Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds

by Geoffrey Arnold

  As she reached up to her throat and unszeamed her suit a short way, she puzzled. Nothing fitted. She would not enter a HoloWrapper Enactment in the summer, in a winter flying suit. She would not waste time by falling asleep. And why am I in my body? I would have chosen to be one of those lovely, black and white ponies.

  My body!

  She felt herself shaking. Her brain was at last passing on the messages from her eyes. She was looking at her own body, dressed in her favourite bodysuit. It was impossible to be in a HoloWrapper programme as one’s self.

  And where is that pesky twin?

  She got to her feet, brushed sand from her suit and looked around. Although there were a lot of different marks on the ground, there were no footprints. That meant he had not got up and wandered off.

  She called out ‘Qwelby!’ several times, becoming more and more worried as there was never an answer. Finally, she accepted he was not there.

  A long, long silence followed as the truth slowly dawned. Definitely this was not an HW adventure. It was real. Frighteningly real. Worst of all, not only was she alone and didn’t know where or when, her twin was not in that special place that each of them had in their minds where the other lived.

  For the first time in her life she did not have a mental connection with him. She put her hand to her necklace, running it through her fingers. The three strands of intertwined metals felt soft and silky, but its energy was muted. Finally, fearful of what she was going to sense, she stroked her purple crystal of Kanyisaya. There was no tiny tremor. The final, frightening confirmation. There was no contact with her twin’s torc. They were totally apart.

  She sat down with a bump. Tears welled up, she sniffed, swallowed, couldn’t hold them back and they burst forth. Slowly, her crying calmed down and turned into a few snuffles. She pulled a tissue from one of the many pockets in her flying suit, dried her face and finished with a good blow of her nose.

  Tucking the tissue back into a pocket, she stood up and looked around to see in which direction to put her best food forward. Through the leafless bushes she thought she could make out a track. That was heartening! Tracks had to lead to places or, better still, between places, so there should be something at either end, and that, she really hoped, would be people.

  Right. My wrister. Why haven’t I thought of that before! She pulled back the sleeve of her bodysuit.

  The facsimile of Vertazia indicated early afternoon. That was all right. Nothing else was on display. She tried all the other functions. None worked. Her legs went wobbly and she sat down. Surely, here in the WarmBand, there should have been an arrow pointing her in the right direction. Or at least words should have appeared saying: ‘You Are Lost.’ But nothing? It was lost!

  Taking a deep breath, she stood up, lifted her head and looked further away. In the distance on the right hand side she could see a low range of hills. She stared at them for a long time as there was something special about them, but she wasn’t sure what. There was a definite shimmering around them, which she knew could just be the effect of the very hot sun, but it felt a lot more than that.

  The path did not seem to lead that way and she could not see that it went anywhere in particular. Looking to her left she saw that after a little way the track curved off between the trees. Ah well, let’s see if there’s anything round that bend. Best foot forward in that direction. She looked down at her feet.

  Neither of them volunteered, so she selected her left foot and set off to follow the path. As she did so, she realised with excitement that there were a lot of footprints on it.

  As she walked along she noticed that several footprints had toes. She wasn’t really surprised because it was hot. Almost as hot as she was used to in summer at home, when she and her friends did not bother to wear shoes even when outdoors. The hope of meeting young people like herself gave her a warm feeling.

  She was starting to feel a little more relaxed and happier, and naturally she shared those feelings with Qwelby. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. He wasn’t there! It’s not just that he wasn’t there with her physically. He wasn’t there in her mind! That had never happened before.

  They were not ordinary twins, they were Quantum Twins. It wasn’t that they were always talking to one another in each other’s minds, it was just that whenever either one of them thought of the other, they could feel that the other was there in the corner of their mind.

  Between themselves they did not bother much with privacy of thoughts. They knew each other so well it was usually obvious what each was thinking anyway, but when they deliberately wanted to think or feel with each other, they always knew that the other was there, even if that twin wasn’t immediately able to share. This time there was absolutely, totally, completely nothing!

  Tullia felt weak at the knees and stopped walking. She took a couple of steps to the side of the track and lent against a tree while she recovered from her biggest shock yet: the possibility that she was no longer on Vertazia.

  The adventures on the staircase played back through her mind. I have arrived in just the very sort of desert we saw at the bottom of the staircase! As the next memory popped in of slipping into the comet, her legs trembled so much she had to sit down again. She gave an anguished cry. ‘It’s all my fault!’ And where is my twin? I cannot feel him. He must be at home. I hope. No. I need him here! She burst into tears.

  She wiped her eyes, blew her nose, and put the tissue back in her pocket. Taking a deep breath, she got up and stepped back onto the track. Looking down at her feet, she thought this time it would only be fair if the right foot had its turn to be her best foot forward.

  She was getting hotter. She had left Vertazia dressed for a cold winter’s day. She thought of stripping off her bodysuit but did not have the energy. She settled for unszeaming it down to her waist, revealing an iridescent turquoise cami. Thinking of Vertazia reminded her of the one big lesson that they all learnt: ‘Use your mind’.

  Okay, she thought. She enjoyed most of her time at college because it was fun. You were required to go out to explore and discover all sorts of things all for yourself. In spite of the age differences, for the last couple of years she and Qwelby had done that a lot with their four BestFriends, XOÑOX.

  She stopped in the middle of the track, stood still and thought to herself: ‘Eyes are for seeing, ears for hearing, nose for smelling, mouth for tasting, hands for touching, quieting for sensing and Intuition for quantuming.’ She did not like the last one because it reminded her that she could not connect with Qwelby. She decided to put that on one side for the moment and just use the other six.

  First she looked around more carefully. Nothing to be seen except an endless vista of spiky bushes, small trees with bare branches and a pair of much larger trees. Although there was plenty of space between individual trees, lots of them grew in small groups and there were so many spread out all around that in some directions they eventually formed a barrier to seeing anything further away. Then she listened and became aware of occasional, faint noises. She felt the slightest touch of breeze on her face. When the breeze dropped the noises disappeared. Smelling the air and tasting it did no more than confirm her other senses: warmth, dryness and perhaps a little bit of dust.

  As she walked on, the track curved and gently dipped down as it started to descend what she decided to describe as a wide and very shallow valley, that stretched a long way to both left and right. She expected to find a river bed at the bottom but there were no such signs. Feeling disheartened, she stepped off the track and leant her hand against a tall tree which was very different from all the others. As she did so, she felt a gently energy flowing into the palm of her hand. Oh that was a nice, familiar sensation! Thank the stars, at least that’s like it is at home.

  She moved closer to the tree and rested her forehand against its grey and peeling bark. She felt more energy flowing into her and put her arms as far around the trunk as she could manage. Resting her cheek against the comforting feel she relaxed into
the flow and felt as if the tree was reaching its arms out around her.

  Whilst she was doing that she also started to use her seventh sense without realising it. She received the impression that at times life would be very challenging. As a feeling of despair grew another sensation enveloped her: as long as she remembered to Trust in herself, everything would turn out as it was meant to. Half her mind said sarcastically: ‘Oh, thank you very much.’ As the other half acknowledged a typical Tazian reminder about where the source of her strength lay, she gave the tree a big hug and genuinely said: ‘Thank you. Thank you very much.’

  Feeling very much better, she stepped away from the tree. With a last lingering hand running down its beautiful grey bark, she opened her eyes. To another shock. Two people were standing a few paces away, holding hands and staring at her. Dark brown skin, short black hair, and wearing brightly coloured, heavy clothes suitable for the winter. A slim young man the top of whose head did not quite reach her shoulders, and a shorter, younger looking girl. There was something about them that told her they were brother and sister.

  The two young Meera had recognised her. Or they thought they had. They knew that beings known in Africa as Siskas who belonged to the race of the Goddess Nananana were the most human looking of all Extra-Terrestrials.

  Whatever had happened to Tullia as she was hurled from Vertazia, her energy field was visibly vibrating, making the flame like patches on her body suit appear to be moving. That the dazzling colours were not the reds and yellows of the fires the Meera knew emphasised Tullia’s otherworldliness. She had to have come from the sun. Yet within the flames the Goddess looked more human than they had ever imagined possible.

  The young girl could not believe her eyes. In front of her was a figure who was so like the Siska who had appeared in her dream. A dream she had not shared with anybody, not even her brother. It had followed an amazing evening when her tribe of Meera had been celebrating with their special healing dances.

  CHAPTER 19

  A GODDESS IS BORN

  KALAHARI

  That night it had been close to freezing. A group of young Meera boys were continually adding branches to the fire to keep the flames leaping high into the air, providing warmth and light. As the healers danced around the fire, a deep groove was cut into the sand. The dancers were almost naked, sweat pouring down their bodies from the mixture of physical exertion and the energies that were channelled from the universe by their ancestors, through them and into those in need.

  There was a sudden stillness in the air. The flames stopped their flickering dance. They leapt upwards in a coruscating column and seemed to hang as if suspended from the stars, spinning around like a miniature whirlwind, casting an eerie light across the whole scene. There was no sound, no movement. No-one breathed. It was as though the air had been sucked out of the whole area.

  With a loud thunderclap, the flames fell back down to the alarmed cries of the women as pieces of burning wood showered onto their clothes. The men dancing close to the fire fell down where they stood. Those healers who had been moving amongst the onlookers rushed back to pull their colleagues away from the fire.

  Slowly, the clearing emptied as people drifted back to their huts, wondering what the omen meant.

  Together with Xashee, her sixteen-year-old brother, Tsetsana had helped one of the healers back to his hut. She had returned to stand by the fire, wondering. With his long, black coat wrapped around him, Xameb, their Shaman, was sitting at the other side of the fire. He beckoned her to join him.

  ‘Relax,’ he said. ‘Breathe as you have been taught. Open to the world of Spirit. We will speak no more.’

  Together, they sat close to the fire until a chill breeze pushed away the little heat that remained in the fast dying embers.

  She looked at the Shaman.

  He nodded.

  ‘Did you see her?’ she asked in a small, uncertain voice.

  He waited.

  ‘The flames. I thought I saw a figure. A woman made all of flames. Her hair so long it seemed to wrap around her whole body as she spun around.’ She bit her lip. He was the seer, the visionary, not her, an eleven-year-old girl not yet become woman.

  ‘You have clear sight, Tsetsana.’

  She saw him smile at her sigh of relief.

  ‘What does it mean?’ she asked.

  ‘A visitation. Do not speak of this to anyone. Even me.’

  She frowned, puzzled.

  ‘Keep it within. In that way you may discover more. If Spirit wills it.’

  He nodded to her. They rose and walked back to the village, he to his hut and she to the one she shared with several other girls.

  That night, Tsetsana’s secret fantasy came alive as she dreamt of meeting the most human-looking of all extra-terrestrials. Surprisingly, that Siska was wearing the traditional Meera costume of loinskin and bead necklace appropriate to older girls and young, unmarried women. Apart from the green lights flickering throughout her amazingly long hair, she looked like a member of one of the tribes of red-skinned San.

  Now, right in front of her with the same face and hair, was a Goddess made of fire. Tsetsana trembled, her legs went weak and she felt herself break out in a sweat. She grabbed hold of her brother with both hands, staring at the apparition, her eyes unfocussed, seeing the two images as one.

  Her brother was equally transfixed, overwhelmed by the beauty of the Goddess. His heart was pounding. He could not tear his gaze away from her purple eyes. They seemed to be looking right through him. Half aware of his sister’s trembling hands on his arm, he put his other hand on top of hers.

  Having been totally open to her Intuition whilst she had been cuddled up to the tree, Tullia realised that they were looking at her with more than just surprise at the sight of a stranger. Their energy fields showed that it was awe. She controlled an urge to have an hysterical giggle as a HoloWrapper phrase: “I request an audience with your leader,” sprang into her mind.

  She took a deep breath and slid a hand to her throat, feeling her necklace. I am fifteen years old. I have Thathuma, my EraBand, for my first era. Kanyisaya, my crystal for the completion of my second phase of being. I have completed my third phase of thinking: so THINK!

  Again she had to suppress a giggle. Are they wondering whether I come from the moon or some other planet? Perhaps they think I’m an Extra-Terrestrial! Suddenly, she felt very strange. I AM an Extra-Terrestrial, aren’t I? Our planets share the same space, but really we are two completely separate worlds.

  How to communicate? Her mind recalled a fun game she played with her friends, pretending they could not speak Tazian. Now that she knew what she was going to do, she took a deep breath and held herself erect. Thoughts of coming from a different planet, in peace, of being in command and wanting to be friends were coloured by memories of participating in HWAdventures as Auriganii making contact with other races. All that flooded through the two Meera and found homes in the unconsciousness of each youngster.

  She pointed at herself and said: ‘Tullia.’ Then opened her hand, pointing to them in a gesture that she hoped would mean she wanted them to speak. She did not need her Intuition to tell her of their fear and confusion. She smiled, hoping it would mean the same to them as it would to a Tazian. She saw the young girl lose some of her fear and hug her brother’s arm.

  ‘The Goddess smiled at us!’ Tsetsana said to her brother, looking up at his face,

  Relieved they were not too frightened to speak, Tullia gave them another, encouraging smile.

  Taking a deep breath, the boy spoke.

  Tullia was so relieved. After a strange sound as though he was urging on a horse, she heard: ‘Ashee’. She flashed him a smile as she relaxed.

  He was thunder-struck. Never before had he seen such a beautiful smile. And those purple eyes. He felt an uncontrollable trembling in all his limbs.

  Gripping her brother hard, the girl said: ‘Tset – sar – na.’

  That was perfect. Although Tullia co
uld see how nervous the girl was, she had heard the sounds so clearly. ‘Tset – sar – na,’ Tullia repeated. Then added: ‘Ashee.’

  She saw the boy tremble. His eyes darted around as though he wanted to be anywhere else but where he was. She could see him taking deep breaths, the young girl hanging onto his arm. Puzzled, Tullia could sense the girl was trying to calm the older boy.

  ‘CH – ashee,’ he said, looked down at the ground, then back up. ‘CH – ashee.’

  Ah. That sound. It is part of his name. ‘“Click” – ashee,’ she stumbled over the sound.

  He gave a faint smile and nodded.

  Making similar gestures as before, she tried to encourage them to say her name. That was difficult. She could not understand why they were so hesitant, so shy. She thought about the girl’s name, the breaks in it as though it was three names all together. ‘Too – lee – ar,’ she said clearly.

  ‘Too – lee – ar?’ Tsetsana said.

  Tullia beamed at the girl, and was rewarded by a big smile and a sense of relief and, something she could not identify. Recognition? Impossible! The girl was definitely less in awe than the boy. ‘Tooleear,’ she said, making it one word.

  ‘Tooleear,’ repeated Tsetsana. ‘Tooleear,’ she said again as she turned to look up at her brother.

  Tullia could see the girl was excited, but the boy had gone a deep red under his brown skin. Some of the colour shading in his energy field and the way it was fluctuating puzzled her. Awkward, uncomfortable, but what else is affecting him?

  He took a deep breath and licked his lips. ‘Tooleear,’ he said.

  She felt her shoulders drop. She had not realised how tense she had become. She smiled with relief as the last vestiges of fear drifted away.

  She saw the boy tremble. The girl clinging onto his arm as though to steady him. Is he ill?

  Silence.

  Now what to do? A memory arose of important Tazian ceremonies she had seen at home on the HoloReceptor. She licked her lips and swallowed. I don’t remember the exact words, but here goes!