Soul Rider #01: Spirits of Flux and Anchor

by Jack L. Chalker

  He smiled and shrugged. "Okay, then. The shows here are pretty lousy anyway."

  She smiled and patted his bottom. "Let's go put on our own, then. The next few days are exactly the right time for it."

  Bending to fate, he followed her back to the hotel.

  4

  TEMPLE

  "Where ya goin', Cass?"

  She stopped and turned to see Dar and Lani. Dar was a big, strapping farm-boy with a tan complexion set off by flaming red hair, while Lani was a pretty, tiny—shorter and lighter than Cassie by far—and extremely over-endowed young woman. Cassie's father had once cruelly joked that Lani got not only her own attributes but the ones that were supposed to go Cass as well. Both had been in her class through school; Lani was a little more than a month older than Cass, Dar just a week younger than she.

  Cassie would have liked Lani to have been as short in brains as she was endowed in beauty, just to provide some symmetry to life, but the truth was it was Dar who was rather slow—one teacher had used the term "vacuous"—while Lani was quite bright and in line for a scholarship to teacher's training or perhaps into agricultural research. It said something about the beauty that. while she could have had any boy not only in the commune but probably in the entire Census, she had chosen Dar, whose mind was nil but who was certainly pleasant and cheerful and, like so many large men, uncommonly gentle, but who was also, from all reports, rather well endowed himself.

  Both were simply too nice to stay mad at, and Dar had been one of those boys who'd always been a friend.

  "I'm going into the city," she told them. "I have some books to return and some more I need to take out. The exams are only a couple of weeks away."

  They both nodded. Lani said, "I think it's a little too late for the books now. These tests aren't like the ones in school, remember. Relax, Cass. You're a natural for the vet's spot."

  She smiled at the compliment. "I guess you're right, but I can't help worrying and studying anyway. It can't hurt, and maybe it'll help if I do get the slot. Anyway, it beats sitting around being bored."

  "Yeah, you're right about that bored stuff," Dar agreed. "In fact, we were thinking of going into the city ourselves. Census Carnival opens tonight, remember."

  Cass was surprised at herself for not remembering that. The fact was, she never thought of things that cost money, because commoners didn't have it or need it. All was provided by the council, with bonuses for the best work being used for catalog purchases. That's why they went to the capital so seldom despite its closeness.

  "You have money for that this early?"

  "Sure," Dar responded, "and so do you. A hundred cubits of silver on account, for coming of The Age."

  She had, quite frankly, forgotten all about that, although she had the slip for it in her overnight bag where she'd stuffed it after they gave it to her. It was redeemable almost everywhere if cash was available, and cash was readily available during Census Celebration. "I'd been thinking of putting that away for later," she told them.

  "Aw, c'mon! That's not what that's for," he retorted. "Hell, you get staked after classification, plus expense money. This money's strictly for having a good time. What say we all go into town and go to the Carnival? Just relax and let loose for a while, have some fun." He looked suddenly uncertain and turned and looked at Lani, but she gave him a nod and a smile.

  Cassie thought it over for a moment. "Well, okay. Maybe you're right. I knew I was going to have to stay over tonight anyway, since it's already so late. Go and get your things. I'll wait for you here."

  The Census Celebration was part of the system dictated by the holy scriptures, and it was a curious blend of circus, government report, and public execution. Its root was in the absolute prohibition of any sort of birth control on the part of the individual—although the priestesses who were midwives had the authority and duty to terminate the life of any baby determined by a host of very strict standards to be defective—and the concurrent duty of all married couples to have as many children as they could. Large families had greater status in the community, preferential treatment, and huge allowances.

  Unfortunately, an Anchor could support only a finite number of people. Each year a massive census was taken across the entire 680 square kilometers of Anchor Logh, a census of people, animals— everyone and everything that consumed things. This was then compared with the harvests, known reserves, and anticipated demands for the following year, and a total number of supportable people was determined, which was then compared against the total numbers of young men and women reaching age 18—The Age—between census periods. The difference, less the average birth-death differential for the past five censuses, was the number of surplus people, and that surplus had to be disposed of. The church and holy books gave ample theological backing to this cruel rite, since the selection was done in the most random and fairest of ways by a great lottery on the last day of Census Celebration. The Holy Mother, of course, operated in such a circumstance, and those selected were actually selected by Her for reasons of atonement or whatever other reasons She might have that were inscrutable to humans. The Paring Rite, as it was called, was a most sacred and holy rite, performed by the Sister General herself on the front steps of the holy Temple. Those "pared" in the rite were forbidden citizenship and became Property of the People. As such, they were sold or bartered to the stringers as any other goods and removed from Anchor Logh. What the stringers did with them was the subject of wild speculation and terrible stories, most contradictory, but nobody really knew for sure since no one returned to tell the tale.

  And so it was with some horror that, as the three rode towards the city, Cassie remarked, "I saw a stringer riding in today."

  The light mood of the other two seemed to vanish at once. Dar shivered— "Them vultures! Demon bastards from the Flux!" Neither of the women was going to argue that the stringers were actually essential to the economy of World; that they alone kept commerce of all kinds going. And even if they had, for they actually knew this, it would not have changed their opinion in the slightest. Anyone who rode the Flux for a living simply couldn't be human and remain mentally and spiritually whole.

  Cassie had seen the Flux once. They all had, on an overnight field trip in school. It was a terrible and frightening sight, a wall of nothingness surrounding World. Although they all knew World was round, since it had been made by the Holy Mother in the image of Heaven, it still looked like the edge of the earth.

  There were a fair number of people in Anchor Logh who had gone through the Flux in a stringer's train, of course. Many professional schools were located in other Anchors, and occasionally needed professionals were imported. The Sister General herself had come from an Anchor far away. But stringers controlled your mind in the Flux, and the images of the journey were either too muddied or too bizarre and fantastic to believe when others were told of those trips. Usually, after a time in Anchor, those who recalled and told of those trips found the experience hard to believe or accept as well.

  Only the stringers knew for certain what, if anything, was out there in the Flux, and even if you had nerve enough to ask one—well, who could believe a stringer?

  Spirits lightened again when they reached the city. Already there were huge crowds of people in from the outlying ridings and the streets of the city were festooned with multicolored lights and decorations and there was a festive air. They headed straight for the carnival grounds, oblivious of the time, and it was a fantastic sight indeed. This year the government had outdone itself in rides and sideshows and attractions, all powered by the electrical energy supplied by the sacred modules located well beneath the Temple. Although the crowd was large, it felt good to be with so many merry people in such close quarters.

  Anticipating that all young people of The Age would be physically present as required by law, and knowing that each had their hundred cubit marker, the Central Bank had a booth set up to cash in the markers, and after standing in line for quite a while all three were, for th
e first time in their lives, cash solvent. They wasted no time in enjoying the money.

  For the first time in a very long time Cassie felt good. For a few hours all the worries and tensions of the day and the time slipped away, as did much of the loneliness. It was easy, for a time, to even pretend that it was she and Dar there at the Carnival, with Lani the guest instead of herself.

  It was quite late before they pooled their money and saw just how quickly it could vanish and knew that it was time to leave. Cassie came to the conclusion with extreme reluctance, as it also brought her back to reality. Dar and Lani planned to stay at the Youth Hostel, where lodging and basic meals were free to commune members. She recalled her books, and said, "I have to stay over at the Temple. I think it's too late to return these tonight. Want to stay over there, Lani?"

  The pretty girl looked slightly embarrassed, and Dar sort of shuffled his feet— Finally Lani responded, "Uh, Dar can't stay there, Cass. You know that."

  She started to reply, but then thought better of it as the social wall went up once again. Having been so mentally up that evening, her euphoria came crashing down with more than usual force. They were not a threesome. They had never been a threesome. They were two plus one, and guess who was the odd girl out?

  "Oh, that's right. I don't know why I said that— forget it," she recovered as best she could. "You go on and have a good time. I'll see you tomorrow."

  They seemed relieved now to break it off, and she wanted away from them at this moment, too, so it was after quick and perfunctory goodbyes that they went their separate ways.

  Church and state were inexorably linked in Anchor Logh, as in most Anchors, yet they were quite separate institutions. As the Holy Mother was female, only women could enter the priesthood or hold any office in the church. To balance this, only men could hold office in the Anchor government or in riding or commune governments as well.

  However, since the government acted in ways holy scripture dictated, and because legal disputes with the government were settled by special priestesses who decided things according to their interpretation of scripture, the fact was that women ran the Anchor. This, too, balanced out quite a lot, since priestesses took vows of not only poverty and obedience but absolute chastity as well, vows that, once taken, could not be withdrawn— Only virgins could enter the order, those with an intact hymen. When they did, they were no longer subject to the Paring Rite, but they became, forever, not citizens but the Property of the Church, and second thoughts and reconsiderations were strictly for the next life.

  These thoughts went through her own mind as she walked to the Temple.

  She had left Leanspot at the Youth Hostel stables and brought her luggage with her. Now she redeemed it from the check stand near the carnival entrance and started off towards the Temple. Off to one side of the route was the brightly lit gaiety of Main Street, but she had no intention of going there, or, in fact, anywhere near there. Particularly with stringers in town. She approached Temple Square and stopped a moment to look at the massive structure, an impressive block of some unknown reddish material from which rose nine great pyramidal spires, the central one reaching some one hundred meters into the air. The whole building was indirectly floodlit with multicolored lights, and the sight was nothing if not awe-inspiring.

  The huge stage and platform had already been erected against the front steps of the magnificent building, in preparation for the Paring Rite that would come now in only three days. The sight only added to her sense of gloom and despair, and she went around to the side and mounted the long stone stairs to the Temple's great bronze doors as quickly as she could.

  She saw an unusual number of priestesses about, not only in the scarlet robes and hood of the temple but in whites, blues, greens, and just about every other color as well, indicating local church and provincial staff had already arrived in great numbers for the holiest days of the year.

  She had occasionally toyed with the idea of joining the priesthood herself, for it was a tempting opening to potential power, position, and prestige. She certainly would have no trouble with the celibacy part, but she'd always hesitated because it meant living in a woman's world, cut off from the outside for more than three years of intense religious education leading to ordination, then more years in advanced education in a secular school where her devotion would be tested. The novitiate period, it was said, was the toughest time, since you were already a priestess bound for life and yet you would be tempted by all the things you gave up.

  Except, of course, what had she to give up? The shaving off of all her hair, head and body, as required of novices, would hardly detract anything from her already nonexistent sex appeal. She had never liked the loss of self-control brought on by hard drinking or light drugs, and she'd never much liked being around those who took them, so she could forgo the usual social life of a campus, and as for owning nothing and subsisting only on charity—well, she'd basically had that for her entire life anyway….

  Slowly she walked around the huge platform and up the one hundred steps to the Temple entrance. When she reached those great bronze doors, though, she did not enter immediately but instead turned back and stared again at the broad platform below, looking out at the massive, empty but well-lit square beyond. Empty now, but not three days from now.

  It looked more sinister and'frightening in the darkness. She felt an odd chill run through her, and an unreasoning churning in the pit of her stomach, and her already deep depression grew even more intense. She reached into her bag and took out one of the books she was returning and stared at the cover— Introduction to Biochemistry, it said.

  Who am I trying to kid? her black mood asked. I couldn't even understand the first two exercises in this thing. She turned and pulled open the door and stepped into the Temple antechamber, but she did not turn and go downstairs to the small section with complimentary rooms for people with Temple business who were obliged to stay the night. Instead, she walked straight ahead to a second set of doors and entered the Inner Temple itself, not quite understanding why.

  Although deserted at this hour, the altar flames burned brightly in the colors of the Holy Mother, casting a different colored glow on each of the huge statues of the Loyal Angels. To her eyes those Angels seemed to come alive, and they all looked down directly at her and smiled invitingly. She prostrated herself before the main altar, her innermost fears surfacing and driving her, although she neither understood nor realized this. Her black depression, fed by her frustration at what the books had told her she did not know or understand, and by the sight of that platform in Temple Square, had transformed and magnified her insecurities to the point where she could no longer bear them.

  And so she had fled, quite naturally, to the Holy Mother, where all this was instantly transformed in her mind. Nobody else wanted her, but the Holy Mother did. She felt this with such a sense of conviction at revealed truth that she never doubted for a moment that the Holy Mother and Her blessed Angels were speaking straight to her. Come to the mother church, they seemed to whisper to her. Come to the church and banish all insecurity, all fear, all uncertainty. Give us your soul, and we will guide your destiny perfectly.

  It was suddenly all so simple, so clear in her. mind. A sisterhood of equals, bound together in piety and love. Reason fled and was replaced by 'emotional ecstasy. As if in a dream she got up, bowed again to the altar, then went to the sacristy door and then through it into the Temple complex itself. She had never been back there before, and she was thinking not at all, so she just walked in search of a priestess, any priestess, to tell her she was ready to commit her life, body and soul, to the church.

  There was, however, no one in the back administrative area, for it was meditation time and very late now, and she continued to walk in her daze down darkened halls and up and down flights of stairs. In all that time she met no one, but time had lost its meaning to her and she did not seem to notice the futility of her search.

  Finally there was a room down at the
end of a hall that was brightly lit and she heard muffled voices coming from it. She walked towards it, but paused nervously in the darkness before going on, some measure of sanity and self-control returning as interaction with other human beings faced her. She had not wavered in her decision, but now she seemed to realize that she was where she had no business being, and she became afraid that the discovery of her presence here, in forbidden quarters, might be some sort of violation that would impede or exclude her from the sisterhood.

  Cautiously and nervously she peered inside the doorway to see who was in there. The sight almost sent her into shock again, but a far different kind than the one that had churned her emotions only moments earlier.

  The room was a large one, and three women sat within. The one in a plush, comfortable chair to the left of a projection console would have been instantly recognizable anywhere in Anchor Logh— but not quite like this.

  Her angelic Highness, Sister General Diastephanos, sat in that chair in a state more of undress than anything else, puffing away on a big, fat cigar. Sharing the chair, and equally in a state of undress, was undoubtedly a Temple priestess, and she was essentially sitting on the Sister General's lap. There was no mistaking the placement of this unknown woman's arms and the reciprocated gentle gestures from the Sister General.

  The third woman in the room was still in her priestly robes, the rich mottled silver of administrative services. She sat at the projector controls, occasionally looking over at several small blinking screens, and appeared totally oblivious to the grotesque scene going on just to her left.

  Diastephanos sighed. "Enough, Daji. We have to get through this sometime tonight, you know, or we'll be working all the way up the Paring Rite," The other woman untangled herself and got to her feet, pouting a bit like a hurt little child, but she went obediently over to another chair, pulled it up, curled up in it and relaxed to watch. "Next," Her angelic Highness ordered curtly.