Touchstone 1 - Stray

up Muina nearly half as badly as we’ve done to some parts of Earth. Though I have my doubts about them understanding the concept of balconies and a nice view any time soon.
    Tuesday, March 25
    The art of doing nothing much
    A nice quiet day. Not even a medical exam after the one I had after the flight yesterday. I went swimming, and walked the torture stairs, but otherwise just lolled about being glad to be wearing something other than my uniform, and trying to magically transport myself into the bathroom. It’s hard to work out just what it is I did to get to Earth.
    I seem to have a rotation with First Squad tomorrow. I’ve missed them.
    Wednesday, March 26
    Unstable
    Unstable rotations involve a lot of fussing over how long the gates are going to last. The spaces were flooded, which meant using the breathers and telling our nanosuits to be more like wetsuits. The first flooded space was a memory of trees, where sharp leaves whirled around like faceless fish and Lohn’s enhanced Light talent came in handy because Fire is not a useful talent underwater, and you sure as hell wouldn’t want to use Lightning even if First had that talent. After the aggressive leaves there was a big cavern filled with scaffolding around a monstrous Greek-style temple.
    This was a space First Squad had only seen once before, one of a series which switched into this position. The Ionoth which was there was one they’d never encountered, a long, flat and frilly thing, like something you’d see on the Great Barrier Reef, but larger. It curled and wound its way through the scaffolding, trailing afterimages of itself.
    Maze and Zee came back to the drowned forest space instead of signalling us through. “Kettara, come through with me. Remainder, hold here.”
    They both enhanced and went through. The brilliance of Lohn’s Light wall lit up the gate, but then he returned through it, shaking his head. Maze stayed just in front of the gate, then lifted both of his hands. The scaffolding broke apart and dived toward the Ionoth until all I could see was a pin cushion of metal and a spreading darkish cloud of blood. Telekinesis is dangerous when there’s things to pick up.
    Everyone looked tired when we got back, and very wet and cold. That rotation had been a lot of swimming, and the leaves especially had been hard to deal with – Lohn hadn’t been able to keep up with the swirling clouds and when they got close the Setari had to kill them with their suit weapons.
    While we were being scanned for stickies Maze said: “News of Pandora has leaked.”
    “That took longer than I expected.” Zee gazed abstractly into nothing for a moment, then said: “They’re making the official announcement in response.”
    “Will news cause any problems?” I asked as we all headed for the showers. I find it funny to have a shower and have a conversation with six people at the same time, but the channels make it very easy to do.
    “Not for us. The demands of people insisting they be taken to visit will cause other sections of KOTIS a few headaches, but they were really only holding off the announcement because they weren’t completely certain the camp wouldn’t meet similar disasters to the previous attempts.” Zee paused. “Check Far Channel.”
    I didn’t know what that was, but managed to find it just as Mara said: “Will they confirm?”
    “Partially,” Maze said. “It was inevitable details of Caszandra’s existence would be known eventually, especially given the role she played on Muina. The factor which we knew would cause controversy is the relationship between Earth and Muina.”
    Which was exactly what was being discussed on Far Channel, a news and rumours service with attached forums. That Muina had been unlocked was the biggest news, but Far Channel added that they’d learned that a stray working with the Setari had been pivotal. The news service itself didn’t say much more than that, but the forums went far further. That the stray was from a parent world older than Muina, and possessed immense powers. That she was called Pandora, and could control the Ddura, had already located and destroyed one of the Pillars, and was teaching the Setari the secrets forgotten after the abandonment of Muina. Nine parts wild speculation, in other words.
    “People will have strange idea of me,” I said, after a short silence during which I’m sure everyone was reading the same interesting stories.
    “Venerable Sage Caszandra,” Lohn