Supernova

by Georgia Chioni

  After crossing the sewer, they walked along other dark alleys. They were all inside a tunnel. He didn’t see any other people. As he was being dragged along, he lost his senses, tired as he was. When he opened his eyes again, he was inside a cell. It was dark and cramped, and that sense of suffocation he felt could drive him crazy. It was a small, empty, dimly lit room with a bed.

  The images of the new planet flashed though his mind. It was a weird, dark planet. They hadn’t been on the surface. He hadn’t seen the sunlight. Was it a town built inside rocks? A sad and dull town in black and grey shades, partly perched on the rocks, and partly built inside a tunnel? Its sense was stifling, just like the artificial air its inhabitants breathed in. Was it in the same universe? What kind of planet had he come to? He decided that the best thing he could do was get some rest. He looked at his metal wristband. He was exhausted!

  ***

  There was a sound amid the absolute silence that reigned. The iron door opened.

  “Let’s go,” ordered the oldest warden.

  Mor stepped out of the cell. Accompanied by the wardens, he walked along the tunnel. They reached an iron gate. It opened up, and they kept walking. “We must be in a mountain,” he thought. They plodded on. They went up quite a few steps before they entered a cylindrical iron lift. Nobody was speaking. The lift door opened. They kept walking along a long corridor. All rooms were dimly lit. The corridors were made of metal. They had gone up several levels, he assumed.

  They kept walking until they stood outside a big carved iron gate. They opened it and stepped in. The hall was brighter, but still in grey and black shades. At a large iron desk, a hunched man was writing. His uniform was pretty much like that of the wardens, but it was cloth with red stripes around the sleeves. Behind him, in front of the wall, stood an imposing figure. Tall, dressed in a black cape, and with a hood that almost covered the nose. It was holding a bow, while across its chest was strapped a quiver.

  They stood before them.

  “Sir, we have brought the prisoner.”

  “Good,” the man replied in a strict tone without raising his head from his notes. Behind the desk stood someone whose hands were tangled, and with a hood that covered his face.

  The man stopped writing, and motioned for the wardens to come closer. They pushed Mor, and made for the table.

  “Where did you find him?”

  “At the mouth of the rocks, in the town. Unconscious.”

  “The others?”

  “They were far away.”

  Mor’s face went dark.

  The man came even closer. His face was strange. One eye was slanted, slightly above the other. One part of his skull was made of metal. He put on a big monocle. As soon as he saw him, he took it off in surprise.

  “Taurus…,” Mor whispered. “You?”

  The man stopped short. His eyes opened wide.

  “Mor…?” he whispered, too.

  He looked all around.

  “Leave us alone,” he ordered.

  “Sir…”

  “It’s ok. Go!”

  The wardens lowered their heads, and walked away. The man turned back.

  “You can go, Kaias. I won’t need you.” The woman raised her head, flashing Mor a stern, furtive glance. Her eyes were cold, while her face full of scars.

  “Taurus…”

  “Mor?”

  “Unbelievable, eh?”

  “Yes! Unbelievable! Mor!”

  Taurus was looking at his friend and partner, and couldn’t believe his eyes. He burst out laughing, then he hugged him.

  “How…?”

  “How come I’m alive? How come I’m like that?”

  “Let me guess…Neuron was destroyed. Those left behind died. So…you left…You left after me! You see? Survival instinct is stronger, my friend.”

  “Had you helped me, we would have made it, according to our initial plan.”

  “I didn't want to witness such a thing. Not me.”

  “You made it just fine!”

  “You mean here? Look around you! I came to a paradise!”

  “Paradise? This planet?”

  “Yes! It was so easy.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Imposing myself. An oppressed people looking for a saviour.”

  “And? You saved them?”

  “No one can. To be frank, why would anyone ever save them? For me, it was the perfect opportunity. They wanted a saviour. I gave them a saviour. It was…unique.”

  “What thing?”

  “You ask me what? The journey. We found answers, at last!”

  “Not all of them, though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We found the passage, but not the map.”

  “Map?”

  “We know how to navigate, but we still can’t chart the route. We can’t go where we want.”

  “We can do it. We can work on it. Maybe, through the data recorded in the reality slots…”

  “It’s not an interplanetary journey. The data don’t allow a return. You have to find another passage to go back.”

  “Exactly! Stay with me. We have it all here. We will keep on working.”

  “Working on what? What we were and what we did is gone, along with our planet. Look at you. You kill for kicks. You became a ruthless, egotistic chieftain!”

  “Since you’re such an idealist, why didn’t you stay there, dying with the rest? You didn’t because you preferred to save your skin. Just like I did.”

  He grabbed him by the shoulders with both hands.

  “If we don’t care about ourselves, who will? Eh? No one.”

  “Here…?”

  “We left almost at the same time and, as you see, I came here, while you went to another universe. Which are the rules?”

  “You opened the passage inside the lab.”

  “While you?”

  “I was outside, at the entrance.”

  “So…a small spatial divergence might mean different universes…Interesting…Very interesting.”

  “You know very well that time, space, and gravity are diffused onto so many dimensions that they are, essentially, nonexistent.”

  He looked around his headquarters.

  “I made it just fine!” he bragged. “I gave them what they lacked, what they wanted: a leader with a vision. It was so easy…”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I bask in my power and my riches.”

  “You’re happy here?”

  “Men like us are never really satisfied. Maybe, for a little while. Then, they look for new challenges, new things. Look around you. Here, I have whatever I ask for.”

  “There’s a price to pay for everything.”

  “You mean the journey. I understand. The same happened to me…”

  “Not the way it happened to me. It’s as if I’ve shrunk and lost my muscles. I couldn’t stand my image. I felt tired, weak. I tried to find ways. And I made it! I had to find ways, not only to save myself, but make others fear me. Diversity scares.”

  He touched his head. He stroked the metal part of his skull.

  “I gradually began to replace my limbs with mechanical ones. I was impressed by the result.”

  He went to his closet, and opened it up. What Mor saw was unprecedented. Inside big jars made of glass, Taurus kept the limbs he had replaced: a hand, an eye, ears, kidneys. He was marvelling at them.

  “The only riddle I haven’t yet solved is synthetic skin. It doesn’t last long. I have to keep changing it very often, otherwise it starts melting away. But I’ll find the solution.” He touched his forehead, and rubbed it. Instantly, metal glinted underneath.

  “Ever since I started doing all this, I’ve been feeling much better. The problem with my leg had worsened. Now, I can run if I have to.”

  He was looking at his former colleague. His eyes glinted with ambition, avarice, and thirst for power. He was without scruples and limits; ruthless to the utmost degree. That was the worst combination.
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  “You’re giving me such weird looks.”

  “I don’t recognise you.”

  “I found the most favourable place I could ever find. A people that can’t think or dispute.”

  “You rule a people shorn of everything. Aren’t they dangerous?”

  “They’ve taken everything away from them. I give them hope. Is there anything better than that? You have to be knowledgeable to manage power.”

  “Are you knowledgeable?”

  “Sure! Gone are the days when I worked for the sake of the planet. Old Taurus is dead, like he never existed.”

  “Look at them! Hungry, scared…”

  “Of course they are! Power, my friend, is built on fear. You’re done for without fear. But…you know what the problem is? Not with myself, with the others…They want to achieve more than they are worthy of. But I’m not like that. I know exactly how much I can achieve, and what I want. It’s a good thing when no one does anything. Inertia: the mother of bliss. How do we achieve this? We want citizens with no ambitions, and with their stomachs full. Not bloated. Just full.”

  “Until they start thinking.”

  “That’s exactly what we want to avoid. Mystery…that’s what makes them submissive. You know what? The problem with you was that you were always too much of an idealist. This life is not suitable for idealists. As for time…it’s beyond our power. That means we try to explain whatever we can, and gain as much as we can. Look at me! I am a king here! Some things, we can’t just leave to chance. You know…Deep down, those who claim to be saviours…fight for the same thing again and again. They strive to impose themselves, and take advantage. Saviours belong to the fairytales mothers read to their children to lull them to sleep.”

  He sat on a chair opposite his former colleague, and began to narrate the planet’s history. When the water level went up, it was certain that the best part of the land would be submerged. Except for this mountain. It was the only thing that stuck out of the water. Those populations that survived went up there. Inside its bowels, the town of Karagor was built. Caves that connect through tunnels, from the top all the way to the bowels. A town doomed to live in the dark. The previous regime wasn’t particularly popular with the inhabitants. The rebels had been planning to topple it for a long time. This coincided with Mor’s arrival. “Nothing’s accidental, my friend,” he concluded.

  “You have your own army…”

  “Sure I do! There are so many of them that hate me. I had to take precautions.”

  The door opened, and in came Kaia.

  “This is for you, sir,” she whispered.

  She handed him an envelope, and left. Her presence filled the room. Impressive. Mor followed her with his gaze, until she closed the door. His former colleague smiled.

  “You see her once, and never forget about her. My most faithful follower; she and her sisters. Angelic faces. Merciless killers.”

  Karagor’s Amazons

  Kaia, Avora, Venera. Three sisters, one story. Their childhood had nothing to do with that of other children. It was shaken by the bloody conflicts between the former dictator of Karagor and the revolutionary army. Their house, built in the bowels of the rocks, was plunged into darkness. Their parents were founding members of the army. They were born and raised in constant fear of being executed by governmental forces. Their small house had two secret trapdoors and a passage through the rocks and old sewers. Very few were familiar with all the passages; only those who happened to have access to the maps of the mechanics that had drawn the plan of the town. The trapdoors led to two small hiding places. Like they touched the bottom of the sea. The secret passage led to the army base through an old sewer.

  Kaia was the eldest of the three. Her mother had told her about the revolution. She had shown her passages and secret chambers. She had pleaded with her to take care of her sisters if anything bad happened to them. She was ready for anything. She learnt how to use a weapon at an early age. Instead of playing with dolls, she played with knives. She learnt all that was necessary for her survival.

  The day her mother feared didn’t take long to come. While the girls were sleeping, their father stormed into the room, grabbed them, and locked them up in one of the trapdoors. The two little girls screamed with fear. Kaia kept their mouths shut. There were gunshots and voices. The three sisters had hugged one another, preparing for the worst. Through the cracks of the wooden floorboard above their heads oozed some drops of blood. They were scared, but didn’t react.

  When the danger was gone, the three girls went upstairs. Their parents were missing. All that was left were some traces of blood across the floor. Kaia did as her mother had told her. She opened the passageway, and they left for the rebels’ lair. That was their new home.

  That’s where they spent the rest of their lives. They were rigorously trained to kill and survive. No emotions. They were cold-blooded and dedicated to their cause. To avenge themselves on and topple the totalitarian regime.

  Two of the rebels would go on a mission. Kaia and another one. They would get a parcel. The information, though, was wrong. Instead of meeting the supplier, they came up against the governmental army. There was a skirmish. The rebel was killed, while Kaia was seriously injured. She lay hidden behind a rock and, if it hadn’t been for Taurus, she wouldn’t have made it. He had just come through from Neuron, and landed in a sewer. He saved her, and she took him to the revolutionary army. As soon as Taurus realised what was going on on Karagor, he seized the opportunity. Thanks to his wits and diplomatic skills, he offered them the leader they were in need of. The overthrow didn’t take long, and he proclaimed himself to be a monarch. The right person at the right time. So, Taurus was named Or, and began to enjoy the privileges of his monarchy.

  After a long discussion on the phenomenon of alignment on Zaon, Taurus changed subject:

  “Now, tell me. Who are these people we captured?”

  “You captured others, as well?”

  “Yes. Five of them. In a different part of the town. You passed through together?”

  He gave him a frozen look. The thieves crossed his mind. They had followed him for the second time.

  “I don’t believe it! If that’s who I think they are…we’ve got a problem. They fooled me, they fooled us!”

  “What d’ you mean? What happened?”

  He let out a sigh. Mor began to recount the story. About the thieves that kept them in the Golon prisons. About their arrival on planet Saabah, their voyage to Zaon. Taurus wanted to know all the details.

  “So, they are thieves, eh? Yeah, I remember the thefts on Neuron. What a coincidence…”

  “How d’ you mean?”

  “You passed through to another universe twice, and they followed you. That means they are dangerous. I had heard about their chief. He’s cunning and dangerous. We don’t need such people here. They can only cause trouble.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “Put them in a safe place, until we see what we’re gonna do.”

  “In prison?”

  “Our prisons are like a maze. Nobody’s gone out on their own, so far.”

  He opened the door. Kaia stood outside. He went closer and whispered something in her ear. She nodded her head, and slowly walked away.

  Taurus came back, and looked at Mor with a nod. He scratched his metal skull, and straightened up his uniform.

  “I’m sorry, Mor, but you have to give it to me,” he murmured.

  Mor shook his head.

  “Anything you want, except this.”

  “Please. You know I can make you do it.”

  Mor slowly opened his wristband, and handed the device to him.

  Taurus walked towards a metal piece of furniture, opened the drawer, dialled a code, and slid it in.

  “Mark my words: what happened on Neuron is not gonna happen again.”

  “What do you mean? You can’t go against natural forces.”

  “No, but I’m better prepared to leave.”r />
  “On a spaceship?”

  “The whole palace, my friend. All of it!”

  “What do you mean?”

  Taurus’ headquarters were a spaceship. He went over its technical characteristics in detail. Lack of oxygen was no problem. Everything ran on hydrogen. That was the main material and treasure. They were equipped with fuels and food for extremely long intergalactic voyages. Satisfied, seeing his old friend’s puzzled look, Taurus went away for inspection.

  “…And take off this funny skirt,” he shouted to him from the corridor, letting out a sarcastic laugh.

  One of the guards led Mor to his room. He gave him a uniform to put on. The place was close to Taurus’ headquarters. They only went down one level. The room was more spacious than the cell, but just as dark, with only a little furniture. In the middle stood a big transparent screen featuring announcements and news on all sides.

  The next day, they had him wear a little chip around his wrist. A typical procedure, they told him. All inhabitants did, so that they could have help whenever they needed it. “Great excuse!” he thought. He began to wander around the town with the chip on. Wherever there was no light, only darkness reigned in a town full of artificial rambling constructions, built on many different levels in caves and rocks. To move from one level to the other, there were lifts and small vehicles that didn’t touch the ground. The town was divided into zones. The wealthy ones lived on the upper levels, whereas the rest on the levels below.

  Taurus was so busy, you could hardly reach him. Then, one morning, the door opened up in Mor’s dormitory, and he walked in. He would show him around his personal labs, showing him all the experiments underway. After all, without the device, Mor was harmless.

  They walked into a cabin. The door shut. They went down at breakneck speed. They walked out in a narrow space, and followed a rocky path. After a while, some small room windows could be seen on both sides. At the end of the corridor, there was a room full of machines.