The Fall of Babel

*The Fall of Babel* is the fourth and final book in Josiah Bancroft's Books of Babel series

## Plot

Adam Boreas is taken into the ringdom called Nebos by Elrin Allod, despite his sister, Runa’s, opposition, where Adam’s fate on whether he can stay or face execution is decided via accord or vote made by the citizens of the ringdom.

Ida Allod, Elrin and Runa’s mother, argues on Adam’s behalf, as she created a famous work of art based on Adam’s life called the Daredevil’s Brother. Runa is assigned to watch Adam, and she takes him to a place called the Warren ran by her friend Ossian, which is basically a giant storage facility. Ossian gives him new clothes, and his old clothes are burnt in a weird furnace-like contraption called the Nautilus.

Adam is treated like a celebrity in Nebos due to Ida’s work, with everyone asking him to steal from them since the work depicts him as a pickpocketing thief. Ida holds a screening of her work, and Adam discovers that everything he’s seen with the eye that was taken from him in the Parlor is displayed on screen. Adam publicly scolds Ida and leaves the screening. It’s revealed that the visual footage taken from gouged eyes are called espials and the Brick Layer originally intended them to serve as an archive of past visionaries and geniuses, however – the Nebosans instead starting using espials to make art – called scintillations. The Conservator, a robot in charge of the archive of espials, was thought to be the only figure that could scrub through quickly espials, until Ida released the Daredevil’s Brother. Adam also learns later from his scintillation that Voleta isn’t his younger sibling but his twin sister. Runa shows Adam scintillations that explain that the Bricklayer had a vision for the top of the Tower that would become Nebos. He gathered builders from outside of the Tower to realize his vision, which took three generations to complete. When it was finished, the builders had a vote on whether to live in Nebos or return home, and they chose to stay in Nebos. Elrin, infuriated that Adam insulted his mother, takes him to work for the lumenguard. They travel across an open abyss to the end of the black trail and take offerings from the hods but find that a baby was hidden in the donations. Adam argues against the lumenguard disposing the baby and returns the baby to the hods. An older hod, Faruq, explains that this is their only chance for survival and Adam agrees to help smuggle the hod children into Nebos.

Adam, Runa, Ossian and Faruq work together to smuggle the hods into the Warren. Adam and Runa also have to fake a romance to explain to the public why they are running off together so frequently. Adam also goes to the Conservator, and since his eye was entered into the archive, he’s given full privileges to the archive, so he asks to see how the Brick Layer died – and learns that the Nebosans attempted to assassinate him because he wanted the ringdom to be a haven for hods. However, as they attempted to drop a capstone onto him, he vanished. Ida and Elrin confront Adam and Runa, and Adam notices that Ida has the pendant that the Brick Layer was wearing, deducing that she stole it from the Conservator and that’s how she made Adam’s scintillation. The Conservator goes berserk and the four barely escape its wrath. Elrin then reveals that he’s uncovered their plot to smuggle hods into Nebos. Ida and Elrin take them to the Nautilus, where Ida plans to take Adam’s other eye and finish her work. Adam and Runa fight Elrin and Ida, resulting in Ida and Elrin drowning into a fluid called slow water.The espial of the Brick Layer’s revelation that the ringdom was made for the hods is shown to the public. Adam and Runa are put on trial for execution after the hod children are found in the Warren and an accord is set to decide the fate of the hods.

We move on to Senlin, who we last saw joining Luc Marat’s ranks inside his war machine called The Hod King. Senlin has allied himself with John Tarrou and Finn Goll to destroy the Hod King, but Senlin soon finds himself promoted from his position as stepper. Marat tasks him with opening moths and butterflies to extract and store the Sphinx’s medium. This new position puts him in close contact with Marat, and he finds out that his main utility to the tyrant is that he knows the layout of the Sphinx’s lair. Marat has already collected several Bricklayer’s Granddaughter paintings that belong to a zoetrope that is supposed to open the mysterious Bridge of Babel.

Meanwhile, Edith and her crew, which now include Ann Goucher, Marya and her daughter Olivet, are also trying to collect the paintings in the hope that the Bridge of Babel will have the answer to stop the Sphinx's overflowing lightning sea from exploding and decimating the Tower. They go to the ringdom Oyodin, a ringdom filled with gambling and nudists to retrieve their painting, but when they arrive they find a hod running off with it. Voleta, whose acted somewhat detached ever since she was brought back to life with the Sphinx’s medium, chases the hod and is stabbed through her hand. *The State of the Art* has a brief battle with the Hod King, but the machine retreats.

Senlin bonds with Marat and the rest of his inner circle of ex-wakemen, or servants of the Sphinx who were given various robotic limbs in exchange for their service. He learns that behind closed doors, Marat is actually a hypocrite, as he can actually walk with his mechanical legs despite using a wheel chair in front of his followers, and is well read despite forcing his followers to black out books.

Edith apologizes to Marya that she kissed Senlin, and Marya says that she’s not the one that should have to apologize but thanks her anyway. Reddleman finds a 3D map of the Tower that can track the Hod King and as they’re discussing how to destroy it, they realize via the Sphinx’s tracking device that Senlin is in the machine. Their next stop is a ringdom called the Cistern, which serves as the Tower’s filtration system. The ringdom has an ecosystem of aquatic life that was previously thrown out of balance due to overfishing. The ringdom slowly recovered but feigns a plague to dissuade from any outside interference or influence. Iren and Voleta go to retrieve the painting while Edith goes to address the citizens on behalf of the Sphinx. Iren and Voleta talk about how their relationship has strained since Voleta came back to life. Iren admits her guilt that she couldn’t save her and asks Voleta if she’s sorry that she was brought back to life. Voleta says that it’s not her fault that she was killed and she’s glad to be alive, and that she’s going to be more careful now.

Meanwhile, as the citizens overwhelm Edith with questions, they’re ambushed by the Hod King. Edith fights with Marat’s wakemen Thornton and Cael, who toss her into the ringdom’s reservoir. Iren and Voleta fight with Marat’s other henchmen, a half mechanical spider and half female human corpse named Delyth. Delyth cuts off Voleta’s hand before she’s chased off and Iren reattaches the limb with the help of the Sphinx’s medium. Edith, Iren and Voleta return to the ship, and they take aboard the citizens injured by the Hod King. *The State of the Art* crew help the injured, except for Voleta, whose given a high dosage of the Sphinx’s medium and falls into a deep trance. Voleta’s consciousness travels back through time where she sees the Sphinx when she could use her legs to walk instead of her floating device that she uses to move around. Reddleman warns her about taking too many doses of the medium when she wakes up.

On the Hod King, Senlin convinces Marat to give him a promotion as navigator on his bridge. He then goes to burn some books, but instead leaves Finn Goll a book with an encrypted message in it, telling him to use black powder to destroy the Hod King when Senlin gives him the codeword Marya over the loudspeaker on the bridge.

Iren finds and consoles Ann who became overwhelmed after tending to all their wounded and dying guests. *The State of the Art* leave the Cistern refugees in the ringdom of Jinst, then discuss what their next move should be against the Hod King. They figure that Marat could likely have enough paintings to unlock the Bridge of Babel, and so their next move would be to stop the Hod King from drilling into the Sphinx’s lair. Marya asks Edith that she’ll at least give Senlin a chance to escape the Hod King if she intends to destroy it, Edith says she will, even though she doesn’t have much hope for him.  Edith meets with the editor of a news publication called The Acorn, who despite publishing salacious lies that paint *The* *State of the Art* crew as monsters, warns her that Duke Wilhelm Pell has been hunting them down.

Voleta goes back in time again to find the Bricklayer speaking with a painter named Philip about his most recent work – he explains that he was trying to paint a picture of a body of water but an abandoned girl with a toy boat kept getting in the way so he included her in the painting. He discovered that her parents abandoned her so he and his family took her in. The Bricklayer claims that the girl is his granddaughter and requests that multiple copies of the painting to be made for him. He also notices Voleta and tells her that the top of the Tower contains a hole called the Allomonia, but it must not be filled until the Nautilus is closed.

*The State of the Art* enters Cicilia, the ringdom below the Sphinx’s lair, to find that the citizens are evacuating the ringdom due to the electricity going out. Before abandoning her subjects, the Queen attempted to fix the issue with explosives which ruined the plumbing for the entire ringdom.

Edith, Iren, Voleta and Reddleman travel to where Reddleman suspects the Hod King will be and are attacked by the Sphinx’s creatures. They escape, but Voleta is put into another trance that sends her consciousness back in time. The Brick Layer continues to give instructions to her – which are that the bridge must not open until the lightning sea is full (which it already is full), that the Nautilus be closed, and that the Allomonia will turn on once the Nautilus is flooded. The Bricklayer also tells her that the capstone, the same one the Nebosans will use to try to crush him, must be placed at the top of the pyramid in Nebos.

Marya, Byron and Ann, while waiting aboard the *State of the Art*, are ambushed by Duke Pell, who shoots Byron in the chest with a crossbow. Marya and Ann work together to fight Pell, and Byron returns the favor by shooting Pell in the head.

Edith and Reddleman, meanwhile, take on the Hod King, and while it looks like Reddleman miraculously destroys the machine with explosives, it’s revealed that Senlin, Goll, and Tarrou created the blast from inside after Senlin announced his codeword over the loudspeaker. Marat kills several of his followers when they see that he can walk. He and his wakemen then take Senlin as prisoner and use an escape pod that Senlin had been fueling with the medium to drill into the Sphinx’s lair.

The crew goes up to Nebos to enter the Sphinx’s lair from above, where they rescue Adam and Runa from execution. Adam explains that the Nebosans are currently voting on whether to allow the hod children to remain in Nebos. Edith threatens the Nebosans that anyone who votes against the Bricklayer’s edict will have their citizenship reviewed, so everyone votes to allow the hods into the ringdom.

Voleta explains that the capstone must be placed at the top of the pyramid, which Adam and Runa elect to do. Adam is distraught after hearing that Voleta died – though Edith assures him that no one could’ve prevented it and that she would trade both of her brothers for a brother like him. Edith, Iren, Voleta, and Reddleman then head to the Sphinx’s lair. Voleta goes off to find Senlin. Edith, Iren, and Reddleman go on to find the Sphinx, who it turns out had died some time ago – Edith and Iren carry her to a final resting place. Iren says that she was an awful boss, but that she taught her to become motivated by love instead of fear and anger. Reddleman finds that the Sphinx left behind two messages – one message warning Marat about the inevitable downfalls of tyrants and one message for Edith that is destroyed before Edith can listen to it.

Meanwhile, Marat has Senlin guide him to the zoetrope where he dispenses his collection of the Bricklayer’s Granddaughter paintings. However, although the door unlocks, it doesn’t open. Senlin, spotting Voleta, takes this moment of distraction as an opportunity to escape. His wakeman, Cael, suggests that the door might instead just be a lock, and Marat decides that they should find the Sphinx.

Senlin gets changed in the Sphinx’s wardrobe and reunites with the rest of the crew in a room with all of the Sphinx’s past automations. The reunion is interrupted by Marat and his wakemen, and that interruption is interrupted by the Sphinx’s automations turning on and attacking everyone. Senlin and Voleta fight Marat’s armored engineer, Gedge. Senlin then fights Marat, and has a chance to behead him, but is attacked by Delyth. Reddleman overpowers Cael in a fight, but he is then stabbed by Marat. Edith fights Thornton, but Thornton is beheaded by an automation named Penelope. Senlin and Voleta defeat Delyth. Edith and Marat then have a duel over the lightning sea. Marat gets then upper hand, but Reddleman returns to tackle him into the lightning sea and to their deaths.

Senlin, Edith, Iren and Voleta return to Nebos to find the entire ringdom shaking. Ann tells them that Marya took Olivet for a walk in Nebos, Edith orders everyone to get back to the ship. Senlin is stuck between returning to the ship or searching for Marya in Nebos. As the gates to Nebos start to close, Edith pushes him inside the ringdom. She then knocks three times on the glass, a hard knock, soft knock, and another hard knock, which was how they used to communicate aboard the Stone Cloud, and the two part ways. Edith, Iren, Ann, Byron, Tarrou, and Goll exit Nebos on *The State of the Art* and see that the ringdom of Nebos is floating above the Tower. Nebos then disappears.

Senlin and Marya reunite at the top of the Tower, like she said they would back in the first book. She then asks Senlin to visit her the next day, indicating that she isn’t ready to take him back.

Adam and Voleta reunite in Nebos, and she’s overwhelmed with emotion following the deaths of the Sphinx and Reddleman, both of which were mentor-like figures to her. She tells Adam that she loves him even though it may look like she doesn’t care. Adam mentions that a chamber has opened. The two decide to enter and it’s a bridge of a ship. The Bricklayer is projected onto the bridge and explains that Nebos is a ship headed to a destination that’s two years away. Adam and Voleta are selected to be the pilot and navigator in case there is any emergency where they need to assume control.

Adam goes to find Runa and Voleta stays to resupply on the medium and travel back through time to get more information. Reddleman appears to her while she’s in her trance and warns her that she can’t go into deep time traveling trances until she finds a source of the medium on the ship. He also explains that the ship is an ark, and that this is just one of multiple arks from other Towers that are all heading to one location. The Sphinx also stored her creatures in the Warren, all of which provide key ingredients used to make the medium. Voleta later suggests to Adam, Runa, and Captain Dyre, a member of the lumenguard, that they explore a mysterious door found in the lower decks of the ship to find out more information on the ship’s purpose.

Back at the Tower, Edith and the rest of the crew must handle the messes left behind in the wake of the Hod King's rampage. Byron gives Edith the Sphinx’s mask and tells her that she intended Edith to become her successor. Edith initially declines, as she isn’t a skilled inventor, but Byron convinces her after explaining that there have been multiple Sphinxes throughout the Tower’s history, starting with the Bricklayer, but not all of them were inventors.

Senlin becomes a teacher once again. Marya has adopted two hod children. She tells Senlin that she’s not ready to talk but willing to listen. Senlin confesses that he burdened her with mediocrity and never deserved her affection. Marya chastises his confession, questioning why he always doubted her affection and claiming that it was because he didn’t respect her judgement over his own. She points out that it was not her who abandoned their relationship by falling in love with someone else, and she sacrificed her own wellbeing so that Senlin and Olivet were safe. She says that she doesn’t know when or if she’ll forgive him, which Senlin accepts and promises to be a faithful father and friend in the meantime, who will listen to her on what she’s endured whenever she wants to talk about it. Senlin then takes Olivet for a walk as they look out at the stars.