story was blurted out in an incoherent jumble by Juma, the more mature of the youngers but eventually, by careful prompting and gentle coaxing, Lipshule was able to elicit their story.
Their squeeze, it transpired, was a collection of the lost from a number of squeezes. They had no oldeners but a few olders and were desperately looking for a new feeding cavern. They had been backtracking old squeeze runs, so their rations had sometimes been meagre and their accommodation somewhat spoilt. These youngers had become separated from the rest of their party and had decided to excavate what they thought was a shortcut, to get back to their current feeding cavern in time for the squeeze, when they stumbled into this cavern.
Dorian knew about the lost; those that had become separated from their squeeze. From time to time you would come across them and incorporate them into your own squeeze, but a whole squeeze made up of the lost from many squeezes - this he had never heard of. Juma explained that all of them had become lost recently; they had become separated from their own squeezes by mysterious sudden shafts that had begun to appear here about. Enormous shafts that extended up to the surface and down to who knows where. On their way out to explore, the shafts were not there, but when they tried to return they found their tunnels either choked with debris or cut through by these bottomless shafts. Each shaft was easily as wide as the cavern that they were now in. Gigantic holes in the marrain.
As they searched for fodder caverns they came across others that had had the same misfortune and slowly their squeeze had grown. Sometimes they came across the bodies of those that had not found any feed caverns and just perished in their own excavations. This was awful to have witnessed, Dorian thought, especially for ones so young.
When they had concluded their tale and Lipshule had no further questions, he reassured them that they were now safe and that further, they had hit the mother load, so to speak, when they excavated into this vast cavern which easily had enough space to accommodate a double squeeze and plenty of food for them all. They should be proud of themselves. And what is more they had found another squeeze with oldeners that could organise them and get them back to some semblance of normality. This seemed to cheer the youngers greatly and Juma looked somewhat proud of his achievements, seen now in this new light.
Lipshule lent his head against Dorian’s for a quiet word. “It doesn’t look like this eventful wake is about to finish any time soon I’m afraid.”
“Why? What’s changed?” Dorian asked anxiously.
“Well if I’m not mistaken we have a disorganised squeeze that is desperately trying to pull itself in to some semblance of order. If by some chance this squeeze has discovered another feed cavern they may depart at first wake, as their needs sound great. If we want to help them we need to get to them before then and ensure that they find their way to this cavern. From there we can assess the situation and decide the best way forward.”
“Possible squeeze split?” Dorian said.
“You looking to be oldener already?” Lipshule asked teasingly.
“No I just… I don’t know…. I guess it seems likely that’s all.”
“You’re probably right, we’ll know more once we have the squeeze of the lost back here, but as you say it seems likely. In the meantime one of us will have to forego their rest, as will one of these lost youngers.”
“I’d be happy to go,” Dorian said before he had the time to think about it. He was willing, but his body was telling him a different story.
“I think it would be best,” Lipshule agreed. “Will you take Juma?”
“He seems the best candidate.”
“Agreed then. You get Juma to lead you to their cavern. They will probably still be at rest when you arrive. Don’t rest, wait for them to wake, get them organised and lead them back here. I’ll stay here with the other youngers; we’ll have our own little squeezelet, I’ll get them to recite their history and then we’ll get to rest. Next wake should prove very interesting, very interesting indeed.”
Lipshule explained their plan to the lost youngers. Juma was tired but felt it was possible. The squeeze, Juma felt, was not too far distant. As Dorian and Juma climbed up to the hole that the interlopers had appeared from, Lipshule called out one last instruction.
“And don’t get lost, mark your route all the way. I don’t want to have to explain your disappearance to Sulara.”
The mention of her name brought emotions and memories flooding back. Suddenly he was not sure he should be going on this journey. What about the great shafts that the youngers had mentioned? Then he remembered his conversation with Lipshule. A possible squeeze split. An opportunity maybe to move up the ladder; his prospects definitely seemed in the ascendance.
As they made their way along the tunnels Dorian could not help but speculate on the issue of the squeeze split. He made sure that he marked each tunnel junction, lest they should detour from the route on their return. At each junction Dorian would mark the wall of the tunnel on the opposite side to which they turned. In that way the marks would be clearly visible as they made their way back. Just as his father had taught him when he was a youngling.
Dorian had been barely a youngling when their squeeze had last split, so he had no direct memory of it, only the information that his father had passed on. As he understood it, when a squeeze reached a certain size it would divide into two separate squeezes. Of course the timing of a split was also dependent on finding two new feeding caverns simultaneously and that those feeding caverns were located along tunnels that led in different directions. In that way each squeeze would not collide with each other in the near future; each squeeze would have its own hunting grounds.
Juma was tiring. Dorian could see it in the way he moved and their pace had slowed considerably. Trying to skip a rest period was not easy. You started off feeling fine but, at a certain point that they called the wake-wall, you suddenly felt very tired and very sleepy. For two grains of marrain you could just slip into a deep rest. Once through the wall you were fine again, a little light headed, but otherwise fine.
“Far to go now?” Dorian asked, as much to keep Juma from rest as from real curiosity.
“No not too far,” Juma replied in a weary voice.
“Best we pick the pace up a bit then, what do you say?”
“Okay,” Juma managed a smile.
Dorian wanted to keep him alert and focused. He knew it was not easy to forgo a whole rest period, but he also knew that Juma had arrived at the wake-wall. Shortly he would be getting past it but for now he had to keep Juma alert.
Juma surprised Dorian with a sudden spurt of speed but then suddenly came to a halt up ahead. Dorian hurried forward fearing that Juma had given into the deep rest of the wake-wall.
“Juma! Juma!” Dorian said in a loud voice as he approached the still form in the tunnel ahead.
“Shhhhhhh,” Juma whispered. “We’re here and they are at rest.”
Relief swept through Dorian; relief that they had arrived and relief that Juma had not fallen into the deep rest. “Good work,” he whispered back. “Let’s retreat back down the tunnel a bit to wait.”
Before following Juma back along the tunnel, Dorian gazed out over the squeeze of the lost. They were certainly from different squeezes. Their outer layers were a multitude of different colours and hues; some blue, some yellow, some red such as his own, some black and some white. White like Sulara. His mind wandered back to their brief time together as olders. He missed her and would dearly love it if she was here now at his side; the softness of her body, the shyness in her look, the comfort of her caress. Oh, how he longed to be with her again.
He thought back to that time when he was just a youngling and they had met up with another squeeze. Two days of rest and wake in the feed cavern. Two days of a double squeeze, one after wake feed and the other before rest. During the wakes, small groups of olders and oldeners formed squeezelets, heads together, exchanging news and views, stories and tall tales, information and experience. The atmosphere was e
xciting and full of energy. The younglings from both squeezes squirmed together. Dorian had been very taken by the white colouring of the outer layers on the younglings from the other squeeze and especially taken by the demeanour of one in particular. Sulara had been from that squeeze and Dorian had been drawn to her somehow from the very moment that they had first met. He had not known it then, at that moment, but he soon discovered that when the squeezes separated they would exchange female younglings; their traditional way of avoiding the perils of interbreeding that their histories warned them against. Of course, Dorian did not understand that then. He had just been glad that these new, fresh and invigorating younglings had stayed within their squeeze and now he was missing her, missing her for the very first time and a deep loneliness seemed to envelope him as his mind caught a glimpse of the idea of never seeing her again. It sent a small shudder through his whole being and he quickly turned his mind away from that thought, that horrible thought that could bring on such horrible feelings.
Instead Dorian turned his full attention to the situation in hand and to Juma, a little way back up the tunnel from him. He focused his thoughts on the issues before him and consoled himself with the sure knowledge that he would see Sulara during the next wake. A welcoming image of her
Life on Mars? Page 4