Founders of Alexandria

by Starscribe


Part 2 (Joseph) - Chapter 4

As it turned out, Joseph was needed that night, and not because Oliver had to amputate. The medical details were all lost on him, but he ended up spending enough of that night and the next morning in the hospital that he abandoned his plans for the next day and just slept solidly through the whole thing. It was a good thing blood and fluids didn’t bother him, because he had seen more of both than he had bargained for.

Working beside Oliver was enough to remind him that he wasn’t the only pony with magic. Despite lacking hands, Oliver’s intuition and skill were downright supernatural. More than once Joe had thought Adrian would die, or at the very least they would have to sever the wing in order to let him heal. In the end they had been forced to cut away a large part of the muscle and break at least one bone back into place. The wing itself would (hopefully) not have to be amputated.

Adrian was hurting too much to be furious, when the procedure was said and done the next day. When he protested, Oliver showed him a plastic container reeking of death filled with what they had removed from his wing. “You could’ve done another two weeks, maybe. Would’ve spent them in agony. Really, it’s a miracle you could still stand.”

Actually they discovered that part wasn’t a miracle at all, and that Adrian had been abusing various painkillers in order to stay on his feet. His time in the hospital would be extended into getting him off a nasty painkiller addiction. Joe was thankful he wasn’t really being asked to help with that; it sounded completely overwhelming.

Even if he hadn’t known Adrian for more than a month, he did want to help him recover. Once his first week was over and they had started bringing him down from the ocean of chemicals Oliver prescribed to him, Adrian started asking about the satellite network. He insisted Alex be the one to retrieve a set of books from his RV, since she was the “only one he could trust.” Joe, meanwhile, had come to set up a satellite phone in the interior room. Since the transmitter needed a direct line to the sky, he’d had the incredibly difficult task of laying some wire about twenty feet to a window and hanging the antenna accessory outside.

That done, he levitated the cable and Adrian’s phone into the hospital room, trying to smile. “Hey, Adrian.”

The room had been decorated since last he had visited three days ago, though the decorations and color scheme had very clearly been chosen by a child. Paper hearts and half-inflated “get well soon” balloons hung limply from bedposts and random points on the wall. A mountain of stuffed animals in one corner seemed also to be somepony’s bed. The room had no windows (Joe wasn’t exactly sure why that was, but he suspected it had something to do with preventing Adrian from escaping), but someone had strung up a chain of bright LEDs, and those did a passable job simulating sunlight… at least enough for him to see.

There were three ponies inside. Adrian was in bed, covered with a thin sheet with his books beside him. He looked weak, and Joe knew he couldn’t walk more than a few steps without collapsing. Flying, of course, was out of the question.

Riley and Alex were also here, not far away. Alex had a hotplate and several different cooking ingredients, and was apparently making a morning omelet. Judging by the smell she was trying her best, but she clearly lacked Sky or Oliver’s talent for cooking. “Hey Joe.” She took a spatula in her mouth, flicking the little omelette over on itself “Mmgm wnnn nnn?”

He shook his head, though it wasn’t because he wasn’t hungry. “Nah, I’m good." He passed Riley, ignoring the girl’s strange eyes and stranger body. He hadn’t ever really tried to get a good look at her, nor did he intend to. Dealing with children was not something he wanted to do, strange bug-body or no. Thank goodness Alex and Adrian took it upon themselves. Like medicine, children were outside the narrow sphere of things Joseph cared about.

“Got my phone set up?” Adrian asked, his voice a little weak.

“I will in a minute.” He set everything down on the bedside table, connecting the outlet to one of the extension cords on the ground and the antenna to the waiting port. “Probably haven’t missed much though, right?”

Adrian glowered. “I don’t know, I haven’t been in touch.” He reached once towards the phone, straining with his foreleg. Joseph ignored the gesture, moving the phone through its bootup and configuration process using his magic.

“Mr. Joe-” Riley squeaked. He ignored her, and she spoke up again. “Mr. Joe, have you been near a radio today?”

He stopped, not bothering to suppress an exasperated sigh. “No, I haven’t. It’s only ten.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Why?”

“There’s a transmission! Or… Or there was? Earlier. Alex heard it, she said I could tell you… cuz you’re good with codes? You broke one a few months ago…” Her wings perked up on her back as she spoke, similar to the way Sky acted when she spoke. Was it cute? Maybe a little. Not cute enough for him to want to go through her instead of the pony who had actually noticed it.

“Why didn’t you call me?!” He advanced on Alex. “Moriah and I are in charge of the radio now!”

Alex wasn’t a large pony; even standing to cook she had to be a foot shorter than he was, probably more. She didn’t flinch under his anger, not the way Sky or even Moriah might. Even Oliver. He supposed he knew why; she had stood down Moriah and been blasted with some of the worst unicorn magic could offer, after all. That hadn’t killed her, so why should she be afraid? It still annoyed him. She scooped the omelette up onto a plate, took the plate right past him without answering, and set it down on the table next to the bed. “You want ketchup too, Adrian?”

He shook his head. “Hot sauce, please.”

She walked past Joseph again, rummaged through her spices, and carried the sauce over to him. Only after did she turn around. “It stopped transmitting already, a few more minutes wasn’t going to change anything. It wasn’t as though we have a working transmitter to reply.”

“Wrong, Alex!” He puffed out his chest. “Moriah’s going to have it working by the end of the day. Power’s all working, all she has left are a few basic tests and we’ll be good to go!” He nodded smugly. “That’s why we have the walkie-talkies, isn’t it? So we can tell each other about important news right when it happens! You’re the one who said that!” It felt good to be the one telling her off for once.

She just nodded, turning back to meet Riley’s eyes. “You still have the paper I gave you?”

Riley nodded, rummaging around in the pile of stuffed animals for several moments before drawing out a piece of notebook paper in her mouth, offering it to him. He took it in his magic. “We didn’t know how long it would take for you to show up today, so Alex said I could hold it until-”

“Yeah.” Joseph turned, unfolding the slightly damp square of paper in the air and smoothing it with invisible fingers so he could read it clearly. The text read:

H-tul-q-kar-ydk-qh-bvlt-tul-p-mak-kar-xb-tul-kar-vp-tul-pcz-kum-jq-kar-nml-pw-tul-mwfg-x-kum-n-kum-tul-dbbqf-lv-tul-x-mak-kum-min-hpfl-min-mes-gmyh-p-tul-vri-hh-min

“This is… This is all of it?” he asked, when he had gone over it at least a dozen times. “There’s nothing missing at the front or the back?”

Alex nodded. “It repeated twice. I could repeat it from memory if you want to-”

“Nah.” He didn’t want to see that skill demonstrated again, even if it was its own kind of impressive. “If you’re sure.” He stuffed the sheet away in one of the pockets of his pants, turning back to the satellite phone. He worked while Adrian ate, though neither of them seemed very interested in what they were doing. Already his mind was spinning. He wouldn’t let it take months to decipher the code, not this time. This time, he would show them his lifetime of experience was worth something.

“How long are you gonna be stuck here?” Riley asked, sitting herself down again beside Adrian’s bed.

“I’m not sure,” he answered, mouth full. “Until that bastard Oliver lets me go.” He spat the name, venom in his voice. “It’s not like there’s anything wrong with my legs…”

Riley’s voice did not share any of his burning loathing. “Oliver said he didn’t have a choice. Wouldn’t you have died if he didn’t do anything?”

Adrian was mercifully silent for a time, letting Joe think long enough to enter a few more commands. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t work while people were speaking! One more bandwidth test, and he could get out of the stupid hospital and do some real work.

“I guess.” Adrian pushed the plate away from him a little. “Can I have another, Alex? I swear these drugs are starving me.”

“Sure. Just give me a few minutes. You want to help me crack a few more eggs Riley?”

“Yeah!” The insect-pony lept to her feet again, buzzing across the room towards the stove.

“SHUT UP!” Joseph glared around the room at them all. “YOU WANTED ME TO GET YOU ON THE NETWORK, BUT I CAN’T SO LONG AS YOU ALL KEEP RUNNING YOUR GODDAMN MOUTHS!” His horn flared briefly, though only light came from it. Nobody said anything, though Riley cowered behind the grill.

“Good. You all just stay shut up for a few more minutes.” They did. Without the distraction of constant conversation, Joseph was able to get the phone connected. He pushed it towards Adrian, stepping back. “There you go, Adrian. You’re on the VPN, you can make calls, knock yourself out.” He looked to Alex. “I’ll let you know when I get this translated. Moriah said she would need me for some of the computer stuff, so I might not get time until tonight.”

“Okay, Joe.” She didn’t look happy. “Let me know if you learn anything.”

“Thanks,” Adrian offered, sounding distinctly half-hearted. “I’ll ask the other settlements if they heard that radio thing. Maybe we can figure out where it’s coming from.”

Joseph left without a word. There was no car waiting for him, but there was an electric ATV. He twisted the key and set off down the road, balancing himself precariously on the seat built for humans. Naturally he hadn’t made it half a mile before his phone started ringing. It was that kind of day.

There was no caller ID. Joe levitated his bluetooth headset out of a pocket, clipping it to his ear somewhat painfully before pressing the button that would answer the satellite call. “Joe,” he answered, with all the venom he could muster. “How can I help you?”

“Joe,” said a female voice on the other end. “As in Joseph Kimball, perhaps?”

“Yeah. Who is this?”

“I am specialist Taylor Gamble, HPI Corps of Engineers.”

He suppressed a gasp. The HPI were calling anyone besides Alex now? “Okay Taylor. How can I help you?”

“Are you the one responsible for the digitization of alien intelligence? We’re eager to get started on those books down here, but we haven’t received anything.”

Of course. Freakin’ HPI call, and it’s a wrong number. “No, I’m not. You want to talk to Oliver Pittman. Do you need his number?”

Pause. “No, thanks. I’ll call him instead.” He expected her to hang up, but she didn’t. Instead she said, "Would you mind if I asked you a question?”

He had to think about that. Good thing there wasn’t traffic anymore, or else he probably would’ve been run over. Granted a town like Paris probably hadn’t ever had that much traffic to begin with… “Okay.”

“What’s it like? Being something else. It sounds fascinating. You know, there are so many stories in mythology about creatures that can change their shape. Or about people who were cursed by the gods or the ancestors or the spirits or whatever to take on animal form. You’ve actually done it!”

He took a deep breath. “It’s, uh… It was pretty terrible at first. Losing your hands is probably the worst. Tripping over yourself when you move… What do you care, lady? You’re not going to be changed into anything. You didn’t get changed into a screwy alien horse.”

“Yeah.” She sounded almost wistful. “Oh, one more thing. You’ll probably get another few calls today. The boys in satcom wanted to have a word with the one who screwed with the Iridium network, and my notes here say that was you. Unless we’ve got that wrong too…”

“No.” He groaned. “That was me.”

“Excellent! Have a great day, Mr. Kimball!” The line went dead.

Joseph found himself wondering if he would ever get to work on the code.