by Chris Hawley
CHAPTER EIGHT
AN UNUSUAL LUNCH
Voices outside the chamber brought me back to my senses. I swam easily to the side, climbed quickly out of the water and reached for my clothes. Beside them were a small towel and a two-piece suit. I had not noticed them before. They were made of the same course material, and similar to the suits worn by the three girls. I quickly dried myself on the towel and put on the suit. It fitted me perfectly. I rolled my own clothes into a bundle and, putting them under my arm, I went out through the gap in the rock into the main cavern. There, Michu was standing waiting for me, talking to a boy of about my age. Michu called out to me.
‘Did you enjoy the bathe? She asked.
‘Wonderful!’ I replied.
‘Bill, meet Manu. He is 16 years old, Martian years, that is. He also lives here in Similaria.’
Manu was about Michu’s height, with dark, curly hair and dark eyes. He bowed. I also attempted a bow, not a very elegant one. I took note of the fact that Martians don’t shake hands.
‘It is not our custom to shake hands,’ explained Michu. Once again she had read my thoughts.
‘Welcome to Similaria,’ Manu said to me, spreading his arms wide.
‘What does the name mean?’ I asked.
‘Similaria? You don’t have a word like it in English but it means, roughly translated, a place underground where the water comes to meet you in a special welcome. There is nowhere on Mars where the water actually reaches the surface of the planet. But your astronomers have observed the dry river beds that convince them that there was once water on Mars. What they don’t know for sure is that there still is water, but only underground. And we are very determined to preserve it, to keep it hidden and prevent it from becoming polluted.’
‘It was the best bath I ever had in my life,’ I said. ‘How on Earth do you get it like that?’
‘Perhaps you should say ‘how on Mars do you get it like that?’’ Manu said and we both laughed. ‘Let me explain briefly…..’
Michu interrupted. ‘Let it wait for later, Manu. Bill is starving. Let’s not make him wait a moment longer. By the way, give me your clothes; we’ll get them destroyed.’
I hesitated for a moment, wondering what I would wear on the way home. I remembered that my mobile phone was still in the pocket of my trousers. I took it out and handed over the clothes. Michu indicated that I should also give her the mobile, so I handed that over too, deciding it was not really important enough to argue about. I was convinced that it would not work on Mars anyway.
Michu led the way back along the path by which we had come. After a few minutes we took a turn to the right and up a long flight of steep stone steps, which led to a kind of platform half way up the cavern wall. I was breathless by the time we reached the top and had to stop to rest. From the platform we could see right across to the far side of the cavern in the soft light. The place seemed deserted. Apart from the four I had already met, where were the other ninety-five?
Manu read my mind and immediately supplied the answer.
‘It is easy to lose a hundred people in this place. But some are on an expedition to some volcanoes with a group of visitors from another clan. We keep an eye on them for safety reasons. Besides that, they will enjoy the outing. They will be back later today.’
The floor of the platform was covered by rough matting and dotted here and there were cushions of different colours. Manu pulled five cushions into a circle and we sat down. Michu told me that Sofu and Anamaru would soon be joining us.
At that moment, an older woman appeared from a rough opening in the cavern wall. She was short like the others and had grey hair. Michu said the woman was her great-grandmother. To me she didn’t look old enough, her skin was so smooth. She was carrying a tray with five plates, which she set down on the matting in the middle of the circle. The contents of each plate were identical, seven dark purple fruits the size of plums, a pile of small, red berries and three dark green leaves. Is this going to satisfy me? I could tuck into one of Mum’s steak and kidney pies just now. I thought to myself.
Manu and Michu laughed at my thoughts. It was Michu who explained.
‘These few things will supply all the goodness you need for the rest of the day. And you will feel quite satisfied. Most of the food you eat on Earth is lacking in nutrients and just causes ill health. On Mars we never cook our food: it only destroys the nutrients. Of course we don’t have fire, due to the shortage of oxygen, so there is no means of cooking, but even if we did… We eat to live long lives, like my great-grandmother. She is over a hundred years old, Martian years, not Earth years. She will probably live another hundred! But here come Sofu and Anamaru. We can start, but first, a prayer. We never eat without thanking the Almighty for sustaining us.’
After the prayer, we ate in silence. I noticed they all ate slowly and with great concentration, enjoying every morsel. I tried to do the same but it was very hard and I was the first to finish. But I was surprised how filling the food was. Michu was quite right: I felt very satisfied.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘The purple fruits were delicious. Where do you grow them?’
‘If you like, we’ll visit the orchard tomorrow and you can see for yourself,’ said Michu.
‘Yes, that would be fun,’ I said, yawning. ‘Sorry, I feel a bit sleepy.’
‘Good, because we always rest for ten minutes after eating,’
Everyone lay back on the matting and closed their eyes, but in no more than ten minutes they were all wide awake. Sofu and Anamaru both got up and excused themselves, saying they had urgent duties to attend to.
‘Do you have any questions before we visit the library?’ Michu asked.
‘Wow! I have so many questions I don’t know where to start,’ I replied. I thought for a moment. ‘How is it you know English so well?
‘It is important to us to study all the major languages of the planets we have contacts with.’
‘How many planets do you know, apart from Earth?’ I asked in amazement.
‘Oh many!’ said Michu, ‘but only a few have intelligible life with which we can communicate, and none of those is in our solar system.’
I thought of all our nine planets. I couldn’t imagine any of them supporting life.
‘That’s right, Bill,’ Said Manu. ‘Starting from those nearest the sun, Mercury is very hot and has no atmosphere. Venus is shrouded in poisonous gases. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are just enormous balls of gas and Pluto is very, very cold and again it has no atmosphere. Only Earth and Mars are somehow hospitable.’
‘Not many people on Earth would think Mars very hospitable,’ I said with a laugh. ‘But you are used to it.’
‘We came here prepared…..’ Michu stopped suddenly.
I was stunned. ‘So you came from another planet?’
‘Er… yes.’ She looked uncomfortable.
‘Which one?’ I asked, excitedly. I waited for an answer, but none came.
Michu and Manu looked at each other. I sensed they didn’t want to tell me.
‘The other planets where we have friends are in other solar systems,’ continued Michu, changing the subject.
I was intrigued. ‘Very far away?’
‘Yes, several light years,’ said Michu, in a matter of fact tone.
I had learnt that light travels at about 300,000 kilometres per second and a light year is the distance that light travels in one year; a very, very long way!
‘Have you been to these planets?’ I asked.
‘Heavens no!’ said Michu. ‘I am too young. Very few Martians have, actually. It takes so long to get there, even at the speed of light. But we don’t need to physically go there: we can communicate very well with them.’
‘Can your bubbles travel at the speed of light?’
‘Faster than you could imagine but well below the speed of light,’ said Manu.
‘Wow! That is fantastic! And another thing, what do these beings look like?’
‘None lo
ok like you and me,’ said Manu laughing.
‘And some are invisible,’ added Michu.
‘Invisible?’ I cried.
‘Yes Bill, invisible,’ Michu said, unable to hide her amusement at my lack of understanding. ‘Let me explain. Some forms of life have gone beyond the need for a material body; instead, they exist in spirit form. In this way they are not bound by the restrictions that we have to accept. They can literally be anywhere in the universe just by wishing it. They are beyond time and space entirely. You may be surprised to know that these spirit entities live side by side with us on Mars.’
‘Wow! I would love to meet such beings,’ I said.
‘It is doubtful you ever will,’ said Michu. ‘You have to be fairly evolved yourself before you can detect their existence.’
‘Can Martians detect them then?
‘Certainly!’ replied Michu. ‘We know they are there but communicate, no. But there are evolved people on your planet who can also detect them.’
‘Like the yogis of India?’
‘Let us just say a very few beings.’
‘I can see you have evolved a lot further than most of Earth people have.’
‘Yes,’ said Michu, ‘Now, for the library!’
I imagined rows and rows of books. What a surprise was in store for me!