Spheria

  The lifeless carcass of inert polygons was flung over the herd and landed with a thud into one of the red rock veins. There it lay, unmoving. Gradually each piece turned red, and it sank into the river. The herd formed a line along the shore and watched their disappearing brethren. Then they turned, and moved along as if nothing had happened.

  It occurred to Sa∙ma that the Zalisks didn’t care that they’d lost one of their group. Their lack of compassion made him sad with unexpected remorse.

  Go∙ma noticed his reaction and spoke. “Child, this is the natural course of things. The world is harsh. We all are competing for survival. The energy of that Zalisk has flowed into the Troaten, and will someday flow into something else. Such is the way. Remember what you saw here, for it's the basis of the story I'm about to tell you.”

  “This journey is to give respect to the Rift, the barrier that separates the two halves of our world. Look around. We live inside a giant sphere, with the two halves divided by a chasm that is uncrossable, and that has no bottom. But it wasn't always this way. When the world was young, before there was even a Source in the center, our sphere was whole. Creatures could move about as desired.

  “Then one day there was a greedy Troaten. He wasn't content with the energy he needed to survive; he wanted it all. So he dragged himself along the ground with his tentacles, grabbing any creatures he could reach, and consumed them. His life crystal was full and still he consumed more. This caused him to expand. Soon he’d destroyed every living thing. So he had to resort to digging for crystals in the ground, and thus he continued to get larger and larger. He became so large that his tentacles could reach clear across the entire world. He hung suspended with his body in the center, his arms embedded in the ground. There was no more food anywhere, neither creatures nor buried crystals. The Troaten began to starve. In a last desperate attempt to find energy, he spun, as Troatens do, and tore a giant chasm clear across the world. The Rift was created. But that was the end of him. There was no food, and he shrank until he was just a ball at the center of the world.

  “The gods looked up at his carcass and thought it would make a satisfying home. So together they transformed his bulk into a ball of infinite energy, and thus the Source was made. Then the gods went there to dwell, where they have a view of the entire world anytime they want. They’re probably watching us even at this moment.”

  #

  Sa∙ma shook off the memory and decided the story would be more appropriate to tell when they were actually at the Rift. He pushed off and disappeared over the steep edge of the mountain.

  Chapter 4 - Cell Division

  “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” - Phil Donahue

  The University of Connecticut Health Center was built in 1970 on the highest point in Hartford County. It was established as the medical-dental school branch of the main university campus located about thirty miles away. In the 90’s, a significant expansion added a focus on clinical research to the mix. It slowly became host to some non-clinical private research projects as well. At night, its many tall buildings, with lit windows, gave the impression of an apartment complex.

  Timothy and Jill approached the academic entrance, holding hands. It was late, and a full moon ominously lit the cobblestone circle and entry. They were heading into the Lyman Maynard Stowe Library to study before exams the next day, having come from an amazing dinner at Naples Pizza down the road. Tim could still taste the pepperoni.

  As they stepped onto the sidewalk from the traffic circle, Jill yanked Tim’s hand and said, “You’re gonna trip.”

  Tim looked at the curb, but Jill pointed to his left sneaker. It was untied.

  Tim took two more steps and placed his backpack on the right of two pedestals. These supported a series of sculptures called “Spheres” by artist Wopo Holop. This one happened to have six round bronze objects depicting a human retina, three versions of a dividing frog’s egg, the Earth, and an acorn. A few steps away, an identical pedestal presented a long jagged DNA strand, stretching between an odd faceted sphere and a smooth round one.

  Tim stooped down to tie the lace on his new white sneaker. This time, he’d make a double knot. As he made the first loop, he heard a loud smack, like a steak being tenderized on a cutting board. He felt something wet on the side of his face and noticed red droplets coloring his white shoes. They looked polka dotted.

  Jill released the shrillest scream Tim had ever heard. It made the hair on his neck stand up. Losing his balance, he fell onto his butt and jerked his head upwards. Staring down at him was the mangled face of a young woman draped over the spherical models, her lifeless eyes wide with astonishment.

  #

  Captain Brennan from campus security stood between the stone altars. A sheet was draped over the body, and Brennan’s team had just set yellow police tape around the perimeter. A small group of students had gathered to one side and were gawking at the scene.

  “What happened?” asked one woman.

  “Sorry, we can’t give any information at this time,” Brennan responded. “Please move along.” He waved the students away toward the building’s entrance. They began to disperse.

  Turning around, he walked twenty steps to the couple sitting on the bricks that circled a tree.

  “My deputy said you two witnessed the accident?”

  Jill sat silent, white as a ghost, and rocked forward and back.

  Tim stepped in, “No sir. I mean yes sir.”

  “Take a deep breath,” advised Brennan. Tim filled his lungs. “Okay, good. Now start over please.”

  Tim exhaled. “I mean yes I was there, but I was looking down when it happened. I swear the force of her knocked me on my ass. When I looked up, I thought it was my girlfriend lying there, hit by a car or something.”

  Jill shook her head and started sobbing.

  Brennan placed his hand on her shoulder. “Honey, I know this is difficult. This is a very safe campus, and we take security seriously. From our perspective, this looks like a suicide. Apparently, she jumped from the building’s roof and unfortunately, or maybe intentionally, landed on the jagged statues below. Did you see anything that might suggest otherwise?”

  Jill took a few sobbing breaths. “No,” she finally said, shaking her head. “I was just admiring the full moon, which looked large and almost red. Then something caught my eye, and I glanced to the right just in time to see her hurling toward me. I jumped back and she…” A sob was coming, but Jill managed to suppress it. “She landed right in front of me! It was awful. I've never seen anything so horrific in my entire life!”

  “Did you see her jump?” inquired the Captain.

  “No, she was already falling when I saw her.”

  “Well, you saw enough. You two are the only witnesses, but this is a cut and dry case of a jumper. A darn shame too. She was a pretty girl. We already identified her as an employee here, an intern actually, also a student. Must’ve been studying late like you two. The stress can be intense, I know, and it’s a real shame what it pushes some people to do, to take their own lives rather than just try their best. A real shame.”

  Jill added, “There is one thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “I didn’t see her jump, but I thought I heard something, just before she fell.”

  “Heard something?”

  “I thought I heard someone yell ‘No!’ But there was no one else around.”

  Chapter 5 - Arcane Physics

  “There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.” - Denis Deiderot

  Le∙ma was alone on the mountain. Her guide had just plummeted over the side. She rushed to the edge and watched as Sa∙ma deftly navigated the slope. He slowed his descent by bounding off flat outcroppings, changing his direction. He did this about twelve times, and, after leaping from the last one, landed with
a thud onto the brown rock at the foot of the mountain. He looked up at Le∙ma and waved a leg. He is insane.

  “I’ll meet you at the bottom,” she yelled, as she started to head back toward the steps.

  “No,” she heard. “You'll be on the wrong side.”

  She returned to the lip and yelled back at him, “What do you mean?”

  “There is no passage to this region from the Colony side. You have to come down the way I did.”

  “If there’s no passage, then how will we get back?”

  “That’s one of your tests. Come down. We must make the Rift before nightfall.”

  “It’s too steep!”

  “It just appears steep. Aim for the flatter parts, and you’ll be all right.”

  “Okay.”

  Le∙ma moved toward the edge, but just as her body crossed partly into the empty air, she changed her mind and flailed backward. But there was nothing to push against, and she tumbled over the side. She fell straight down for a few seconds then felt the repulsion as she approached the slope. There was an invisible compression, and then she was vaulted outward. She stared straight down at the brown rock below; it was approaching fast.

  The slope of the mountain once again reached out to her. This time, Le∙ma used two legs to ease herself into the repulsive field and instead of bouncing, began to glide down over it. She began to steer and swerved to the side toward a flatter outcropping. She quickly approached it, so fast in fact that it launched her once again into the air. Then she hit the mountain almost going sideways. She recovered and came down onto another outcropping, almost in control.

  With her speed slowed, Le∙ma pushed off toward another jutting mass of blue rock. She repelled off it and changed course to aim toward another, then another. A couple more and she reached the bottom with a solid thud that made her four legs vibrate. She swore they must’ve shattered, but they were intact.

  “I could’ve died!” she fumed at Sa∙ma.

  “But you didn’t,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Instead, you’ve passed your first test.”

  She was shaking her legs in the air, one by one, trying to end the vibrations.

  “We need to move,” Sa∙ma said. “Come on.” He headed off across the scraggly wasteland.

  From this perspective, Le∙ma could see that it was different than the land on the other side of the mountain. Over there, the green plants were plentiful and thick. Over here, they were sparse and oddly shaped. They were more crooked looking, with links branching away and back again toward the center supports. Some grew toward the ground, forming arches large enough to walk under. Together Le∙ma and Sa∙ma passed through several of these. The arches seemed to weave across the wasteland as if Sa∙ma was using them as landmarks.

  “This is the Trail of Passage,” he said. “Remember these arches, for they’ll be your guide back.”

  “What do you mean? Why will you not be my guide back?”

  “It’s not the way. You must find your way back to the Colony alone.”

  “But you said there is no passage back.”

  “Indeed, there is no passage. But that doesn’t mean there is no way back. You'll have all the skill necessary to get back on your own after this journey. Your final test combines everything you'll learn to make it home.”

  “Ugh,” Le∙ma said, exasperated. “What if I don’t make it?”

  “That is possible. This entire area is circled by sheer blue rock, leading to the edge of the Rift. There is no way through them or over them. I was the second apprentice selected by Go∙ma. His first selection never returned from this quest. It happens. Only the strong and wise become Lumen Seekers.”

  Le∙ma remained silent. Up until now, this felt like a game. Sa∙ma was her safety net. Now, the process seemed serious, and she worried that she wasn’t up to it.

  They trudged on for a bit until reaching one of the red rock fingers. What looked thin from the top of the mountain was actually quite vast when standing next to it. It spanned about the width of eight of their bodies.

  “We need to cross this,” Sa∙ma said.

  “But red rock is attractive,” she stated quizzically.

  “Yes, it is. We can’t just walk across it because our feet will stick. It's possible to detach one leg at a time, but this requires leverage. Once you have all your limbs stuck, you'll be helpless. But luckily for us, the attraction isn't that strong unless you touch it.” He waved a leg over the red rock. It seemed effortless. Then he let it drop, and it clanked onto the red stone.

  Le∙ma gasped.

  “Pull me,” Sa∙ma commanded.

  She wrapped two legs around his center and pulled back with her remaining two legs. It took all her might, and his pushing with his free legs, to detach him from the red rock. He popped back.

  “Thanks!” he said. Then he asked, “How can we cross?”

  “We need to make a barrier between us and the river.”

  “Correct. How?”

  Brown Rock. She found a loose polyhedron on the ground and threw it into the river. It stuck fast in the middle, then turned red and sank as the shapes below shuffled to make room. Puzzled, but not deterred, she tore loose a hunk of green polyhedrons from the side of a plant and threw it into the river. Again they turned red and sank below.

  “What’s going on?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Well, it looks like anything that touches the river changes into red rock. But you touched it and didn’t change.”

  “An enigma, indeed. It turns out that it’ll turn almost anything red. One exception is something living, something attached to a violet life core.”

  “Why is that?”

  “For this answer, we need to go all the way back before the world existed. This is the story of the creation.”

  #

  A single eight-legged Polyan, named Ra∙ju, floated in the darkness. He was all that existed. He made himself shine bright white, but there was nothing for the light to fall upon. He searched the void but found nothing. He was alone.

  So he detached all his legs, one by one, and as he did they changed color. One became brown, one orange, one red, one blue, one green, one yellow, one violet, and one indigo. They each then sprouted seven legs of their own and became the eight gods. But unlike us, they each had a colored core. To these, he gave the suffix “ro” and named them Ta∙ro, Ke∙ro, Pi∙ro, Ju∙ro, Ca∙ro, Na∙ro, Wi∙ro, and Su∙ro, respectively.

  They gathered around Ra∙ju, and he was proud. But they floated in nothing, and this made him sad. So he directed his children to make a place where they could dwell and play.

  To Ta∙ro the brown, he said, “Go and make the lands.” Ta∙ro then produced a chunk of brown rock between his legs. This he shaped and smoothed and spread out until it surrounded and contained them all in a continuous sphere. This is the world in which we now dwell.

  To Ca∙ro the green, he said, “Go and make the plants.” Ca∙ro exploded in a mass of green polyhedrons that shot out in all directions. These dotted the landscape, and each of them became the plants spread about.

  To Ke∙ro the orange, he said, “Make life, so the land may buzz with activity.” To do this, Ke∙ro descended and imbued a bunch of brown rock with orange energy. Thus, the creatures that inhabit our world were born, including us.

  To Su∙ro the indigo, he said, “The creatures are unable to experience their world. Give them senses.” So Su∙ro waved at the creatures, and they sprouted sensors that allowed them to see, hear, and speak. Some plants also gained the ability to grow new sensors for future generations. But the creatures were too few, and would never find each other, so Ra∙ju turned his attention to Wi∙ro.

  So to Wi∙ro the violet, he said, “Make the creatures multiply, so that we may never run out.” To do this, he shone his violet light upon them, and they found each other and increased their numbers. Soon there were too many, and they began to fight.

  To Ju∙ro the blue, he said, “Go and ma
ke divisions so that the creatures will not fight.” Ju∙ro descended to the land and rolled about, leaving a trail of blue rock in his wake. This rock was so high it became the mountains we know today. But in the valleys, the creatures were too close and still crowded.

  To Pi∙ro the red, Ra∙ju said, “Go and make the rivers so that the beasts will multiply slower.” Pi∙ro descended, like Ju∙ro, and rolled around the land. As he did so, trenches formed and filled with red rock to further divide the lands. However, every time he hit a blue mountain, he was repelled and bounced off. This went on for many days, and each time Pi∙ro was halted, he got angrier and angrier. He decreed that everything that touched the red rock from then on would become red as well. To do this Wi∙ro, having a violet core, demanded that anything violet would be immune from this curse. But Pi∙ro did not care because he just wanted to turn all the blue rock to red. But when he attempted to affect the blue stone, he was still repulsed. So he made the red rock attractive. Finally, the forces balanced and he was able to touch blue with red.