by F. E. Arliss
“Exactly!” Uma said, rubbing Ruby’s back gently. “You are a free agent. Able to protect or champion any who earn your respect. You are controlled by no one but yourself and gifted only with the will of the Mother. The will of the Mother is endless and everywhere. You are Maodun. That is enough.”
“That’s a lot to think about,” Ruby sighed. “I need to sleep on all this.” Then, hugging Uma fiercely, she stumbled off to her fur-covered stone bunk.
The next day Ruby asked the Mother to release the small Idolum sloop that had brought her to Unity. “They’ve delivered me here and I feel it is unfair to require them to wait indefinitely for my training to be over. Nor do I feel that my training is in anyway complete. Is it?” she asked.
“Your training is done when you feel you have something you must do. No one knows when that will be but you. I will release the vessel as you wish,” Uma told her kindly. “I think when the time comes for you to leave us, you will find that you are able to just as easily summon Trupe to return,” Uma added, a mischievous grin illuminating her elegant face.
“Really?” Ruby asked. “Wow! That’s awesome!”
“Indeed!” the Mother said, smiling again.
The next months were filled with learning, training, and meditation. Time seemed to fly for Ruby. There was so much to learn. Trupe had left a database filled with all the known species in all the galaxies. No time was left unused. She slept, ate, trained her abilities, meditated, studied languages and the information on the database and then used any extra time to run wildly through the barren lands of Unity. Ruby had never been much for exploring or running wild. Now, she embraced that side of herself.
Unity was more than just a giant mudball. She found disintegrated cities, desiccated remains of humanoid beings, unusually large animals and petrified forests. Once she found a cave entrance, but shied away from exploring it. She would ask the Mother about those. They might be parts of the temple. In a few deep ravines, she’d found small puddles of water and a few scraggly plants. At night, she’d look up what she’d found and identify them. It was interesting, if a bit morbid she supposed.
The Mother had explained to her once that during the massive destruction of the war the Daughters had all retreated to the temple above the clouds and sunk into deeply meditative states for centuries. Uma had sealed the temple with a giant forcefield of energy to protect the daughters, though she, herself, was unaffected. She was after all, the Mother. Unlike the biblical teachings about Christ on Earth. Uma’s body and soul were immortal and never-ending, the essence of the Mother.
Ruby asked the Mother about the other cave entrance she’d found. “Is it part of the temple, or is it just a cave?”
Uma studied Ruby closely, then said, “I think if you found it, you were meant to explore it. You’ve mentioned that there is water and life in the deep ravines around the entrance. Perhaps there is life in the cavern. Have a look, but be careful. Remember, you are a shield or a spear. You can protect yourself and others, or you can damage others. Use your judgement.”
Ruby, encouraged by this assessment, set out the next morning armed with a few provisions and a great amount of enthusiasm. She always felt like an early explorer on an adventure when she journeyed over Unity. It was all very exciting discovering what secrets it held!
It took her several hours to reach the ravine and descend the rocky cleft down to the small puddle of water and scraggly brush that hid the entrance to the cave. Looking at it carefully, Ruby had to admit that it looked used. The dirt was hard-packed and the brush worn back. Excitement thrummed through her veins.
Carefully, lifting her left hand in front of her, Ruby summoned the energies of Unity to light the way. Slowly a dim glow grew from her palm, then gradually brightened. Equipped now with light, she crept quietly into the dim opening. After several hundred feet, the path hooked around a large standing rock and then opened into a good sized cavern about forty feet in diameter.
Phosphorescent moss seemed to line the ceiling of the cavern and a small pool of greenish water lay still to one side of the space. Aside from that, it appeared empty. It smelled pretty darn funky, Ruby had to admit. Whatever lived here wasn’t humanoid. There was nothing that looked like a bed or utensils. There was only a roundish, flattened-out, hollow under one shelf-like protrusion that could have been some type of sleeping area. The dry, dusty floor was covered in a profusion of large imprints. Squatting to look closer she saw they looked like...paw prints? Hoof prints? Well they did appear to have deep divots at the end. Ah, shit, Ruby thought. Claws! She better get out of here! Crap! She’d managed to find the one living thing on this mudball and it had huge feet and big-ass claws.
Turning to leave, Ruby froze. A huge shadow was approaching along the far wall, illuminated by her palm-glow. She couldn’t make out anything but an enormous bulk and something that looked like -- oooh Mother help her -- horns. If she put out the light, she’d be blind and the thing was on home-turf. It would know every nook and cranny. Keeping the light might give her an edge, as whatever it was seemed to live most of the time in the dark.
Standing stalk still, Ruby tried to keep breathing. She was a shield or a spear. She could decide how to react to this situation. Was there evil? Did some species just deserve to die? Maybe this was a test of how she met the unknown. Or how she met with beings different than herself. It was a test, she assured herself, calming her pulse and breathing. All was well. Fear was the enemy, not the big horny-toad thing with claws approaching.
Ruby lowered her palm to her side and stood in as unthreatening of a position as she could manage. Which, frankly, was easy. As the thing coming looked enormous and she was a measly five-foot four-inch woman who’d been living on something called ‘mush’ for the last year. It was pretty awful tasting and she was surprised she hadn’t just wasted away. It was thanks to Trupe and the vitamin provisions he’d packed for her that she hadn’t, she supposed, though Mother wouldn’t let her get ill either. Why was she thinking all this stupid stuff right now? She needed to focus on getting a plan!
Ruby could hear loud sniffing and huffing now. The thing was growling low in its throat and sniffing at her footprints and the air. In the shadow she could see it was swinging its head side to side in search of her. Crap! She supposed she ought to just let it know she was here and cut the suspense.
“Hello?” Ruby said tentatively. The shadow froze.
“Hello? I’m Ruby. I’m not here to hurt you. I was just curious about you,” she said quietly, praying she wasn’t talking in a tone that would make it go bonkers in pain or something. Also, she’d put on perfumed oil this morning. What if he thought it was delicious and ate her? Oh, crap, crap, crap!
Slowly the massive shadow crept into the light. First the tip of a large blunt horn appeared, then a blunt hairy-edge ear. The rounded side of an enormous leathery-looking head appeared and then one bright green eye the size of a tennis ball. The eye blinked once, twice, then closed slowly and opened again. Ruby tried not to laugh. It looked like he was checking to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
“I’m real. I’m just a little person here to explore and meet you. I’m Ruby,” she repeated, attempting a smile, though her lips felt frozen with fear. There was no way to get by him. His entire bulk filled the cavern entrance. “Come on in and say hi,” she added, wiggling her fingers towards him in a ‘come on’ movement.
Slowly more of the leathery head appeared. A second big green eye came around the corner just as the other horn came into view. Ruby almost gasped.
Geez he looked scary! One enormous paw padded forward. It was tipped with black, six-inch long, curled claws that drove into the dusty floor. A low broad chest shoved into sight, then the other ear and foot. As he stopped to huff the air again, Ruby got a better impression of the creature. Well...he looked like a cross between two animals that had been on Earth: a rhinoceros with short, straight horns on his head and a humongous bulldog. He was wrinkled, leathery, and had a heavily
armored body covered in plates of lined greyish-skin. The large, upward-angled ears and softball-size nostrils had a heavy fringe of bristly hair. Probably to keep the dust out, she supposed.
Overall, he was huge. Easily six feet tall at the shoulder and four feet across at the chest, he dwarfed her in every way. Suddenly, to Ruby’s surprise, he sat down. Then his tongue lolled out as though he was panting and he lowered his head thrusting his enormous muzzle towards her as though urging her to pet him.
Cautiously, Ruby edge forward, crooning to the large beast as she did so. “I’m Ruby, like I said before,” she repeated soothingly. “Do you have a name? I wonder what you are?” Ruby asked softly. “My name now is Dun, but I go by Ruby Dun so that if I forget my name is Dun I can cheat with Ruby. Frankly, Dun is part of the Maodun paradox and some days I’m just not up to the deep wisdom that being Maodun requires. Know what I mean?” Ruby quizzed the big animal. It flicked its ears forward as if in agreement.
“Good, I’m glad you know what I mean,” Ruby said confidingly. “Sometimes I just don’t think anyone really gets me. Well, maybe the Mother, but she lets me make my own mistakes so that doesn’t really count. I used to have an Idolum friend called Trupe who got me pretty much. And what seems like forever ago I had the great love of my life that really knew everything about me. His name was Daniel, but he died,” she continued, a sob cracking her voice.
The big beast opened his huge mouth and moaned. It sounded so much like a human sound of pain that Ruby had instant reflexual moaning at the same time. Both of them moaned for a few long moments, then stopped and stared at each other. Every bone in Ruby’s body felt sure this large, ugly beast was her friend. Stepping forward the last few feet, Ruby slowly lowered her head and rested it on the leathery skin of the animal’s forehead. They stayed that way for what seemed an eternity.
Finally, lifting her head, Ruby said, “Pleased to meet you ‘one with no name’. Don’t worry, we’ll find a name for you,” she assured him. Somehow, without being told, she knew his kin were dead and that he was alone. His mother had died a few months after giving birth to him and he’d had no chance to be given a name. He’d simply survived here on Unity, observing the Daughters, but too scared to approach them. He desperately needed a friend. Ruby would be that friend. Reaching both arms up to hug his big head and thick neck, Ruby assured him she would be his friend for life.
Chapter Twelve
Harley
Ruby had arrived back at the Temple amid a flurry of running Daughters and a laughing Mother. Somewhere a few kilometers from the cavern where she’d found Harley -- that was what she’d named her horned dino-dog -- the large animal had simply laid down and rolled his big green eyes back in his head. When Ruby had urged him on, he’d just swatted at her with one clawed paw and then pinged out one long wickedly pointed claw and gestured towards his back.
Finally, she’d deduced that he thought she was too slow and wanted to give her a lift, so to speak. Clasping the horn above her head, Ruby clambered onto his outstretched forearm and then swung up behind the great armored-ridge at the back of his skull. She didn’t really even have to hold on, as the ridges along his spine kept her cradled into the crease of his neck. If she felt worried about slipping, his horns were an arm’s length away and felt like handlebars on a big ol’ Harley Davidson, a powerful motorcycle on Earth. Hence the name.
Once when Harley had been putting on power to gallop up a steep, rocky incline, Ruby couldn’t help herself and rumbled, “Vrooooom,” in his ear, mimicking the deep growl of a Harley-Davidson she’d once heard on Earth. He’s seemed to think that was fun and had put on extra speed just to impress her. Ruby had shrieked with delight and patted the sides of his massive skull in enthusiasm.
When they’d skidded to a halt in the Temple courtyard, kicking up a billow of dust, Daughters had shrieked and disappeared. Uma emerged as though by magic from the back of the cavern and clapped her hands in glee as Ruby slid from the back of their newest arrival. “Oh, you’ve found him!” she exclaimed. “We knew he was here, but he would never approach one of us! How is he? What is he? Where are his parents?” Uma enthused in a long tirade of curiosity. “I have felt him so many times! He’s a sneaky one, this big baggage!”
Harley was having none of this and backed away, hiding only a fraction of his huge bulk behind Ruby’s body. “Ummm, I think you’re scaring him a bit,” she murmured to The Mother. “He’s shy. His name is Harley, by the way.” She paused, thinking. “I’m not sure, but he may be some sort of relative to the ankylosaurus, a dinosaur from Earth. They ate roots that they gouged from the dirt using their horns and claws. They had a long tongue and short nubby teeth. All of which match Harley’s attributes. The only difference is that they are depicted as sporting more short horny-protrusions on their backs. He’s only got the two horns and the sort of ridge-like things along his back and the armored plates that are slightly raised on his hide,” she added, running a hand over the items she mentioned as she calmed his fears.
Uma grinned at Ruby. “Aw, you love him already, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do,” Ruby acknowledged. “He’s just a big sweetie in a huge box of scary. He doesn’t know what to do with himself, just like me. We’re kindred spirits.”
“Ummm, yes, so it would seem,” The Mother said quietly, smiling reassuringly at Harley and then approaching him slowly with one hand outstretched. At Ruby’s urging, he let Uma touch him and stroke him. She complimented him on his very beautiful eyes and before they knew it, his long, root-stained tongue swiped out and drenched the side of The Mother’s face. She and Ruby dissolved into giggles. It was sooo the opposite of the elegant countenance Uma usually sported. Harley bucked in the air once in happiness at their laughter, kicking his back legs out in a spasm of joy. They laughed even harder.
That evening Harley and Ruby munched down mush together. Harley seemed to like the gelatinous goo and slurped away in evident enjoyment. Ruby forced hers down. She really was going to have to go somewhere and get some more food, now that all Trupe’s provisions had been used up. Perhaps now that she had a companion for the voyage forward, she should think about moving on.
That night Ruby slept soundly with Harley like an enormous barrier across the door of her small slotted bunk area. He didn’t fit in the actual room, so he’d finally settled across the doorway with an expressively glum grumble of air and sound. She’d woken twice when the large animal had passed noisy and stinky masses of gas. Hmmm, that could be a downside of having a companion that only ate vegetation. Her Gran had always said it was the greens that would give you ‘the wind’ as she’d called it.
The next few weeks were taken up with learning more about Harley and long discussions with Uma about Dun’s role in the universe. Mother surprised her by telling her that her role in meeting Harley had verified what she already knew, Ruby was the impenetrable shield from the paradox. Someone else was the spear. When Ruby met that person, the paradox would be active.
There were a lot of galaxies out there and though Ruby didn’t feel particularly called to any of them, she hadn’t been called to Harley’s cavern either. She had discovered it on her own. As The Mother said, “People who know their way from the beginning are miracles of infrequent appearance. Most beings must struggle along doing the best they can and often miss the small thing that they have been put here to accomplish.”
“Beings get caught up in the minutiae of life and miss the deed that turned a life around by some action they contributed. It was sad, but true. Most people had only one small act to perform to make their life’s goal. Most didn’t even know when it happened. That was the role of faith. One had to have faith that something they’d done had been worthy. Now you will have to have faith that ‘the spear’ will appear to you somewhere.”
Ruby thought about those words and her direction in the universe. She clearly was not one of those gifted with ‘knowing’ right from the start. She could do a little magic now and control light
and force. When she’d been a kid her Gran had read her a really old story from the archives of Earth about a kid called Harry. As far as Ruby could tell, calling up a ball of light had been the easiest spell they’d taught at the school he’d gone to. That and the shield thing had been fairly rudimentary. Of course, that had been a story. A made up story. So why was she comparing herself to that. It was ridiculous! That was fantasy and this was reality.
She had these skills, rudimentary tools or not, and she was unsure what to do with them. Talking it over with Harley, Ruby decided to just go forth. Asking the Mother to summon Trupe was the first step. Nothing was planned after that. She’d take the first step and see where that landed her.
Uma took it all in stride and hugged Harley, Trupe and finally, Ruby Dun. Holding Ruby close she whispered, “Remember, you are perfect whatever you do. I am proud of you. You are a wonder and a protector. You are a shield. It’s up to you to choose how to use it in any given circumstance. Listen to your heart and the call of the wild. I will be there whenever you listen.”
Trupe organised the loading of Harley and secured everyone for a safe launch. Then he snapped the battered sloop’s door shut and within minutes had fired the thrusters and burned through the atmosphere of Unity. They were gone. Ruby didn’t even bother to ask Trupe where they were headed.