Reference:Gehn, personal journal (Riven (2024))
3! • 9 • 14 ( 86.9.29 ) I start this latest journal with astounding news: Katr Catherine has returned to the Fifth Age! And though it sets my teeth on edge to say it, she has also vanished as quickly as she appeared—stolen from me by the rebels. As my guard tells it, she linked into the Fissure plateau cage—just as I'd surmised—when suddenly he was set upon by a band of rebels who darted him and spirited her away. I suspect the truth of the matter was that he was so dumbfounded at actually witnessing someone link in after all this time, that he presented an easy target for whichever rebel happened to be nearby—the damnable luck of it! He did get a good enough look at her, though, to verify that it was, indeed, Catherine. He also claims that he inspected all of her belongings and found no Linking Book on her person—a fact that I find hard to believe; but if true, makes the question of why she's returned here all the more puzzling.
While I am sick with frustration at having lost the only quarry that cage has ever caught, I am also filled with hope— as she may yet provide me with a way back to D'ni. It is true that I have managed, despite overwhelming odds, to break free of the confines of the Fifth Age and resume my mission to save my culture from extinction; but I fear that unless I am able to regain access to the vast resources that lie in the city's ruins, the task of resurrecting that great civilization will be impossible. If Catherine did bring a Linking Book with her, then I am halfway there—if not, then she is trapped in the Fifth Age and I can only assume that my emotionally crippled son will soon be along to rescue her.
Either way, it is crucial to my plans that I find her soon. Her presence here now forces me to take the rebels more seriously; I should never have permitted them to survive this long.
3! • ) • 5 ( 86.10.5 ) Once again the "Great Whark" has demonstrated its usefulness to me. The villagers have been difficult to manage in the wake of Catherine's arrival, and their fear of this mythic beast has been all that has kept them in line. Had I known how truly useful these prodigious creatures would prove to be, I would have captured more of them while the local population was still plentiful. Although, to be sure—if these disturbances continue, my current pets will be in no danger of perishing for lack of nourishment.
3! • ) • # ( 86.10.13 ) The search for Ka Catherine continues—
I deeply regret my mistake of having ever taught these primitive people anything at all about the Books. It seems that with each passing day I more sorely realize the extent to which they were not ready for that knowledge—not even in the simplified manner in which I presented it to them. Their minds, adapted only to the exceptionally menial tasks of village life, were incapable of comprehending the Art in all its complexity, and were thus unable to glean any of the underlying principles that are, ironically, so elegantly simple. It is obvious that so much of the discord that exists between us stems from their failure to grasp the meaning of the information I gave them. If they'd been able to gain even the smallest glimpse of the glorious future I'd planned for them, then this conflict would not exist.
The minds of the children, however, are much more malleable. With the proper tutelage, they have developed a more appropriate posture towards the culture that has given them their lives. At time they take to it almost as if they had a bit of D'ni blood in them. Given the natives' inborn limitations, however, I am quite careful that none gain a level of understanding that would permit them to sin against their future the way that Catherine did. How foolish I was, to think that she could wield such knowledge responsibly, when it was quite clear that my own son could not.
Atrus... still he remains one of the greatest disappointments of my life. I should never have left him with my mother; by the time I'd returned for him, he had already been poisoned as to all thoughts of aiding me in my noble mission. Perhaps that was the only way she could soften the fact that she had been responsible for the collapse of the entire civilization. So much destruction, so many great lives lost—the guilt must have been unbearable.
She did seem to love my father, and our world... but ultimately, she was an outsider whose ignorance of the D'ni became the catalyst for their demise. If I am able to rebuild our culture, and in the process correct such weaknesses, then perhaps what she did was ultimately necessary in order that a new and stronger era of prosperity might someday come to pass.
3@ • 1 • 4 ( 87.1.4 ) I have been increasingly beset by images from the past, these last few weeks. As I stood in the schoolroom today, I was reminded of my own childhood: the years I spent in the Book-Makers Guild... father's immense pride at each of my small accomplishments there... He was an important man in the D'ni world; but I cannot bear to think of him for long—it is to much—I was too young to see such things.[1]
3@ • 2 • 8 ( 87.2.8 ) I have her!
Late last night, I received word that Catherine had been apprehended while attempting to persuade some of the villagers to join her. I lost a few men in the process, but I would have gladly paid a hundred times that number for such a prize! She's been imprisoned in my old office, where I've been attempting to gain some insight as to the reason for her return. I've had to fight the all but constant impulse to put her on the gallows, as she has adopted the most infuriating stance of only answering my questions—when she answers them at all—in her native tongue. Even so, she is a poor liar; I am now certain that her return to Riven was unintentional, and that she brought not Linking Book with her. As far as her willingness to share with me the location of the Moiety... we shall see. Without their leader, however, they are once again powerless against me.
If Catherine's coming here was indeed an accident, then Atrus is bound to come for her—that is a given. The question I must now consider is: how will he attempt it? It is likely that his hesitation is due, at least in part, to this dilemma. One way or another, though, he'll have to bring a Linking Book to get back—there is no other way.
3@ • 6 • [ ( 87.6.20 ) It's late and I cannot sleep. I've lost so much in my life. My people, my father, my son... and you my wife—Keta, you were the only true kindness I have ever known.[2] Watching you flicker there in the Imager, I sometimes wonder if you were real. If I could restore your life with my pen, I would do so in an instant, and leave the rest of the world to their own wretched fate.
3@ • 7 • 1 ( 87.7.1 ) Damn these savages! I would be well advised to leave them all in the Fifth Age and begin again with a clean sheet of paper!
A stranger has arrived on Riven—with a Linking Book to D'ni! And once again my useless minion was overtaken by the rebels. From what little I could decipher of his muddled explanation, it apparently occurred sometime this morning. The cage mechanism has been damaged, but that is no matter—everything I need is here now. Atrus is certainly behind this. But why would he send someone else in his stead—and with a Linking Book, no less?! Surely he would have guessed that I would be waiting for him. Such recklessness is unlike him. Could it be that he's had a change of heart toward me? That after all these years, he has finally decided to let his poor old father go? Hah! I know all too well where his loyalties lie. He is only after one thing... perhaps he should find her.
For now, I need only to wait and observe.
[The following entry appears if the bridge to Boiler island has been destroyed]
...I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to allow the stranger to roam freely about the islands; in their ignorant probing, they attempted to power the broken damaged drawbridge from Temple Island and the entire bridge collapsed! A trivial loss, at this point, but it irks me all the same; had I not yet managed to free myself from that crumbling Age, it would have hampered my progress severely. But again, it is no matter now—the day will soon come when I will be done with Riven forever.
3@ • 7 • 6 ( 87.7.6 ) Disconcerting news: last night, a group of Maintainers happened upon a lone rebel scout, and were able to engage him long enough to learn of a most implausible device: a "crystal window", supposedly capable of amending my Linking Books—much the way that my own remarkable system does—but with one slight advantage: it is small and weighs only a few pounds, making it entirely portable. If this outlandish claim is true, then the artifact in question must be something that Kat Catherine fabricated prior to her capture—no doubt from an explicit D'ni schematic she brought with her. If only I'd had access to such a document all these years!
[Illustration: drawing of a crystal window]
The portent of this revelation is deeply troubling. Some years ago, the rebels managed to abscond with a dysfunctional Linking Book I'd intended to destroy. The Book was never recovered; but once they had sufficiently atoned for this sacrilege, I graciously decided to let the matter slide—thinking that in their inept hands it could do me no harm. But if Catherine has indeed empowered them with such a device, the rebels way well have linked to another Age. It also means that 98 is no longer safe. This cannot stand.
The stranger is the key to all of this. Tracking their movements has given me a good idea of where this rebel Linking Book—and the crystal—may be hidden.
But before I can deal with that, I must secure the Linking Book back to D'ni—everything hinges upon that. If I can regain access to my arsenal of resources there, I will happily leave the whole of Riven to its own dismal future.
- Images Codes
Keta — 5
Father — 2 5
Anna — 2 3 5
- Images Codes
