by James Murdo
He looked across at her. She was still sleeping, effortlessly as beguiling as when he had first laid eyes on her. As much as he wanted to stay, something played on his mind.
He gathered his clothes and left the side-room, taking care not to wake her. After getting dressed in the compartment corridor, he took a deep breath, and entered the only side-room he had not yet entered. Hers. Walking into the narrow entrance, he looked right, into the main part of the room, and shock spread across his face.
20
CROSSED PATHS
Hearing a noise, Tolren looked around. Seremend had entered the end-section and was facing the transparent casing of the module he sat in. She tapped against the barrier.
“Couldn’t help it, could you?”
“Just looking,” he said, not quite meeting her gaze. “Still nothing.”
“Come on, let’s get some food before we start.” She turned and walked out of the section. He waited a moment, staring at the open hatch she had just left through, before heaving himself out of the chair and leaving the module.
“Are you nervous?” she asked directly as he joined her in the main cabin. She tried to look into his eyes.
“I’m fine,” he said, hesitating briefly before kissing her awkwardly on the lips. “What’s this?” He held up the food packet she had selected. “You like this?” he said with mock-astonishment.
“It’s practically a delicacy compared to what we had on Nirloden!”
When Seremend was finished, she stood up enthusiastically. “Come on, Tolren. When you’re done, we can start the spire-spotting.”
*
They sat in adjacent modules with their belongings next to them, just in case. Their bags were filled with packets from the food dispenser. They turned to face the other side every now and then, in case a spire came into view from there.
“What will we actually do?” Seremend flicked her head behind them. “If it comes from there?”
“No idea,” Tolren confessed, looking at the control panel.
“Must be what these’re for,” Seremend said, also looking at her own control panel. “Higher for in front, lower for behind?”
“As in a spire in front of us, or behind us,” Tolren said – less as a question, and more to confirm they were both thinking the same.
Seremend nodded. “And the central one’s an… initiation.”
“Initiation. Of what?” He looked at her. “That’d make sense though… if these’re anything to do with the spires anyway.”
She pressed a hand against the transparent casing between them. “I know – let’s not get our hopes up.”
He clumsily returned the gesture, pressing his hand on the casing against hers.
“Well,” she carried on, looking out through the window in her module. “We’ll find out, soon enough.” She brought her hand back down.
It did not take long for a spire to arrive. It appeared, in front of them.
“Ready?” Tolren asked. The spire was swinging up from the bottom of their windows, and moving quickly. “Let’s press–”
“Wait, Tolren.”
He looked at Seremend. “What’s the matter?”
She took in a deep breath. “Before we… Is everything okay?”
“What d’you mean?”
“You’ve been different.”
“Have I?”
“Since last night. Is everything fine?”
His cheeks flushed red. “Seremend, I’m fine. We’re fine.” He looked back ahead, although her gaze lingered for a moment longer.
“Fine,” she said softly.
The spire came closer, continuing on its upwards trajectory. Its windows were circular, the same as for all the spires they had seen. Opposite, they all appeared to be darkened, although some light spilled out from them at various points along the spire.
“Tolren, what’s that?”
It did not take him long to realise what she meant. There were small, sporadic flashes of bright red and blue streaks, darting across the outside of the spire’s dark-grey exterior.
“Nothing I’ve seen before,” he said, with wide eyes. “Certainly not the Quillians again.”
“Tolren.”
“Yes?” There was no response, so he looked at her. She pointed at her middle pad. “Shall we press it?”
“The middle one?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, ready?”
They pressed the pads at the same time.
“Did you hear that?” Seremend asked.
“That low hum?”
“Nothing’s happened. I think it means we pressed the wrong pad.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t wait?”
“And miss the chance to do whatever it is?”
“Fine – the top one?”
“Okay,” she said. “Ready?”
They pressed the top pad.
Immediately, a message appeared on their windows.
“Wow,” Seremend said. “Are you seeing this too?”
Tolren peered closer. “It’s in Roranian script. This is…”
“So we did make the spires?”
“Or someone who knows about us. Must be.” Tolren read the message again. “What does ‘Six spaces ahead. Proceed.’ mean?”
“That’s what mine says, too,” Seremend said.
“Spaces?”
“So these…” Seremend trailed off as they turned to look at each other.
“These are some sort of transport?” Tolren questioned. “Spaces… it implies–”
“Are these even spaceworthy?” Seremend asked, looking around. “Glintsparse isn’t typical space vehicle material! Windows… yes. Everything?”
“It’s probably not glintsparse.”
Seremend raised her eyebrows.
“We need to be quick,” Tolren said. “It’ll be gone soon.”
“Should we wait for another one?” She nodded towards the strange flashes of red and blue coming from the spire. “We’ve not seen this before.”
“Others might be even more different. This could be our only chance.”
“Okay.” Seremend straightened up. “The middle pad – ready?”
Tolren turned back to his controls. “Ready.”
“Let’s go,” Seremend shouted.
A hiss sounded, and the transparent modules sped out from the spire, into the vacuum. Tolren shouted in surprise, hearing an accompanying scream from Seremend. The part of the spire’s hull that had enclosed the window was still there, at the front of each module. Tolren shivered instinctively, half-bringing his legs up to his chest. He turned and saw Seremend in the same position. The two modules were side-by-side.
“What’s happening?” Seremend asked.
Tolren recoiled fractionally. “I can hear you!”
They looked at each other in surprise. Tolren did not want to break the gaze. Turning around was too terrifying. They were open to the vastness of space.
Slowly, they tore their eyes off each other and looked around. Stars twinkled in the distance. Tolren looked at the spire they were moving towards. The red and blue sparks prancing around its hull were more obvious now. Down to the left, he could see the end of the spire – it appeared precisely as long as their own. Looking down the other way, both spires extended until they dissolved into the distance. There were no other spires around them. Just space.
He looked back to their original spire. They were about halfway between them now. The points directly behind them, where the modules had left the spire, shone brightly in comparison with the dark hull. It looked like there was a near-transparent shell leftover from where the modules had departed from – the same as the casing that housed the three empty modules.
“Tolren.” He turned to see Seremend point behind them. “There’s nothing pushing us.”
He understood her point. There was no visible propulsion for their modules. As far as they could see, they were sitting in transparent boxes – albeit with a segment of the spire’s hull attached
at the front, with a sparse control panel, travelling through space.
He laughed tensely. “Nothing I’ve tried before.”
“Me neither,” Seremend said, quietly. “What now?”
The question was answered for her. They twisted their heads in alarm as the fronts of their modules flicked up impossibly fast and darted away. The hull segments, along with the windows, were gone, leaving only the control panels.
Feeling no change, Tolren reached out. His hand pressed against something hard.
“Seremend, it’s fine,” he said. “I think it’s the same as the rest of the casing.”
He glanced and saw her reach out to test the barrier for herself, before turning around. He did the same.
Just in time, they saw the hull segments that had left their modules slot back into place in the spire they had come from. The windows flicked to opaque, stemming the stream of light. They cast worried looks at each other again.
Tolren squinted ahead. Either he was becoming dizzy, or the new spire was rotating more quickly.
“We’re rotating,” Seremend said.
She was right. Again, he looked behind and saw their old spire rotate in the opposite direction. The modules were taking them into the same orientation as the spire they moved towards. A moment later, their modules rotated around another axis, leaving them facing the old spire, with their backs to the new spire.
“This is…” Seremend did not finish.
Too quickly to comprehend, the front of his module darkened. A new hull piece had affixed itself to the front. It was darker than before. He looked at Seremend’s and saw the same had happened. Looking behind, white smoke swirled around from within the newly exposed part of the unknown spire they were headed towards, seemingly unaffected by exposure to vacuum. Presumably, there was a casing barrier that the modules slotted into, the same as in the spire they had just left.
“Let’s hope there hasn’t been a fire,” he said.
“What’d be the point?” Seremend said, sounding almost amused, despite their current situation. “Is this what the inside of a Quillian ship looks like?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. And the hull’s completely different. This is something else.”
Exiting space, their modules backed side-by-side into the spire, and stopped. They were slotted in. All around, a thick wall of smoke filled their vision. They could only see into each other’s modules, nothing else.
“I don’t think there’re any other modules here,” Seremend said. “That must be why the writing said there were six spaces.”
“You’re probably right,” Tolren said, pushing himself off the seat. Seremend was doing the same. As they stared around, their eyes began to adjust to the smoke, which appeared to thin. The features of the room became apparent.
“You’re right,” Tolren said, with certainty. “No other modules here. Compartment’s empty.”
Seremend pointed to one end of the compartment, then the other. “One hatch open, one hatch closed – like ours.” The closed hatch was the same size as theirs, although darker, and with the same sparks of red and blue flashes writhing across it as the outside of the spire. There were no discernible contours on the surface. The open hatch looked to have been of the same type, aside from being open.
“D’you think it’s the same?” Seremend asked.
“As ours?”
“Same setup I mean. Main cabin, side-rooms…”
“Could be,” he said, turning and looking at his module’s handle.
“Wait,” Seremend said, before lowering her voice. “Are you sure?”
“We can’t stay here.”
“The smoke might be poisonous.”
“I’ll go first.”
“No, wait–”
It was too late. He had already pushed the transparent casing open, and swung it out.
21
TRAVELLED VISITORS
Tolren shivered. He swiped his hand through the air and a tangible ripple emanated away from him. “Well – doesn’t smell like smoke. It’s just a kind of mist… I think.” He looked back and saw that the module had not clouded up. Seremend remained in hers.
“Tolren, I think you should get back in the module.” She sounded panicked.
The ripple pattern travelled to the end of the segment, and through the hatch.
“It’s fine,” he said.
“We don’t know what’s here.”
A flash of red and blue light emanated from the compartment past the hatch.
“What was that?” Seremend asked.
Tolren put his finger to his lips.
“Tolren,” she hissed. “Come back.”
He looked at her. “Wait.”
“I’m coming out.”
“Hold on.”
More red-blue flashes reflected off the mist. He stayed rooted to the spot.
“Tolren–”
Something sped through the open hatch and flew towards him, causing him to stumble backwards. He reached out for support, accidentally slamming the module’s casing closed. Scrambling to his feet, he heard a crackling noise coming from the centre of the room.
“What is that?” Seremend shouted.
He lifted his head slowly. A black, bulbous mass, encased in leathery flaps that seemed to rotate around it, pulsated in the middle of the room – suspended between the ceiling and the floor. Steam was being ejected from two nozzle-like apertures at the base of the central mass. It was nearly the same size as his torso. Blue and red sparks crackled across its body.
“Don’t do anything,” he whispered.
Seremend ignored him, pushing her casing open. The eddies in the mist rippled away from her. As soon as they impacted against the floating mass, the creature emitted a high-pitched hiss and darted towards her. She screamed, retreating into the module and pulling the casing shut, holding the handle from the inside. The creature stopped close to her module, with its central mass still pulsating and the flaps rippling from the motion. Sparks continued to fizzle on its body. It was about an arm’s width from Tolren.
“Sorry,” Seremend whispered.
Tolren did not move, not wanting to create any disturbances in the mist.
“Get back into your module,” she whispered in a quivering voice.
He mouthed ‘wait’, and stepped slowly back, putting distance between himself and the creature and trying to place his body around the corner of the casing, where he could most easily grab the handle to enter his module. It did not appear to notice him, instead wafting closer to Seremend’s module.
The creature’s billowy body impacted against Seremend’s module, and it immediately recoiled, settling a small distance back. Seremend stared at it with a horrified expression.
“It’s nervous,” Tolren whispered, once he was around the corner of his module.
The creature moved and tapped its central mass delicately against Seremend’s module, dragging its sheet-like extremities across the surface, although nowhere near the handle. Seremend still held it firmly from the inside.
It edged closer to Tolren’s module. Tolren stepped further back around the corner, almost at the side of the compartment. The creature passed the division between their modules, before stopping splayed against the entrance casing of his.
“It’s felt the handle,” Tolren whispered.
“It wants the module,” Seremend said in a panicked voice. “It knows what they are.”
“We don’t know that.”
“It wants to steal the module!”
The ripples of blue and red began to dance more energetically, concentrating across the central mass. The creature’s flaps also began rippling more excitedly. It moved a hand’s width back from the casing.
“Tolren – get in!” Seremend shouted.
“Wait,” he hissed.
“Tolren!” Seremend shouted in exasperation, “We’ve got to do something!”
“Not yet,” he said again quietly, staring at the creature.
&nb
sp; A ball of mixed blue and red sparks appeared fizzling in the mist in front of the creature’s central mass, between itself and the module.
“It’s getting ready to attack!”
“How d’you know?” he asked sternly, raising his voice as much as he dared. “Maybe it’s how it sees.”
“Tolren,” Seremend said imploringly. “We can’t take the chance.”
“What if it’s trying to communicate?” Tolren moved forwards slowly, still careful not to disturb the mist. “What if it’s just asking a question?”
“Don’t take the risk. We can’t. Don’t go any closer!”
“Give me–”
“It wants to steal our transport!”
The fizzling ball moved away from the creature and impacted against the module casing, dissipating into nothing with an audible crackle. Tolren hardly had the time to wonder what was happening, when the casing sprung open. He instinctively raised his hands and took a step back. The disturbed mist swirled around him, with some eddies drifting over to touch the creature. Immediately, it reared backwards, around the corner, and sped towards him.
“Tolren!” Seremend shouted, amidst the commotion.
He closed his eyes and covered his head for protection, although curiously felt nothing. Bringing his arms down, he wafted the thick mist away to look around, confused. He noticed Seremend’s casing was open. In panic, he looked around. The mist continued to clear. He saw her standing near the creature, which had returned to its original position in the centre of the room. She was stood still, staring at it as though mesmerised. The creature pulsated more rapidly than before and the sparks danced furiously across its body.
“Seremend, are you okay?”
She did not reply.
The creature began to sink. Stepping closer, he saw the side of its flap nearest Seremend was torn, right down to the central mass. Sparks were jumping around that same point, although they were quickly subduing. No more mist was being ejected.
He took another step forward. “What’s–” He did not complete the sentence. Light glinted off an object in Seremend’s hand.
“No!” he shouted, staring at her, horrified.
The creature sank low enough that its lowest flap touched the floor, and collapsed completely.