It was then he noticed the little girl was playing with a slender tablet of some sort. She was staring into and it was projecting sound out of itself:funny circus-like noises and whistles and funny voices talking and fighting and singing songs. Her attire was complex and colorful, made from fabrics that did not wrinkle and held a bright distinct sheen, and she was adorned with bracelets that emitted ever changing lights. Everything about her was so ordered and perfectly in its place, and he'd never seen a child look that clean. She was just immaculate.
“Put that away!” Indulu demanded of the girl, who obeyed at once. She could not have been more than 13. She stood there, hand on hip, looking Gahre up and down with an impertinent smirk on her face.
“You're a real Pangean man?” she asked.
“I am, child.”
“You came across that eco-zone on foot?” she asked, indicating the western side of the wall.
Gahre did not understand the term “eco-zone” so Indulu answered for him. “Not only that, Gahre hiked over half the span of the Pangea, including the desert.”
She shot him a challenging look. “But you couldn't scale the height of this wall, could you?”
“I... I lost my pickhammer, and without it I could not further ascend.”
“Pfffff,” she scoffed. “I could climb this wall, easy. But I wouldn't. I'd just put on a levitation suit and save myself the trouble.”
Indulu jumped back in. “Gahre, allow me to introduce you to this little ball of sass, my apprentice, Meimei.”
“Oh, please uncle!” She hit him not-so-lightly in the arm.
Gahre asked Indulu in all sincerity something he had been wondering himself all along. “Your apprentice, Honored One? I had begun to think that it might be me who filled that role.”
Indulu looked into him intently. “Then perhaps you should be aiming higher, son of Danu.”
“This is Arath?” Gahre asked, pointing out again over the eastern span.
“The westernmost nation of the Arathian subcontinent is what you see before you, Agrigar, the breadbasket of the Taiji. It extends many lengths beyond that horizon and comprises nearly half of the subcontinent. It is, as you can see, a land entirely devoted to farming. It feeds trillions.”
“Trillions? Taiji?” he asked, not understanding the how a population could be counted by such a high, theoretical number, and the context of the word “Taiji” which he only associated with a symbol of those who followed The Great Way.
The girl snickered.
Indulu ignored her and continued. “For every one person on the Pangean side of the wall, there are 30,000 on this side.” He grabbed the device Meimei had been playing with and slid his fingers over it. A large bright picture manifested in the air, showing more silver buildings and flying machines in greater concentrations, and the image flew through and around them revealing a cityscape that scraped the sky.
Gahre jumped back at the sight of the magic vision in fear it. “Sorcery!” he exclaimed.
The girl started to laugh and laugh. She stepped up to the hovering picture and ran her arm through it. “It's a computerized display projected through a holograph. It's called a toody! What, you've never seen one?”
“Meimei!” insisted Indulu. “You know he is Pangean and has never known the like of our technology. Try to imagine that if you even can.”
“I know Uncle, but look at him all scared of it like some kind of caveman! How am I supposed to help but laugh?”
“Excuse her,” said Indulu “She can be downright insolent at times. This is a... light picture showing you the nation states beyond this realm of Agrigar. It is also generated by machines, electrical thinking machines, called computers.”
“I see, Honored One. I understand... a little. This technology is more fantastical than I have ever dreamed. The child, she is Arathian then? I must be as much an oddity to her as she is to me.”
“Uncle Indulu is the one who is Arathian!” Meimei burst in. “I was born here, but my parents and grandparents are Pangean, like you. So it is my blood, even though Uncle would probably rather die than ever allow me over this wall. Why, Uncle? Why are you letting this museum-exhibit-come-to-life cross over to our side, but I can't go onto his?”
“The wall was not designed to keep Pangeans like Gahre here out of Arath. The geography does that well enough. It's here precisely to keep the likes of you from meddling with their world. So enjoy the glimpse, child, and just be grateful you got to see that much of it.”
“Hrrmmph! Whatever,” she crossed her arms and pouted.
“Excuse me, Honored One, you are Arathian?”
“Yes, my boy. Born and raised here, one of the fortunate few who get recruited into The Service.... or The Order as you know it, from this side of the wall. I have a family here, a wife and two sons, one about your age.”
That was another revelation. The Indulu of the Pangea was thought to be a celibate priest of the Dharmaists with no family at all.
“So The Order reaches across both sides of the world then?”
“Well, it's not that simple. Just like the Pangea, the Arathian nations have their own governments, but they are not overseen by The Order as the Pangean nations are. There is another multinational governing body which presides over them, The Arathian Council.”
“But it is you who presides over The Order and the Pangean realms? And there is another ruler for Arath?”
“Well... there is no 'ruler' per se...” Indulu seemed flummoxed.
“Uncle, don't confuse him with your silly modesty,” Meimei interrupted. “Uncle Indulu rules the entire planet of Occitania, both sides of this wall, and everything Cearulei Azur shines upon.”
“I wouldn't use the term “rules”, child. It's fair bit more kaleidoscopic than that. A better phrase might be “chaos management.””
“Honored One, are you an emperor?”
Indulu laughed. “No. Nor am I the true sovereign of Occitania. All this worldly power I wield was granted to me by the One True Master. Gahre, if I might relate to you a tale? And Meimei child, you'd do well listen to it also.”
“Please, Honored One.”
“The Taiji... that is name of our star system, Cearulei and Rubeli in their ancient oppositions. There was a time, in ages long past, when the Taiji was unified under the providence of a single government and single leader, The Emperor Wu.”
Meimei clapped excitedly at the invocation of the name. “That is my ancestor!” she declared.
Indulu nodded and continued. “That was a golden age of enlightenment in the Taiji, an age of peace and prosperity, great works and discoveries, art and literature. But like all great ages, it came to its end, with his death and the subsequent rise of the dynasty of Emperor Mandu.”
“Booooo!” hissed Meimei.
Indulu loudly cleared his throat. “My ancestor. Mandu reigned from the old throne, The Emperor's Stones that orbit Ignis Rubeli, and favored that star above ours. He imposed oppressive policies on this world and sought to modernize the Pangea, which is precious beyond all measure to every Blue. So we revolted, and a rift formed between the stars. We declared our independence from the Empire, and we formed our own world government, the seeds of the ones we have today. Seeing his empire divided, Mandu sought vengeance and that vengeance turned to war between the Red and the Blue in the last century of his reign. The War of Endless Sorrows was the darkest age in our histories. It went on and on, decade after decade, seemingly without end. Mandu dictated that the Rubelians procreate more and more so that he might raise from them an invasion force to overwhelm this planet. Their populations rapidly swelled to the point that their homeworld, Calidon, could no longer accommodate the exploding mass of humanity. So they built Carousels, human habitats in space from every asteroid and comet they could find in or around the Taiji, and stuffed them there. Being a far less fertile world than Occitania, Calidon could no longer produce the agricultural output to provide for these great masses. They built farms in space, but to m
ixed results, with high rates of disease, and generally low yields -problems that persist to this day.”
“Rubelian food is disgusting.” added Meimei. “They eat sea slugs raw in vinegar, and weird meats and the tails and heads of things. They love the taste of mold and yeast! It's enough to make one vomit.”
“I consume worse, little one, and often,” Gahre told her. “Just the other day I stewed the entrails of a possum and ate them with black river fungus.”
“Blechh!” Meimei feigned nausea holding her stomach and sticking out her tongue.
Indulu went on. “Those days gave birth to men of renown, an ascending new order of masters. On this world, it was a man named Kol Kong, born here in the east to a lowly family in that age of war. He burst from the shackles of his caste by way of his genius, and rose to prominence in every field he touched. First he was impressed into the Occitanian Planetary Defense League, now known as The Service, and trained as an officer of electrical engineering. The technologies he developed quickly turned the tide of the war until the homeworld was free from the long cycle of Rubelian raids and assaults. By then most crop exports had ceased, contributing to horrific famines in the Carousels. The war between Red and Blue still lingered on in space, while internal struggles filled the void of violence on the homeworlds. The deprivation and discontent of the Rubelians boiled over into a full-fledged uprising, and the military junta that controlled Occitania by the war’s end ruled with an iron fist over a caste system of intolerable disparity. Kol Kong forsook the governing body and turned his talents to the aid of the resistance while a cyborg by the name of Valecot Diem led the revolt against Emperor Mandu and his reign of tyranny on the other side of the Taiji.”
“He is in this time known as Logos,” added Meimei.
“He is,” agreed Indulu. “Gahre here knows something of Logos by now. But before he usurped the Rubelian throne, at the dawning of both stars' rebellions, Diem and Kong reached out to one another in agreement that they in fact both fought the same enemy, not a star or any political philosophy, but that of the will-to-power's use of repression and their insatiable appetite for dominion over humans. So the rebellions did what the governing bodies of both stars could not, they allied. Once that happened, the tides of war favored the new order until it came to be that the seat of Mandu in the Black Stone was taken by force and Diem was crowned the new Emperor. Kol Kong, however, was not a prominent leader. He was one who preferred to rule from the shadows and give others the light. New democratic governments were formed and brought together in the Arathian council, with the common understanding that a unified Occitania was the best defense against any future incursions by the Reds. Kol Kong had made his name in war, but he was at heart a humanist, and a devotee of the Great Way. He negotiated an unpopular program in his dealings with Diem, but one he was morally compelled to nonetheless.
“This stretch of land you see was at that time no different than the western side of this wall; it was all eco-zone. That is the strength and life-force of the planet, its wilds. But Kong could not bear to allow the famines to continue in the Rubelian Empire and so formed this agrarian nation to relieve the hunger on the far side of the Taiji. And here was placed this wall, not so much as a physical barrier, but as a demarcation for the ages of how much Occitania would give of itself to the Rubelians. And for the past three centuries, it has served its purpose.
“When that was done, and peace and order came to the Arathian subcontinent, he withdrew from power entirely and entered into new fields. Everything he touched turned to gold. If he painted a portrait, he painted a masterpiece for the ages. When he authored a book, it immediately fell among the classic tombs of wisdom. He was a great man, gifted and renowned, but there was a problem. He could not bear the ways of society. The disease of the mind that spreads from man to man by way of platitude, illogic, lies.... that which inverts what is good to seem evil, and evil to be justified as goodness. Men who wish to control what they have and justify the denial of it to others. The same poison that had caused the time of wars he had been born into was still sewed into the minds of men, destined to repeat the cycle. The mechanics of Samsara, he wrote, is not that what man receives through his senses is false, but how his mind has been programmed to perceive that which he senses and, through that filter, perverts its true form.
“You may be able to relate, young one. What brought you here is what you are, a Truth-seeker in The World of Lies. That is as lonely a path for you as it was for Kol Kong. In my own youth, I was chosen for The Service, and I accepted my appointment with pride. I worked my way through the officers’ ranks to Commodore and received command over a homeworld battlegroup of 209 ships. As I rose in rank, the duties became more and more diplomatic. And I noticed all the same human failings were ubiquitous in The Service, and the governing organs of Arath and the Pangea. The Order, that speaks with such flowering terms and honors their own benevolence and wisdom, are similarly no different. It's just an elaborate cover for their real aims of maintaining their power and position. It seems the smarter one is, the more they shroud themselves in lies to protect their power and dominion over others. You've heard us in conference, Gahre, and all the trappings of power and honor they demand. But their words are... are...“
“Banal? Hypocritical? Sanctimonious?” offered Meimei.
“Yes, thank you dear. Sanctimonious bastards, the lot of them! I read the works of Kol Kong. In the end, as he grew ever more reclusive, he took to the Pangea to practice The Way and assimilate to nature, to leave the filthy world of man behind. And it's said that the Great Sage passed through Tulan in those days and wandered into the Mountains of Immutability never to be seen again. That was more than three centuries ago. I, having read his works and feeling them connect to my living soul, resigned my military post and traveled to Tulan determined to search out The Mountain Sage and become a disciple of his divine wisdom.”
Gahre was moved to speak. “Honored One, you know I am of Tulan bordering those mountains, and I think I have proven myself an intrepid explorer, but it is a known fact they are an unnavigable domain. This sage, he was surely a great man indeed, but still a mortal man, and so likely did not survive there. And even if he had, the measure of a man's years cannot extend into a third century, much less a fourth!”
“Gahre, my son, I swear to you, he lives. I feel it! The master chose to segregate himself from the world of man. Such was his wisdom and genius, nothing could that world offer him. All it could do was take and take of him. All genres of literature, all fields of art and science, all doctrines, even the Dharmas… they blend together and become derivative of one another then ring hollow to a man such as Kol Kong. The Master draws from the Great Void where all concepts are unified and undifferentiated, and he gives them to the world so that it might be nourished. But the common man, he delights in the worldly, seeks the worldly and falls prey to his own senses, to lusts and greed which are never satiated. There is no other way out of The World of Lies than The Great Way: to give up all worldly claims and desires and to provide to the world as nature does, with no thought of reward. Thus The Sage has hidden himself away so that he may live in accordance with these principles of nature and be protected by them. The Sage, my son, is no less than the caretaker of this world, the heart and life of it. But to find him, you must overcome his defenses, which are mighty indeed. I failed in this journey, but not entirely. I struggled through those lonely mountains, treacherous step by treacherous step, amid visions so horrifyingly real that they drive a man to insanity. I had to give up everything to find him, even my own life. The torment and bodily suffering became too great for my soul to bear, and I turned back. When I did, there was the village spread out before me in an instant. Safety, civilization, material comfort. And then something happened that was not my doing but the master's through me. I ascended, Gahre. I rose meteorically to staggering heights, into the leadership of The Order, and then to the head of it! And it did not stop there. Everything aligned in my path pol
itically so that I rose too in the ranks of the Arathian governance into its council, and from there to its Chancellor. In five years time, I found myself seated at the summit of every governing body on Occitania, all unified at long last under my administration. The Master, who I sought so that I might rise above the sophistry and evils of the world of men, instead placed me at the pinnacle of it, and I work its grimy wheels in service to him.”
Gahre was processing a lot of information: the ways of the machine world, the true history of this world and Indulu's remarkable position in it. Dead or alive, this Mountain Sage did indeed hold weighty influence over the world as its leader clearly venerated him. He further reasoned that if the Mountain Sage lives, and he were to find him and be his disciple, he would have authority over Indulu, and by extension, the entire world! He quickly dismissed the prospect. Who would want that kind of responsibility?
A loud jarring melody broke out from Indulu's watch. Apparently watches could play music as well. How clever that was, Gahre thought. Indulu spoke into it, and it spoke back in words he did not understand, probably Arathian language again. Their tone carried a clear sense of urgency as Indulu continued talking to his wrist. As he was doing so, Indulu paced to the eastern edge of the wall looking about, when a white bean-shaped pod suddenly levitated up before him and hovered over the wall, giving Gahre a start. Meimei touched his arm reassuringly as it landed. A door, where there appeared to be none, opened downward revealing an interior with seats and more machine devices. There were two men inside, soldiers perhaps, in impeccable shiny uniforms and talking into the gadgetry of their helms.
“My apologies, I have to handle something. Meimei, keep the young man company til I return,” announced Indulu.
“Yes, Uncle.”
The seamless door of the pod closed as soon as Indulu entered. Gahre tracked its departure watching intently as it rose above the parapets and then suddenly whooshed off at great speeds into the horizon and over it.
DUALITY: The World of Lies Page 28