‘It was only several centuries ago that it was considered that one more change was needed to maintain total peace and harmony,’ Lellia continued. ‘To have adulthood achieved at the end of the second era rather than the third. That deliberately denied to most Tazii what used to be twelve years of active exploration and personal, individual development.’
‘Why?’ all four youngsters asked.
‘It was feared that as increasing numbers of Tazii espoused the philosophy of the Shakazii, and equally many other Tazii were pressing for implementation of the more extremist interpretations of The True Aurigan Teachings, there would be conflict.’
There was a long silence whilst the youngsters absorbed what they had learnt.
‘Did you sense any opposition when searching for the twins?’ Lellia asked.
A variety of ‘no’s’ and shaking of heads provided her answer.
‘That would be most unlikely,’ Mandara commented. ‘If I am correct, they were linking, or trying to link, within the discreet boundaries of their own energy entity.’ Not normally given to seeking reassurance, he glanced at his fellow quantum scientist. Shandur nodded his agreement.
The youngsters felt a chill as the adults withdrew behind a Privacy Shield to share their thoughts. As Orchestrator of the First XzylStroem, responsible for maintaining the planet’s six XzylStroems in balance and thus the link with Azura in the third dimension, the final decision had to be Lellia’s.
Warmth returned as the adults finished their discussion. Lellia carefully searched each youngster’s aura. She acknowledged that their EraBands were holding well to their developing selves. She stilled a sigh. Twelve was so young to be considered mentally developed. Yet it had been so for millennia, with emotional maturity being achieved over the next twelve years, before growth was dramatically slowed. Momentarily, she allowed her regret to surface at the change from the original Tazian timing of three eras totalling thirty-six years. At least three have their crystals and Wrenden will have his soon.
‘We have thoughtsent your parents. They know how keen you are to mentalink with the twins. They have agreed with a visit to the XzylCavern. With the sixth dimensional energy of the talisman linking all six of you together.’ She flicked a quick thought to her husband, and received his confirmation. ‘You four stand the best chance we have of making a connection with the twins. Tamina and Pelnak, you are elderests for Tullia and Qwelby…’
‘And Qwelby’s my elderest,’ Wrenden said. ‘We have fun together,’ his voice breaking as he shot a glance at his big sister, who was the butt of many of their jokes.
‘So that’s what you call it, you little squirt.’ Tamina’s repartee lacked any bite. She knew that Qwelby was not only her brother’s elderest but also his BestFriend who he hero-worshipped.
Taking a deep breath, Lellia got up from her chair. ‘I will introduce you to the Stroems. We’ll have to walk. Lift doesn’t like going there.’ Door closed quietly behind them.
‘Don’t you think its strange, wrong, that we know more, far more, about the Azurii than we do about our own history?’ Mandara asked Shandur and Mizena rhetorically. ‘Not just Auriga and that incredible journey, but even the early years here, before we separated into… what? Two watered-down offshoots of the same race?’
*
The friends followed Lellia to the top floor of the central and rearmost wing of Lungunu. There was a small bridge that spanned the two halves of the largest of the five wings. From the centre of the bridge a door opened onto a short corridor. At the end was a doorway that looked like an ordinary, semi-translucent, three-layered iris. To one side was a neat little booth with a door. It looked like the sort of object that just demanded Tazii youngsters to discover how many they could cram into it at once.
Lellia explained. ‘One at a time, relax back into Chair. When asked why you are here, you will say: ‘First visit.’ You will be fitted with a XzylStroem helmet and insulshoes. If you cannot see or hear, just think that and the helmet will adjust itself.’
One by one they went into the booth and came out looking like bug-eyed, steel grey hedgehogs on Bad Hair Day. No-one knew how it had started, but the annual Bad Hair Day had become a cult anti-celebration for youngsters in their second Era between the ages of twelve and twenty-four. Twiyeras as they were called. The winner from each category, short hair or long hair, was known as “The Mary”. They were presented with a miniature facsimile of a traditional shepherd’s NeutrinoCrook, and wore an outfit made of simuseashells for that night’s party.
When Lellia came out of the booth with her own helmet, she explained. ‘The visuglobes will act like strong snowshades. Inside the XzylCavern everything will seem to be in varying shades of grey, except the Stroems. There is a much greater exchange of neutrons than normal. Everything will appear to be flickering in and out of reality. Don’t think about it! Enough of what is there, and is there for long enough, for everything to act as though it is solid.’
She made eye contact with each youngster in turn and waited until they nodded, nervously.
Knowing how much Tazian children enjoyed watching Azuran transmissions, she bent over, grew a hunchback and walked through the door with a heavy limp saying: ‘Walk this way.’
‘Wasn’t that hunch on the other side?’ asked Wrenden.
Lellia smiled. He had picked up her reference to one of his favourite Azuran flikkers.
The triple iris was the first part of the StroemLock. Mandara liked his little bits of showmanship. When all five people were in the Lock and the third iris closed with no other doorway to be seen, the walls of the Lock shimmered out of existence.
Four young voices gasped. They were in the XzylCavern, round and with a domed ceiling it appeared to be larger than the entire house, which it was. They were high up on a gallery. It ran around the dome and took them with it. Far, far down below, there was a great seething mass of swirling colour, noise and vibration. Every now and then a piece would leap up like a wave, curl over at the top and fall back with a strange glooping sound.
As the gallery brought them back to the entrance, Lellia asked: ‘Have you had enough for your first visit, or do you want to try a mentasynch with the twins now?’
There was a pause as the friends realised that they were no mind contacts. Lellia heard the faint sound of four pairs of lips being moistened, followed by four subdued yeses.
‘Walk around this gallery. Take your time. Look around and get used to the fact that you have to speak aloud. Get used to the vibrations you can feel and the sight of the Stroems. Do not be afraid. I will not bother you with all the technicalities that are built in for safety. However strongly the Stroems Xzyle, they cannot reach you up on this gallery.’
The friends did as instructed. The longer they walked around, the more they peered into the depths, the less afraid they became.
With a great, jagged sound like a thousand strips of calico being torn, a mighty scarlet Stroem reared up towards them. They leapt back against the wall. A contorted, orange head appeared, a long snout extruded and sharp fangs curved down from the top of its mouth and over the lower jaw. Drool dripped from the sides of its mouth as its jaws opened wide enough to swallow them all. A forked, black tongue flashed out between the two rows of yellow teeth. Four pairs of tiny, bloodshot eyes focussed individually on each youngster. They gleamed with anticipation. Bright lines of coruscating colour reached out from all around the walls and held the horror well below the gallery. Shoulders appeared as it dropped its head. Muscles in the shoulders and neck strained. It was obvious it was going to try to leap up past the barrier and devour the friends.
Trembling and too frightened to move, the four reached out, held hands and merged energy fields.
The beast’s head lifted up almost to a level with the gallery. Bright light exploded in a ring all around it, momentarily dazzling the youngsters before the visuglobes darkened. With a scream the visage collapsed and disappeared in a mass of swirling Xzyls.
‘L
et’s go,’ Lellia called, deciding that they had experienced enough for their first visit to the Stroems. She pointed towards the exit.
With the Stroemlock firmly closed, Lellia told them to enter the both and say: ‘Visit ended.’ When she came out of the booth she led them into a cosy side room and asked House for a large jug of multijuice and several bowls of craklesnax.
Fifteen minits of happy munching later, Tamina sent a private thought around the other three. They agreed. She turned to Lellia.
‘I’m sorry Tamina, your Privacy Shield was not strong enough. I heard your thought.’ Lellia smiled. ‘If all four of you really are sure you’re ready to return?’
All four nodded, looks of determination on their faces.
‘Now you have just spoiled your appetites…’
Lellia was deluged by a horrified exclamations.
‘And Eeky’s ALWAYS hungry,’ Tamina added.
Lellia laughed and a sound of violins, cellos and muted horns filled the room. ‘Thank you my dears. That’s done me the world of good. Come. Let’s find what Cook has got for us.’
CHAPTER 12
It’s Cold
Cold. Numbing cold assailed Qwelby from all sides. Eyes opened. My eyes? The world was white. Buffeted by harsh wind, he wrapped his arms around himself as the snowstorm battered him. As the winds swirled the snow there was a brief gap. He caught a glimpse of buildings, grey in the half-light. Then the snow blotted them out.
Shelter. Must find shelter.
He staggered forwards. A building loomed up before him. As he stepped into the lee of the wall, the wind eased. Rubbing his torso to keep warm he remembered his training and rapidly built his inner fire, letting the inner furnace pump the heat around his bloodstream.
The shivering stopped. He looked around. He did not recognise his surroundings. Through the snow he made out several tall buildings but no sign of any doors or windows. They were bland, uniform and grouped close together. Nothing like he had ever seen anywhere on Vertazia. The complex had the feel of a strange working area, closed for a celebration day. Behind him there was only the driving snow, thick, white turning to grey, impenetrable.
He turned back. The way ahead did not look promising, but somewhere there had to be doors and people. He started to walk, remembering to keep his inner fire burning brightly. Without seeing any doors or windows it was difficult to think of what he was passing as buildings. A brief lull in the winds and through the steadily falling snow he was able to make out more towering walls on the other side of the road. As far as he was able to see, more stretched away in front of him. There were occasional gaps wide enough to allow large powersleds to travel two or even three abreast. Surely they must lead to where there are people? Perhaps access is through tunnels from a central area. A plaza with shops and cafés. Hot drinks!
Trying to work out where that centre might be, he stopped at a crossroads and turned all around. Behind him, half masked by the falling snow, were two shapes. People. He took a step towards them. Sensed danger. Stopped. They were dark, colourless. Where were their energy fields? Again the winds shifted, momentarily parting the snow and giving him an almost clear view. They did have energy fields, but they were as dark as their shapes. A man and a woman. They felt like predators.
He hastened down a narrow passageway to his left, moving quickly between the tall buildings that loomed menacingly over him.
Where are the entrances? I know. If I walk all around one building I must find the way in. He quickened his pace even more and turned right at the next corner. There at the end of the street were the two figures, coming towards him. Frightened, he turned and ran back the way he had come.
CHAPTER 13
DICING WITH DEATH
The meal finished, the four friends returned to the cosy room where Lellia told them more about the Stroems and how they would work with them.
Back inside the XzylCavern the youngsters were startled by the difference. Although well below the gallery this time, the myriad streams of coruscating light holding down the vigorously Xzyling mass of colour made it look as though the Stroems were again eager to reach out to them.
‘This is not good.’ Lellia’s voice came clearly through the speakers in their helmets. ‘It is far too dangerous to work with them today. I’ve never seen them this disturbed.’
‘They want to talk to us,’ Wrenden said.
‘Don’t be daft, Eeky,’ Tamina said. ‘You know what Aunt Gallia has just explained to us.’
‘But they’re energy. And energy can talk,’ he said in a petulant tone of voice.
‘Your sister is right, Wrenden,’ Lellia confirmed. ‘Remember, the Stroems are a trans-dimensional vortex. Lungunu is built over one of the six focal points that bind us to Azura. They are energy of a very different nature to the semi-sentients like House and Lift to which you are accustomed.’
‘Look!’ called Pelnak excitedly. ‘Faces.’
He was right. They could all see the rearing tops of the Stroems forming into impressions of faces. This time they saw several. Eyes and mouths were not in the right places. Noses appeared where ears should be. The more the Stroems fell back and rose again, the more realistic were the faces they formed.
The youngsters were drawn to the railings around the gallery, peering over, mesmerised by the uncanny likenesses to real faces that developed.
Lellia nodded to herself. The youngsters had passed the Stroems’ test on their first visit. Now the Stroems were trying to interact.
‘Qwelby!’ Wrenden cried as a face appeared immediately below him. He bent over the railing around the gallery. Peering down he saw that everything had changed. He was looking through the colourful Stroems at a dreary collection of tall buildings, swathed in snow. They made a uniform grid-like layout. As he scanned the scene, indistinctly through the snow he saw what looked like a long ladder, some distance away.
*
Qwelby stopped and looked around. No-one in sight.
‘Up here.’
Looking up he saw a figure on top of a roof. Was it? Yes, surely. ‘Wrenden. Is that you?’
‘Yes.’
‘How do I get to you?’
‘Go that way,’ Wrenden called, pointing in the direction Qwelby was heading.
As the wind swirled the snow around, Qwelby momentarily saw a long, wide passageway that seemed to go on forever. On the sides of the buildings past the next intersection were open stairways reaching from the tops towards the ground. Weird. He was sure his eyes were not deceiving him, but the stairs seemed to stop several metres off the ground.
Comforted that Wrenden was there for him and assuming the others must be around, he headed for the first of the puzzling stairs.
He came to a side passage. Looked up. Where was Wrenden?
‘I’m here,’ his friend called from the top of the next building.
Puzzled as to how Wrenden had managed that, yet at the same time relieved that he was still there, Qwelby continued to make for the first stairway. Horror! Through the swirling snow he saw dark shapes coming towards him. How can they move so quickly? He turned to look back the way he had come. Now they were close behind him. No! He shook with fear as he realised that there were four people following him. The word ‘corralling’ came into his mind, followed by ‘capture.’
‘Quick, Qwelby, this way,’ Wrenden called, gesturing him back to a side passage he had just passed.
A sudden shiver of cold reminded Qwelby he had forgotten to keep his fire going. He focussed on that as he turned back and ran down the sideway. As he reached another crossroads a gust of wind knocked him into the corner of a building. He cried out as pain shot through his arm, looked up for Wrenden. Another jolt. He saw what he assumed were windows. All shuttered with blinds or something similar, the same grey colour as the walls.
‘Qwelby!’ came the urgent cry. Up on the top, Wrenden was pointing around the next corner. Stepping around to his left, Qwelby saw one of the strange flights of open steps. He ran
towards it, jumped but could not reach the bottom rung. Tried again. No good. It was several feet out of reach. Weird. It looked as though there was a ladder attached to the bottom. Stairs you could only go down, or up, if someone came down first?
He felt a sense of foreboding and looked back. All four people were coming up behind him. Two men and two women, spread out across the street, like safety wardens trying to herd a dangerous animal into a trap. There was something scary about the way they walked so steadily. No sense of hurrying, as though they knew whatever he did they would catch him. It reminded him of an HWScary he had experienced. With those he could always get out and back to the comfort of the HoloChair. He never did. But he could. Now there was no such escape. But at least he was not cornered, there were three more passageways he could run down, and his four friends were here to help him.
*
Tamina was struck dumb. She was looking at Qwelby’s face. It had his energy. As Tullia’s elderest she always had a strong link with Qwelby, but it was through Tullia. This felt similar as though the link was coming through the Stroem.
The face dissolved as the Stroem fell back into the seething mass.
The Stroems Xzyled even more vigorously than before. They were swirling around, faster and faster, forming a deep whirlpool. The deeper the centre, the higher up the walls of the Cavern the edges reached until the light beams were pulsing all around the gallery, holding the top of the whirlpool down. With a great roar, the whirling edges sank back and a single giant Stroem reared up, past the net of light, hovering almost at the edge of the gallery. This time the face was perfectly formed.
‘Qwelby!’ Tamina cried.
Looking up, Qwelby saw Tamina, Tullia’s elderest and Wrenden’s older sister. As well as their esting relationship, he and Wrenden were BestFriends, and enjoyed playing-up Tamina as she was so serious and a definite bossy-boots, made worse for Qwelby by the fact that she was a lot taller than him. He would never admit to it, but with Pelnak only four months older than he was, he did look up to Tamina in some ways as a sort of elderest for himself. Her presence there on the roof was reassuring.
Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds Page 10