To say that it was shaped like a teardrop would have only described it in the abstract. Although it shared the basic shape, there was two blunted fins with rounded edges that converged at the front of the transport. While at the back, was an elongated compartment that looked roomy. Yet what really made the transport stand out was two rear fins that came to sharp points on each side. While in addition the tips pulsed neon green, then blue, then red, and finally a brilliant yellow. What astounded Candor was that he didn’t see a single access point or a seam anywhere on the body of the transport. There were no light covers, no hood, not even a door or a window. It was perfectly smooth and glossy, and the color of black marble.
“Oh, I want one!”
“Son,” warned Sador. “I recognize the look in your eyes. You promised your mother and I that you would refrain from reckless pursuits. I implore you not to go back on your word.”
“Sador,” said Janesska. “I’m certain that our son will honor his promise.” And without another word she gently nudged a starry-eyed Candor forward.
Sador looked skeptical, but he knew that arguing with his wife was both pointless and ill-advised. As he touched the flyer a silver ring appeared on the side. A moment later the ring shimmered, and inside of it the metal flowed like water, retreating toward the edge and leaving them free to enter the compartment. Once inside the transport, Candor was confronted by an opulent setting. With deep comfortable chairs and warm lighting, he stepped to the front of the flyer and attempted to sit down when his father stopped him.
“Oh no,” he said guiding Candor to the opposite station. “You won’t be doing any navigating this soon after rejuvenation. If you want to see, then sit beside me.”
Candor did as his father instructed, glancing back to find his mother resting comfortably. She was seated in a plush reclining chair that was positioned directly behind them. The inside of the flyer was in stark contrast to the outside, with thick white padding that felt like leather. Although Candor knew it was different, because it breathed, moving beneath his touch as if the material was reacting to him. There was also a unique porosity to it, as if it was specifically designed to let the air pass through it like a sponge.
It makes sense, Candor thought. I’m breathing carbon dioxide through my skin. I shouldn’t be surprised that all the technology around me is designed to accommodate my unique anatomy.
It explained the clothes that everyone was wearing, including himself. Candor touched the sleeve of his shirt, and it felt like silk. Yet it was sturdy, and nearly the thickness of a sweatshirt, even though it was light and porous. His father wore a variation of Candor’s clothes, although both were a vibrant shade of dark blue. The pants were loose and comfortable, tailored to fit him perfectly at the waist, with tapered legs, ending in a comfortable pair of shoes without laces. His shirtsleeves ended at his elbows, with a V-neck opening at the top, reminding Candor of a hospital smock with a thin collar. In contrast, his mother wore a luxurious white gown, with pleated sections of intricately designed fabric, followed by a flowing collar enmeshed with brilliant gold lace.
Well, Candor thought. At least there are some basic distinctions between the sexes. I suppose that’s one less thing that I’ll have to figure out.
Candor frowned as he realized that he was doing it again. Comparing his dream life as a human being to that of the Penticorian he was. I need to stop that. Maybe I’ll be like my father and start praying to Eos that I get my memory back. This is getting annoying.
The moment that Sador took his seat, the smooth dashboard in front of him lit up with an incandescent glow. Another silver oval appeared, and what Candor could only describe as an airplane yoke formed, and then extended. Yet unlike its human counterpart, with triangular shaped knobs and buttons, Candor noted a set of large oblong pads at the top of the yoke. Sador placed his hands on the pads, and Candor watched them adjust to fit the contours of his fingers. At the same time, he stared in wonder as a series of holographic displays floated in the air in front of them.
That’s just too cool!
“Destination please,” asked a decidedly feminine voice.
“Shuveen Manor,” replied Sador.
Candor looked for the source of the voice but couldn’t find it. There were no openings on the inside of the flyer anywhere, and no covers he could see to conceal speakers or projection devices.
“Acknowledged,” said the calm voice. “Negotiating transport patterns and accessing clearance parameters, all systems engaged. Calculation of destination time and approach vectors completed. Would you like to navigate manually?”
“Negative,” replied Sador.
“Do you have a route preference?”
“What does that mean?” Candor asked.
Sador gave his son a curious look. “It means that we can go home via the Transport Radial, or access the outer airways.”
“Is the Transport Radial like this, intermixed with tunnels?”
Sador nodded.
“But on the outer airways we can go outside?”
He nodded again.
“Father, can we go outside?”
Sador didn’t know what to make of Candor’s peculiar behavior, and shrugged. “External approach please,” he ordered.
The transport lifted from the platform, and then shot directly into the maelstrom of other flyers at incredible speed. It happened so quickly that Candor noted again that some unseen force had dampened the feeling of inertia.
Well this is no fun at all, he thought. Part of the joy in going fast is feeling the acceleration. This is like watching television from the safety of your couch.
Yet even though he was disappointed, Candor was dazzled by the panoramic view. From the outside, the transport appeared to have no windows. But the inside was a completely different story, as translucent openings wrapped around the entire canopy from front to back, giving Candor a breathtaking sight.
Transports streaked by them in every direction. With some of them coming close enough that Candor could reach out and touch them. As they approached the far end of the Transport Radial, Candor noticed a series of large and small holes bored directly into the rockface. It was magnificent and chaotic at the same time, as the lighted tunnels appeared to point in a staggering array of directions. The transport pitched, taking a parabolic course that had them going straight up. Candor felt a queasy sensation tighten his gut. And not because of any downward pressure due to changing their orientation, but because of a lack of any sensation at all. His mind expected him to feel something. When the sensation didn’t follow what his eyes were seeing, his body still reacted as if it had, enveloping him with an aching sense of vertigo.
Sador noticed the change in his pallor. “Reduce acceleration by one-third,” he said. “My son, are you certain that you are well?”
A series of three dimensional indicators floated in front of them. Direction, orientation, yaw, pitch, acceleration, traffic and topography, all in a rainbow of brilliant colors. Candor put his hands on what he believed was his stomach as he attempted to calm himself.
“Yes, I’m just a little queasy. I guess it’s the rejuvenation, just as you said.”
He looked ahead, noting that the transport had indeed slowed, as other vehicles shot by them at high speed. Reaching the tunnel, they entered it. While far above them, Candor could see a brilliant blue sky that was tinged red. He swallowed hard as the knot in his gut began to ease, and they emerged through the opening as the transport leveled out above the city. Candor took a sudden sharp breath through his skin at the magnificent sight. Behind them, the tunnel system opened against the landscape like a colossal grate. While beyond that, they glided over the edge of a thick green forest with immense trees. With leaves that were as large as the transport, and nestled between thick foliage that covered a vast field of wild grasses. Beyond that, millions of flowers coated the unmarked landscape in brilliant shades of gold, blue, red, and orange.
In the distance, Candor saw a ring of majestic
mountains adorned with snowcapped peaks. Yet none of it compared to what captured his attention next, as he beheld the most fantastic city landscape he had ever seen. At its base, the city resembled a large overturned bowl that was over three miles high. While its circumference expanded further than he could see, covering an area that was easily five times the height of the dome. On the surface, massive towers shaped like multilayered spikes adorned the backdrop of the afternoon sky. Two of the towers, however, stood higher than the rest. And Candor felt his heart leap in his chest as he realized that he couldn’t see where they ended. Instead they disappeared into the clouds, their sheer size indicating the distinct possibility that they were tall enough to pierce the atmosphere.
A cacophony of transports made their way through the metropolis in all directions. And he noticed that outside the city there wasn’t the slightest blemish. Not a single building, house, nor anything to mar the pristine canopy of the tropical rainforest.
Candor asked his father. “Everyone lives inside the city?”
“Candor, are you certain that you are well? These questions…it is as if you remember nothing of your home.”
Janesska leaned forward, her strong yet delicate arm reaching out to touch her husband’s shoulder. “He is confused, my beloved,” she said softly. “I sensed that much when I touched his thoughts earlier. Zyphon insists that this is temporary. Please, Sador, for my sake.”
Sador looked dubious, but then softened as he observed the gleaming excitement in Candor’s eyes. “Very well then,” he said. “It has been a long time since you looked at me with the wonder of a child. I cannot say that I am displeased by it, only concerned.
“We do indeed live inside the city walls. Both above as you see, and below in a large network of precincts. We do so because we have not been able to live unaided on the surface for many centuries.”
“There are other cities like this one, like Tulacoss?”
“Yes, Candor, there are fifteen cities across the continent of Ruxoss. However, Tulacoss is the capital city of Penticore Prime.”
“Penticore Prime,” Candor mimicked. It was the second time that he heard the title mentioned formally.
But if there is a Penticore Prime, he questioned himself. Then that could imply that there are other planets in the system.
Candor wanted to ask his father, but at the last moment he stopped. He looks worried enough already. I’ll just add it to my growing list of research items.
“So, the oxygen is taking over?” He said instead.
“Since long before you or I were conceived. Your grandfather, some twenty-times removed, lived in a time when the sky was predominantly red. He wrote about small pockets where a Penticorian could venture out, but those places have since disappeared.”
“So, we all moved underground?”
“All citizens live under the protected domes, or in the towers of our cities.”
“If all the carbon dioxide is disappearing, then where are we getting it from?”
Sador pointed to the two towers that shot into the heavens. They were getting closer now, the magnificent city swallowing up their view in every direction.
“The two towers of Eos,” replied Sador. His voice was reverent as his gaze followed them up into the clouds above. “Each city possesses two. One tower separates carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
“And the other?” asked Candor.
“The other processes food and water, and touches the barrier between our world, and the void of Eos.”
Son of a gun, it does go into orbit! That means… “It’s used to generate power.”
Sador nodded, pleased to think that his son might be remembering something after all.
“Very good, Candor, the tower’s height, coupled to the rotation of the planet, generates a continuous stream of highly charged electrons. While in addition, we use the towers to expand the planet’s magnetic field. Those two things together are used to power all that we need to sustain ourselves. There are other uses as well. We have observatories, science laboratories, and a fledgling Void Exploration Taskforce, just to name a few.”
Void Exploration Taskforce, thought Candor with an added grin. Something like NASA?
“I thank you, Father.” He said, signaling that he was done with his questions, at least for the moment. There were so many other things that he wanted to ask, so many questions that were left unanswered. Yet he didn’t want to continue to worry his parents. For all the astounding technology and impressive architecture, Candor understood one very simple thing. That no matter how much a species advanced, they were still basic in nature. They still went about their lives trying to survive, just like everyone else he had ever known. That technology may differ, but the basic premise of life and love remained unchanged. His parents alone were living proof of his conclusions.
“So, my son, you remember the towers?”
Candor nodded, and Sador looked pleased as he turned his attention back to the holographic displays. Of course, Candor did not remember the towers. He had merely extrapolated one possible use for a structure that tall. Yet he felt as though telling that lie was a small price to pay for his parent’s peace of mind. And in the final analysis, he wouldn’t come to harm if they found out anything to the contrary.
The transport darted through the city, making its way through grand palisades and underground gardens. Flowing buildings continued to inspire Candor’s imagination. While at the far edge of the city he identified the blue-green waters of an ocean. Before he could ask, the flyer turned through the bustling traffic and descended onto a lighted pad at the base of one of the larger towers.
A low hum emanated from the transport as it touched down. The pad retracted inside the structure, and another silver ring appeared beneath them as they passed through the opening. Below them was a smaller complex like the one in the Transport Radial. With tunnels honeycombed throughout, while a bridge of stairs appeared at the edge of the flyer. Candor looked over and saw that there was a transparent opening on one end. And he became transfixed by the sight of the underground city, and strangely enough, sad as well.
An entire culture forced to live underground, because the planet that allowed them to evolve has turned against them, he thought.
He could see the dome overhead, an opalescent color that allowed light to shine through. Candor found it odd, because from the outside it looked thick and dense, the color of caramel. Yet from below he could see the sky above, tinged with a reddish haze that made him wonder how such a thing could be possible.
The city was unlike anything he remembered. As a human, cities were riddled with surface streets and suburbs. With everything from perfectly manicured lawns, to dilapidated industrial sectors that spread out as populations grew. But here, at the edge of the city of Tulacoss, things were very different. Spires rose towards the dome overhead. While down below there were no streets whatsoever, just vast colorful walkways populated by thousands of Penticorian’s. Some buildings looked as if they had literally been grown from the rock, with spiked edges, and oceanic waves of design and form. Color was also the order of the day. From marble white to midnight black, followed by brilliant hues that covered the entire spectrum, lights cascaded throughout the city, some of them hovering in the air. It was a brilliant symphony of light, broken only by patches where lush gardens interrupted the dense landscape.
“Come, little one,” Janesska called to him.
Candor found the transport open, and his mother and father were waiting for him outside. He stepped out to join them, gazing up the steps to the manor beyond.
“We live here?” Candor said with awe.
Before them was a stairway that could easily match any in the Greek, Egyptian, or Roman Empires. Marble pillars splayed out in a circular formation, and were adorned with symbols overlaid in gold and silver. At the top of the stairs, the manor jutted out from the side of the dome, where statues of Penticorian nobleman adorned a long row of niches cut into the polished stone walls.
Each one appeared to hold a unique position of power in the family hierarchy. Below them, and engraved on what Candor thought were golden plaques, was the name and history of each member of the line of Shuveen.
Taking his mother’s arm, he ascended the stairs. And for the first time that he could remember, Candor felt at home. He couldn’t explain the emotions that were taking hold of him. Yet something deep inside of him was at peace, and that peace was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
I’m home. He thought, as he stared into the loving eyes of his parents. I finally made it home…
A long, long sleep, a famous sleep
That makes no show for dawn
By stretch of limb or stir of lid,
An independent one.
~
Was ever idleness like this?
Within a hut of stone
To bask the centuries away
Nor once look up for noon?
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
Three
Behind the circular coliseum with the prominent statues of their ancestors, they arrived at the front doors to the manor. Candor was surprised that with the technology he had seen so far, that the doors to his family’s residence would be so familiar. Although he noted that they were significantly larger than they needed to be, implying that they were a symbol of prestige, and had less to do with utility. Being three times as tall as Candor, the doors were constructed of silver, and inlaid with gold trim. Ornate carvings of two serpents were positioned at the center of each door. While rings of intricately shaped emeralds glowed under the city lights, fastened in place at the mouth of each snake.
As they approached, the doors opened automatically. A grand staircase greeted them in what his father called the “Great Room.” The floors shined with polished granite tile. While an intricate mosaic of two intertwined serpents on a shield was centered on the floor in front of them. Candor paused for a moment to admire the workmanship, and most notably, the stream of fire issuing from the serpent’s mouths.
Penticore Prime Page 5