? What will you be doing for the remainder of the retreat?"
Arratoi frowned, baffled by where the conversation was going. "It's a team exercise, to reach the goal."
"Will you be battling?"
"Of course."
"Who?"
She bit her lip. "Those who aren't joining the Brigade will be assigned to stations around the encampment."
"Will they know what the Brigade's goal is?"
"I don't know!" she whined. "Why are you asking me this?!"
- CTRL-Z, step .12
"Umm." Arratoi bit her chopsticks. "I learned what the known limitations of FR/B are."
"What are YOUR limits? You'll need to know that for tonight's battle and prepare, unless you want to spend another night in that squalid hole."
"I'll do better," she protested.
"Mmm." There must be a connection between the Brigade and the cave, she realized. But what was it?
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