Into the Void

Gnomes are no more alike than… than star apples and pomegranates. You big folk only see the superficialities.' He reached up to pat Teldin on the upper arm. 'And that's why you're lucky to have us gnomes around, aren't you? To tell you what it is you're really looking at.' The gnome's smile faded. 'Tell me,' he said after a moment. 'I don't know all the details of what brought you to us, but stories spread on board ships. In fact, ships are the best places for stories. I heard you had some… troubles? Neogi, I hear tell, even before they attacked Mount Nevermind. Now, what I'm wondering is, why? No offense intended, of course-far be it from me to insult a man's homeland-but surely the neogi can find better places to come slave-hunting than this dust ball. Why were they interested in you?'

Teldin hesitated. He knew the answer to the gnome's question all too well, but should he tell Horvath? There might be some value in secrecy, after all.

He thought it through. The higher-ranking gnomes, specifically the three admirals aboard ship, knew what had brought him to Mount Nevermind, but Horvath seemed more experienced at space travel and probably would learn the truth from his own sources. Furthermore, Teldin realized he owed some kind of moral debt to these gnomes. He was certain that the neogi would come after him… which meant they'd be coming after the gnomes. What would be his ethical position if he withheld anything that could help the gnomes make it through alive?

'They're not interested in me,' he answered, 'not as me, if that makes any sense. They're after my cloak.'

He saw understanding dawn in the gnome's eyes. 'Ah, the cloak,' Horvath breathed. 'I've heard about it, of course, the Cloak-That-Adapts-In-Size-And-Will-Not-Be-Sundered-From-Its-Wearer.' He reached tentatively toward the cloak. 'May I?'

Teldin paused a moment, then nodded. The diminutive figure took a corner of the cloak and rubbed the fabric between his fingers. He turned it over and looked at the delicately patterned silk lining. Holding the fabric in two hands, he tugged on it, testing the strength of the weave. Raising it to his bulbous nose, he sniffed at it audibly. It was only when he opened his mouth, apparently preparing to taste the fabric, that Teldin snatched it back from him.

If Horvath was disappointed over being unable to complete his investigation, he didn't show it. 'Hmm,' he snorted. 'Neogi. They're crazier than an owl at noon, that's for sure, but they don't do anything that doesn't suit their purposes-whatever those purposes are. When they want something, they go after it, come doom or destruction. And they wanted that cloak, but I wonder why?'

That, of course, was the key question that had been gnawing at Teldin's peace of mind virtually since the outset. 'I don't know,' he said honestly.

The gnome shrugged. 'Well,' he said thoughtfully, 'I suppose we could ask the neogi….' He must have sensed Teldin's horror, because he quickly continued, 'Presuming we ever see them again.' He patted Teldin on the arm. 'Don't worry about it now. Neogi aren't common in Krynnspace. I should know, because a few friends and I ran into-'

'Krynnspace?' Teldin interrupted.

The gnome casually changed the subject as he gestured around him, taking in the planet below and the stars above. 'Krynnspace. All of this, everything inside this crystal sphere.'

'Crystal… ?'

Horvath sighed. 'Dirtkickers,' he said resignedly. 'What do they teach you in school?' He raised a bushy eyebrow ironically. 'You did go to school, didn't you?'

For a moment, Teldin was taken aback, then he saw the gnome's barely concealed smile. He grinned in return. 'Of course,' he shot back. 'The school of the land.'

'Ah, that one,' Horvath said with a chuckle. 'I never graduated from that one, myself. No desire. The universe is a much bigger school. Of course, I haven't graduated from that one either, not yet, as if I ever will.'

He smacked his lips and grinned up at Teldin. 'It's time for a cup. Traveling always gives me a thirst and natural history always goes better over a draft of ale, wouldn't you say?'

Teldin followed the diminutive figure down a companion-way that led below the ship's main deck. They navigated a narrow corridor-'Watch the overhead, it's low,' warned Horvath, a trifle too late-and entered a small room laid out like a cozy tavern. There were two oaken tables surrounded by stools-all built to gnomish proportions, of course-and a low bar at the far end. A brass oil lamp swung on slender chains from the wooden beams overhead, and a small window-a porthole, Teldin supposed-gave a view of the outside. Teldin looked around him, bemused. Apart from the scale of the furniture and the view outside, the room could well have been the 'snug,' or back room, in any one of the taverns he had known at home.

Horvath must have noticed Teldin's expression, because he said with a smile, 'Just because we travel doesn't mean we have to leave behind all the comforts of home.' He walked around the bar and rapped on the end of a small barrel that was set into the wall. His grin broadened at the solid sound it made. 'If there's one thing you dirtkickers do well, it's make ale.' He retrieved two pewter mugs from a shelf overhead and manipulated the tap on the end of the barrel.

Returning around the bar, he thrust a mug into Teldin's hand and settled himself comfortably on a stool. 'Take a seat. School is now in session.'

Teldin hesitated, then sat on the end of the table next to the gnome. He took a draft of the nut-brown ale, savoring its richness. 'Crystal spheres,' he prompted.

'I know where I was,' Horvath told him, a little aggrieved. 'I'm just trying to say it simply without eliminating everything of importance.'

The gnome took another swallow of his ale and gave a satisfied sigh. 'You can think of crystal spheres like bubbles-or, better, like those glass floats fishermen use to support their nets. These spheres of wildspace float in the phlogiston, what we call the flow, or the Rainbow Ocean.' He held up a hand to still Teldin's incipient question. 'Give me a minute. I'll tell you about the flow in good time. So, the crystal spheres are like glass floats. Each one contains a world, often more than one world, and everything in its solar system. Take Krynn-space: It contains Krynn itself, its primary-you call it the sun, but then everyone calls their primary 'the sun'-and all the other planets, Sirion, Reorx, Chislev, and Zivilyn. Other spheres contain other solar systems. Greyspace, now there's a weird one: a flat world, duster-worlds, and the sun revolving around the main planet, Oerth, rather than vice versa.' Horvath shot a quick glance at Teldin. 'You do know Krynn orbits your sun, don't you?'

Teldin snorted his derision. 'What about the stars?' he asked.

'It varies from sphere to sphere. Here they're fixed to the inside of the crystal shell itself, huge, multifaceted gems-big as this ship, or bigger-and they glow like… well, like nothing you've ever seen. But they don't give off heat. In other places-'

Teldin cut him off. 'So you can touch the stars?'

Horvath shook his head firmly. 'No,' he stated. 'Or, to be more precise, you can touch them, but there's nothing left of you to remember the experience afterward. When I was second apprentice third assistant to the subordinate navigator, I heard a tale about the explorer Bethudniolanika-' The gnome closed his mouth with an audible snap and took a deep, calming breath. 'Sorry.'

Teldin waved off the apology and shook his head with amazement. 'I can't believe it,' he said as he took another draft from his mug. 'I mean, I do, but… go on.'

The gnome finished his ale with another long swallow. 'Ah,' he said, 'education's thirsty work. Another?'

Teldin drank back the last of his ale and handed the mug to Horvath with a nod of thanks. The drink was already spreading its comforting warmth through his body. Another couple of these, and I'll be taking all this for granted, he thought.

'In other spheres, the stars are different,' Horvath continued, as he drew two more mugfuls from the barrel. 'Some places, they're like portholes in the crystal shell, letting in the light of the flow itself. In others, they're huge, glowing beetles that wander around the inside of the shell. They're a real sight, that I'll tell you. And in others… Well, I've heard this, but I've never seen it. They're great bowls of fire held aloft by huge statues of forgotten gods. At least, that's how the stories go'

'And you… you travel between these crystal spheres?' 'You mean gnomes? Certainly we do, though not very often,' Horvath confirmed. 'We trade, ferry passengers, but mostly just explore. That's what we were doing when…' The navigator cleared his throat softly as he recalled his previous flight from Krynn. Horvath briefly related how a group of gnomes had made it into space decades earlier, only to be attacked by neogi and sent racing back to their home sphere and world. Only he and a handful of veterans had survived the ensuing crash to tell the tale and