by Mitch Benn
He hadn’t seen her for nearly half an orbit. On his last visit to Rrth, he’d been surprised to find her living in hiding, under a false name, and alarmed to hear about the foiled attempt to abduct her. He’d offered to bring her back to Fnrr but understood when she told him of her desire to stay, to ‘have a proper go at this whole being human thing’, as she’d put it. Nonetheless, he’d been sure to leave behind a well-stocked ‘goody bag’ of Fnrrn technology to supplement the infra-light comm he’d secretly given her when he first returned her to Rrth. She’d rummaged eagerly through the bag, finding the slate, the translation cube, even the not-entirely-legal unregistered pulse-orb which Lbbp may or may not have found lying around after the war . . .
He’d been due to pay her another visit within a cycle or so, but with the nation suddenly mired in constitutional upheaval it looked as if his travel plans might have to change. Sadly, he put thoughts of Terra from his mind and turned his attention back to the meeting.
- It’s not as simple as that, Fthfth, said Shm grimly. The precedence of the Preceptorate over the government is a matter of convention, not law. If a state of conflict were to arise between the two institutions, the government would have the upper hand. They’re empowered to abolish us, not the other way around.
- ABOLISH! Yes, that’s the word. I was trying to think of it on the way over here.
The voice had come from the Hub’s main entrance. They all turned to look. The Gfjk-Hhh, surrounded by his loyal custodians, stood framed in the doorway.
- I was going to go with ‘dissolve’, but I already used that when I got rid of the Forum. Yes, you’re right, the Gfjk-Hhh said, ‘abolish’ is a far better word. Sounds much more . . . final.
Preceptor Shm stood up and strode towards the Gfjk-Hhh. His custodians’ hands instinctively went to their pulse-orbs, but they hesitated at a gesture from their leader.
- The people may have tolerated the dissolution of the Forum, said Shm calmly, they may even thank you for it, but if you touch the Preceptorate, they will rise against you, prophecy or no prophecy. You don’t have enough loyal acolytes yet – he waved dismissively at the handful of guards – to stop them.
The Gfjk-Hhh smiled. - You’re probably right, Preceptor. But relax, that’s not why I’m here. The Preceptorate may continue in its useful service to our nation, on one condition.
A heavy pause.
- And what might that be? enquired Shm.
The Gfjk-Hhh raised his hand and pointed a long, grey finger at Lbbp.
- Him.
Shock. The department heads glanced at each other in horror. Fthfth screeched in alarm. - No!
The Gfjk-Hhh went on undaunted. - Postulator Lbbp is wanted for crimes against the state. If he comes quietly, the rest of you can stay here and continue to conspire feebly against me. If not, then I will . . . what was that word again? Abolish?
Pktk and Fthfth leapt to their feet and stood in front of Lbbp. - You’ll have to come through us first, and we’ve faced scarier things than you, declared Pktk. And it was true.
Lbbp placed his hands on their shoulders. - Not this time, children. Pktk turned, horrified.
- But you can’t go with them!
Lbbp smiled and spoke quietly. - It’ll be okay. You have work to do here. I can look after myself. I faced the scary things too, remember?
Fthfth managed a quiet - But . . . Pktk remained silent. Lbbp looked over his shoulder at Preceptor Shm.
- Look after them, he said, and walked towards the custodians.
The Gfjk-Hhh smiled as Lbbp approached. Lbbp held his gaze impassively, then as he got close . . . - Don’t I know you from—?
- Bind him! Gag him! cried the Gfjk-Hhh. Don’t let his filthy slanders be heard any longer! The custodians grabbed Lbbp and dragged him away, one clamping a gloved hand over his mouth. Pktk howled in outrage and would have launched himself at the custodians had Shm not restrained him.
The Gfjk-Hhh watched Lbbp’s struggling form vanish through the Hub doors, then turned and smiled at Shm.
- Goodbye, Preceptor. Happy . . . precepting. And he was gone.
A bewildered, stunned silence, which Fthfth broke, of course.
- Now what?
Pktk’s jaw flexed. - We can’t stay here, he said.
The philosopher-priests of La’Shul had been on retreat for almost a generation.
The people of Perfection had turned to them, the descendants and successors of the very founders of Sha’ha-las, to find a solution to their problem.
Decay was inevitable. Decline was inevitable. Entropy, collapse, fall, all these things were inevitable.
Nothing lasted for ever, but this had never mattered before, because nothing had ever been truly perfect before. For most things, decline and decay were simply a matter of change, shifting from one flawed state to another. But Perfection was different. It had to be preserved.
For season upon season, year upon year, the philosopher-priests had pondered and cogitated in the quiet of their Monasterium on La’Shul, walking the cloisters and gardens, heads bowed in concentration.
And then, at last, they announced to a breathless population that a solution had been found.
They emerged from the Monasterium and explained their plan.
It was perfect.
2.8
‘And this was your favourite? What do the others taste like?’
Billy was chewing disconsolately on a slice of configuration 6.
‘Well, similar-ish, I suppose. You want to try number nine? Or five?’
Billy pondered this. ‘No, you’re all right,’ he said, and took another bite of 6.
They were in an empty apartment in a building a short walk from Terra’s childhood home. Terra decided against trying to go back to her old apartment; if the Gfjk-Hhh knew anything about her, it was more than possible he’d be having her childhood home watched. But what little she’d seen of the new regime led her to suspect that quite a few people would have ‘disappeared’, having fallen foul of the leader’s caprices, and as such there might be plenty of vacant properties. She was equally relieved and depressed to discover that she was right.
Sneaking along the corridor, they’d found a locked apartment door with a crude message daubed across it: THIS DOMICILE SEALED BY ORDER OF THE GFJK-HHH (LOVE AND GLORY TO HIM). Terra chose not to dwell upon what might have happened to the occupants and chose instead to concentrate on their own good fortune in finding the place.
They’d placed the apartment door back in its frame – from the outside it wasn’t immediately obvious that it had been pulse-orbed open – and gone to raid the servery. Terra was hungry. Billy was starving.
The walk through the city streets had been interesting, to say the least. Fortunately they were by no means the only ones wearing white hooded robes, and Terra noticed as they went that people walked differently in Hrrng now. For a start, they WALKED – when Terra had lived here, any journey of more than a few hundred steps had been taken by gravity bubble, but, stealing a glance upwards, Terra noticed that the skies were deserted. Why? Had gravity pods been outlawed? Confiscated?
Meanwhile, the pedestrian population shuffled along, their gazes determinedly downwards. Eye contact seemed to be regarded as something best avoided, as if it didn’t do to let your neighbours see what you were thinking. What a wretched state of affairs, thought Terra, although it suited her purposes at that moment.
Now, in the vacant apartment, she looked out over the city skyline. Three of the six moons shone silver over the spires and cones. There weren’t as many lights as Terra was used to. Whole sections of the city seemed to be in darkness. The sight disturbed her profoundly. She turned away from the window.
‘We’ll stay here tonight,’ she said, ‘and in the morning we’ll try to find the others.’
By ‘the others’, Billy understood Terra mea
nt her stepfather and her schoolfriends. From what he’d heard about her previous adventures here on Fnrr, they promised to be invaluable company. Billy was keen to have them around, and Terra would obviously draw a lot of strength from their presence. It sounded like a plan, or at least would have if they’d had any idea where to start looking.
Billy got up, stretched, and went off to explore the apartment. Terra looked through her rucksack. She retrieved her slate and activated it; still no access to the Source itself, but the official news feed was loading easily enough. Oh, look at that, she thought, I’m Mlml’s most wanted.
Billy reappeared, confused. ‘Erm . . . there aren’t any beds,’ he said.
‘Oh, yes – about that . . .’
2.9
Terra dreamed.
In her dream she was small, maybe two or three orbits old.
She was with Lbbp and they were at the nature reserves at Rfk. Towering blooms, pink sky, orange sun.
She was happier than she’d ever remembered being. She ran to Lbbp, who scooped her up in his long thin arms, and she held him tight.
She wanted to be there for ever, small, safe, protected.
But she knew, even in the dream she knew that she would have to leave.
Fthfth was calling to her.
- Terra?
It was definitely Fthfth’s voice but Terra couldn’t see her.
- Terra? Fthfth’s voice again. Then Pktk’s.
- She’s not getting you. Boost the signal.
- I AM boosting the signal. You haven’t got it tuned in properly. Let me have a go.
- Don’t touch that, you’ll lose her completely—
Terra was confused. She looked to Lbbp in her dream, and he shook his head. He didn’t understand either.
- I’ll try again. TERRA!
Terra wondered if she could answer. She walked through the trees to the rainbow beach. - Yes? she said.
- THERE you are. Listen, Terra, said Fthfth, you’re NOT dreaming.
- Yes she IS dreaming, that’s the whole point, said Pktk testily.
- Shush! I mean you ARE dreaming, but you’re not dreaming us.
Terra gazed out across the sea. - I don’t understand, she said.
- This is a transmission, said Pktk, a long-range telepathic transmission. While you’re awake your conscious mind drowns it out, but we can contact you while you’re asleep. Do you understand?
Terra found herself on top of Mount Hddf, looking down at the clouds. - I think so, she said.
- Good, said Fthfth, now listen. You have to get out of Hrrng. Leave Mlml and come and find us in Lsh-Lff. Did you hear that? Lsh-Lff ! Get here and we’ll find you.
Terra found herself waiting for the bus in front of Latimer Lane Comprehensive. It was raining.- Lsh-Lff ? she said.
- That’s right, said Pktk. Now listen, when you get here, don’t be surprised if—
‘Terra! Wake up!’ Billy was shaking her. She was upside down, a metre and a half off the floor, suspended in a sleep-well, and Billy had grabbed her by the shoulders and shaken her awake.
‘Billy!’ she shouted. ‘I was in the middle of something important!’
Billy couldn’t even begin to guess what Terra was on about, and dismissed it as the kind of half-asleep thing people say when you wake them up unexpectedly.
‘Switch this thing off and get your boots on. We have to move. They’re in the building. They’re checking all the flats. They’ll be here in a minute.’
Terra flipped forward and landed two-footed on the floor. She hadn’t been able to resist the sleep-well; she hadn’t had a go in one for two years, and while she was perfectly okay in a bed these days, it just wasn’t the same.
Billy had baulked at the idea of sleeping in a well of artificial weightlessness and had opted for the sort of sofa-thing. It had not been especially comfortable, and he’d had a restless night. This was lucky, since, just as the sun was coming up, a party of custodians had started barging into people’s apartments on the floor below in search of the Ymn fugitives, and Billy had been awake to hear them.
‘I think they’re on this floor now,’ said Billy. ‘What do we do?’
Groggily, Terra scanned the room. Where did people keep them? Hers had always been in its charger beside the sleep-well, but there was no sign of one there.
‘Terra?’ said Billy, his fear mounting.
‘Quiet, I’m thinking,’ said Terra, still looking left and right. Some people kept spares for emergencies, she remembered. Probably somewhere near the window.
Terra scampered into the main room, Billy following. The custodians were hammering on the door of the next apartment. There was a small, white chest tucked discreetly next to the window. Terra ran to it and wrenched it open.
‘Yes!’ she shouted. She produced two gravity pods from the chest and tossed one to Billy. ‘Put this on,’ she said, clipping hers to her belt and opening the window. A blast of cold morning air.
Billy felt glumly around his waistband. ‘I don’t have anything to attach it to,’ he said.
Terra rolled her eyes. ‘Well, whatever you do, don’t let go of it.’ She pulled Billy across to the window, tapped the button on his pod and shoved him out.
A voice came from the lobby. - This one’s door’s smashed in! Terra hit the button on her pod and leapt out after Billy, who was hurtling away and howling in alarm.
‘Try to steady yourself and follow me!’ she shouted.
‘What do I do? What do I do?’ cried Billy.
‘It’s hard to explain,’ called Terra. ‘There’s kind of a knack to it.’
‘NO TIME FOR KNACKS!’ shouted Billy.
Two custodians had appeared in the open window and were levelling pulse-orbs in their direction.
Terra tugged her hoodie off (being careful not to drop her rucksack) and, keeping hold of one sleeve, flung it towards Billy. ‘Grab this!’
Billy caught the other sleeve and was suddenly yanked downwards as Terra went into a precipitous dive. He felt the shock-waves of pulse blasts as they passed close by.
They rushed towards the ground at almost terminal velocity before levelling out with a few metres to spare. Terra called across, ‘Are you getting the hang of it? Want to let go?’
‘DON’T YOU DARE LET GO OF THAT HOODIE!’ yelled Billy, wide-eyed and white-faced.
They sped along horizontally. It was still too early for most Fnrrns; a few shift workers were on their way home. Some spotted the two hurtling Ymns; most of them gazed in bemusement, but a few smiled and waved, and at least one cheered. You don’t own all of them yet, thought Terra.
‘Where are we going?’ asked Billy.
‘Back to the dinghy,’ said Terra. ‘The good news is I know where we’re going, and the better news is it’s a long way from this place.’
2.10
- So what EXACTLY happened? asked the Gfjk-Hhh.
The Guard Captain barked, - Answer His Luminescence!
Two custodians knelt in front of the Gfjk-Hhh as he sat on what had become his throne, the old Chancellor’s seat in the Forum. To one side of the Gfjk-Hhh stood his loyal Guard Captain; to the other stood Wffk, taking notes. On the benches, the usual collection of courtiers and hangers-on paid varying levels of attention to the impromptu disciplinary hearing which was unfolding in front of them.
- We were checking apartments in Upper Blue District, murmured one of the custodians.
-Speak up! said the Gfjk-Hhh impatiently. The custodian knelt up a little straighter and began again in a clearer voice.
- We were checking apartments in Upper Blue District, Luminescence, as per the Captain’s orders.
- Your orders, Captain? interrupted the Gfjk-Hhh. You assigned these idiots, then?
- Yes, Luminescence, said the Captain. Simple and clear tasks which they coul
dn’t carry out without—
- Yes, all right, Captain, I get the idea. You. He pointed to the custodian. Continue.
The custodian avoided the Gfjk-Hhh’s gaze and went on. - We found an apartment with a broken-down door. We investigated and found the Ymn fugitives—
- You did? How exciting! The Gfjk-Hhh clapped his hands delightedly.
-Yes, Luminescence, but—
- BUT? Hmm. I don’t like buts. The Gfjk-Hhh frowned.
- But the Ymns escaped using stolen gravity pods, Luminescence.
- Gravity pods? Like the ones I declared illegal and ordered rounded up? Dear me. I must find out who was in charge of getting that done. Wffk, make a note of it, said the Gfjk-Hhh. Wffk duly made a note on his scroll. Right, you two, stand up.
The two custodians scrambled to their feet, keeping their eyes fixed on the ground.
- Pulse-orb, please, Captain, said the Gfjk-Hhh. The Captain unholstered his weapon, handed it over and turned back to glower at his two disgraced inferiors.
- The Captain’s right you know. You are idiots. Utter idiots. Buffoons. Abject g’fbbts, the pair of you.
The two custodians trembled.
- BUT, the Gfjk-Hhh said with a broad grin, I can’t very well start punishing people for being idiots, can I? The nation’s full of them! I wouldn’t have time to do anything else! All day, every day, punishing idiots! Imagine! No, no, my friends, it’s no crime to be an idiot.
The Gfjk-Hhh laughed. The custodians laughed nervously. The Guard Captain guffawed. Even Wffk allowed himself a discreet chuckle. Still hooting with mirth, the Gfjk-Hhh examined the Captain’s pulse-orb. It was already on its maximum setting. Of course it was.