Long Paradise

by James Murdo

  “So many spires are empty,” Seremend said. “It was often the same for me.”

  “If this spire was completely empty, Galphranx wouldn’t be here. It refuses to move when no one’s there.” He pointed to his own head. “It can sense things.”

  Seremend glanced at Galphranx, who appeared to be innocently trailing right behind Prood, no longer as interested in the spire itself.

  “Not far!” Prood exclaimed, plodding more excitedly. “Close!”

  They all slowed.

  The metallic configuration around them changed. Galphranx’s interest was clearly piqued. It moved over to examine an area along the wall. Seremend squinted – the metallic segments did appear a little different to the rest. They were thicker, with larger components. They all stopped.

  The configuration changed again – six jagged openings were exposed on either side of them. The segments were organised as efficiently as before, it was impossible to see how the space had been created.

  “Side-rooms,” Tolren said. “Not seen ones like these before.”

  “Hmm,” Seremend said, peering closer at the tunnels, which led off into bends that obscured the rest of the passage.

  Loud, rapid bangs caught Seremend and Tolren’s attention. Prood was smacking her upper limbs against the wall near one of the open hatches. She leaned her entire body back and propelled it forwards while punching at the wall. Galphranx was positioned next to Prood, wobbling but unmoving.

  “Prood!” Tolren shouted. “That’s probably not necessary.” Prood stopped. Tolren glanced guiltily at Seremend. “Does that a lot. Sound is important to her.”

  They turned back, when Prood banged again.

  “Prood!” Tolren shouted.

  “Occupied!” Prood shouted back.

  They flipped around, both holding devices ready in front of them.

  A writhing mass hurled itself through the side-room tunnel, towards Prood, knocking her backwards. Prood flailed and hurled the mass off herself, onto the floor of the compartment. Galphranx continued wobbling as before.

  Prood ran towards the mass and bent low, looking like she was about to jump onto her assailant. “No!” Seremend and Tolren shouted in unison. Seremend ran towards the writhing mass while Tolren pushed himself in front of Prood, waving his arms.

  Tolren turned towards the assailant. “Kr’eke’ne!” he shouted, still waving his arms. “Kr’eke’ne!”

  The mass stopped writhing.

  “Fast!” Prood exclaimed, excitedly, hopping from one stumpy leg to the other. Galphranx moved next to her.

  “It’s a member of the Foist,” Seremend said, calmly.

  “Yes,” Tolren said, panting. “It’s a friend.”

  “Foist!” Prood shouted in reply. “Foist!”

  Tolren turned and walked towards the stilled mass. “Kr’eke’ne,” he said, gentler and quieter than before. “Kr’eke’ne.” He looked back to Prood. “They’re part of the Alliance my people joined. Our people.” He pointed between Seremend and himself, and then the Foist. “Our people.”

  The Foist, less anxious and defensive, forced some structural integrity about itself and created a number of extensions beneath its bulk to push itself higher.

  Words rumbled from the centre mass. “Kr’eke’ne. Nawa-g’eseki, kr’eke’ne,” it said to them.

  34

  UNREMEMBERED TRUTH

  Tolren passed Seremend some food and settled down next to her. They were in the busy endmost compartment of the spire, where she had first entered, sitting on a side rail with their backs to a window.

  “Are these easy to find in the Outer Layer?” Tolren asked, passing a food packet to Seremend.

  “You’ll need them less and less,” she said, almost absentmindedly as she took it.

  “What’d you mean?”

  “You’ll change.”

  Tolren flicked the packet he was holding for himself with a finger to get her full attention, before opening it and scooping some food into his mouth. “They don’t have these there?”

  She looked at him, opening her own packet. “You’ll eat less. Your body won’t require it.”

  “Food?” he asked curiously, with his mouth full.

  She laughed silently as she swallowed her own mouthful. “You’ll just accept it. There’s no point wondering why, it’ll drive you mad. It just is.”

  “For everyone?” he asked.

  She nodded. “All of us.”

  “What exactly is the Outer Layer?” he asked baffled. “You can’t die, you don’t eat, you–”

  “You can die,” she corrected him. “You just don’t, unless someone else makes it happen. And besides, the same applies here – you’ll only die if someone kills you. You just don’t realise how long you’ll live yet. Anyway, how’s the Foist doing?” Her countenance hardened. “Is it saying anything intelligible?”

  He sighed and took another mouthful. “Still no,” he said after swallowing it down.

  “Is the language an issue?”

  He shook his head. “My Foist-Major isn’t good by any stretch, but that’s not it. It’s…” He struggled to find the right words. “It’s not like the Foist we know.”

  Seremend raised her eyebrows. “Not like the Foist we know?” she repeated, slowly. “But they’re all supposed to speak Foist-Major now. What’s it saying?”

  “It’s a ‘he’. And very little. Doesn’t seem to believe he’s been here long, but he’s confused. I think he came with three others, but they all lost contact. There was an argument of sorts.”

  “That’s the Foist for you. No idea how they managed to found the Alliance,” she said humourlessly, taking another mouthful.

  “Well, they certainly take the credit for it.”

  “Nothing, then?” she asked, dejectedly. “Nothing about the state of the Alliance or anything else?”

  “It’ll take time. Prood’ll learn more of its language and we’ll find out, but it’ll take time, she’s usually busy with spire expeditions. Thankfully she doesn’t seem to need to sleep, ever. She’ll be able to speak it more completely soon. There’re so many sounds you need to make outside our auditory range in Foist-Major, but Prood always manages to cope.”

  “What did you mean when you said it’s not like the Foist we know?”

  Tolren hesitated. “It didn’t seem to recognise me, and the language it speaks sounds different to my lessons.”

  “I thought they all spoke Foist-Major.” She looked at him with an awkward smile. “Maybe you’ve forgotten how to speak it?”

  “Possibly, but it’s not the pronunciation… it’s like it’s speaking something very close to Foist-Major, but… I don’t know, it must be very confused still. I’m sure we’ll find out more later.”

  “Well, at least I discovered Galphranx likes me. Are you sure it wasn’t strange how it took so much interest in me?”

  “Probably because you’re new,” Tolren said soothingly. “Besides, it’s left you alone now, hasn’t it?”

  She rolled her eyes. “For the time being.”

  “Don’t worry yourself. It’s harmless.”

  Later, they settled down in Tolren’s side-room. Seremend’s had been given to the Foist.

  Tolren fidgeted beside her, unable to fall asleep. “Most of the time, all of us here are trying to communicate with each other or setting co-habitation rules,” he said. “Was it like this for you?”

  “Similar enough,” she grunted. “Sometimes. Often, I was alone. You’ll probably split up at some point – it happens time and time again.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “It won’t be your choice. Especially a group of you this large. Have any of the hatches closed on you before?”

  “No!” he said, alarmed.

  “Then you’ve got that to look forward to.”

  “Can you stop it?”

  “No.”

  He put an arm over her. “At least we’re back together.”

  She turned to look into his eyes
. “True. But this won’t last,” she said quietly, gesturing around them. “It never does.”

  “We’ll see–”

  There was a loud thump accompanied by shouting coming from nearby.

  “Seriously?” Seremend groaned, indignantly.

  The thump sounded again. Prood shouted something incomprehensible to the occupant of a side-room near theirs.

  “She’s well-meaning, honestly. D’you want to take a look?” Tolren suggested.

  “Fine,” Seremend replied, punching him gently on the arm. “Why can’t she spend more time trying to understand the Foist.”

  “Don’t worry,” Tolren said as they both moved to stand up. “She’s a quick learner.”

  *

  Prood plodded past them, shouting, with her clipped staccato manner, in multiple languages. Seremend and Tolren watched as she clambered into a module and whizzed away. They moved into an adjacent compartment, but others were crowding around, as they always did for spire observations, so they walked through a couple more compartments to find a free window. The spire loomed across the gulf, and they both leaned back to glance at each other in surprise.

  “Quillians,” Tolren said, craning his neck to look out of the window. “It looks like most of the spire is covered in fronds. Almost all of it, actually. That’s unusual. Usually the outside reflects the inside, so when the compartments change–”

  “The outside should change too. And I’ve certainly seen more than my fair share,” Seremend said.

  The windows on the spire section opposite them were transparent. Some Quillians appeared at the windows, with their body fronds wafting idly about, pointing in no particular direction.

  “Not focused on me this time,” muttered Seremend. “Should I be relieved?”

  Tolren put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.”

  The Quillians barely seemed to notice either of them, pointing their fronds about freely.

  “We’ll be aligned for some time.” Tolren turned his back to the window. He flicked her hand playfully. “Once all this is done and we reach the Outer Layer… why does anyone want to leave? It sounds like a paradise compared to this.”

  She grimaced. “Anything becomes a prison if you’re there long enough.”

  *

  Prood found them, having returned from the spire, and stomped over.

  “Were the Quillians interesting?” Tolren asked.

  “No Quillians!”

  They frowned at each other.

  “Empty!” she shouted, uncomfortably loudly.

  “There were Quillians,” Seremend said firmly. “We saw them.”

  “No Quillians!”

  “The entire spire was covered in their fronds,” Tolren said.

  “No Quillians! Empty!” Then, as if to prove her point, she added, “Galphranx stayed! Remained here!”

  “But we saw them!” Seremend said, raising her voice.

  “No Quillians!”

  Seremend was about to reply, when Tolren patted her arm, wincing. “I don’t think we’ll get another response.” He smiled at Prood. “Thank you.”

  “Foist language!” Prood shouted, assuming her intention was obvious, and stomped off in the direction of the Foist’s private side-room.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Seremend said. “We saw Quillians.”

  “I know,” Tolren said as Seremend waved her arms about in frustration. “But then, stranger things have happened. Maybe it was a holo.”

  Seremend looked doubtful. “A holo?” Her face relaxed. “Does Prood ever get confused?”

  “She must do – with all the languages and everything else that’s going on.”

  “Would she lie?”

  Tolren shook his head. “There’d be no reason.”

  “Let’s ask some of the others, or whoever she went with?”

  “Good luck trying. A few of the translation devices around seem to work for some of the others here, but no luck with our language. We’ll need Prood to translate.”

  Seremend cursed quietly under her breath. “Can we go on the next trip?”

  “I’m sure we can. We’d just need to tell Prood. She’s always swapping everyone around.”

  “Why?”

  “No idea, I think she does it randomly. Maybe she gets bored.” He sighed. “Well… let’s go ask her now.”

  35

  ALTERNATE PATHWAY

  The next spire came a few days later, as Tolren and Seremend happened to be staring out of a window. Seremend spotted it first and pointed it out to Tolren.

  “I almost wish it’d come later,” she said.

  “To give Prood some more time to understand the Foist,” Tolren said, finishing her line of thought. “I agree.”

  A moment later, Prood came bounding down through the nearest open hatch. “Spire!”

  “We know, we’re ready,” Tolren said, slinging his pack around his back. He stood, hand-in-hand with Seremend. “Who’s coming with us?”

  “Does anyone have to?” Seremend protested.

  “Normally there’s at least four,” Tolren explained. “But I guess–”

  “Galphranx!” Prood all but screamed, as the cylindrical body of the strange creature that had seemingly followed Seremend around on the last excursion entered the compartment. Galphranx stopped, wobbling – it looked excited.

  “Really?” Seremend said loudly, looking angrily at Prood and then at Tolren, who shook his head, as surprised as she was.

  “Galphranx!” Prood shouted. “It comes! It wants!”

  “Oh, for–” Seremend began.

  “It’s fine,” Tolren said, squeezing her hand. “It’ll be fine.”

  Galphranx moved closer to them, stopping closest to Seremend.

  “See! Already!” she protested.

  Tolren shrugged. “We’ve all got a right to request to go, unfortunately. We’ll be careful, don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen. Besides, maybe Galphranx simply likes you.”

  She looked at it through narrowed eyes without replying.

  They walked to the same two modules as before. Settling in, Tolren pointed to her pack. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about your pack.”

  Seremend looked at it. “What about it?”

  “It’s the same.”

  “Of course…”

  “I mean, how is it the same? After all the time you’ve spent–”

  “Ah,” she said with a hint of a smile. “Materials don’t degrade in the same way. Technology, unfortunately, does. But clothes, fabrics, things like that are very durable. Like us.”

  Tolren stared at her pack. “There’s still so much I don’t know.”

  “You will, you’ve plenty of time to learn.”

  When they were out in the open, between the two spires, Seremend pointed at Galphranx’s module, not far off. “Why is it with us?” she asked, irritated. “Why can’t it leave me alone?”

  “I don’t think it means any harm.” He looked at her seriously.

  Seremend was about to reply pessimistically, when something about Tolren’s expression made her stop. “What is it?” she asked.

  He looked at her uncertainly. “There’s something Prood told me.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s about The Foist.”

  “What?”

  “It claimed not to know of the Alliance.”

  “Excuse me?” Seremend grinned. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I know.” He stroked his chin. “It’s strange…”

  “Prood’s sure?” Seremend said, concerned. “You trust her?”

  “I do. And she’s as sure as she can be.”

  “Has she been wrong before?”

  He nodded. “It’s rare, but she has been. Not about anything like this though.”

  “How’s that possible, though? The Foist founded the Alliance!”

  “I know.” Tolren looked around as though for inspiration. “Maybe there were fringe parts of their
civilisation…” He trailed off. “The thing is, I don’t remember learning about them. In fact, I learned the opposite – that there weren’t any. The factions were supposed to have united, long ago.”

  They completed the rest of the journey to the other spire in quiet contemplation. Once the modules were docked in the new spire, they both stood up to survey their new surroundings.

  “There’s something about this…” Seremend said, without having to finish. They both knew what she meant. The compartment around them appeared simple enough at a glance, but it was not. The dimensions throbbed about – walls, corners, and the spaces in between. Almost everything was a solid white, which made it difficult to detect quite what was going on, with intermittent bands of bright blue streaked across. Similar to how Galphranx appeared.

  They wandered to the middle of the section and looked down through the spire.

  “Maybe that’s why Galphranx wanted to come,” Tolren said. “It wasn’t about you after all.”

  A scraping sound caught their attention. They looked the other way and saw Galphranx rushing through the spire towards them, picking up speed.

  “Tolren – it’s–”

  Tolren pulled her to the side. Galphranx sped past them, with its circular base convoluting and constricting so rapidly against the floor it was difficult to see. Behind it, the blue lines on the floor thickened and lightened up momentarily.

  “I think it’s home,” Tolren said.

  Plonking steps alerted them to Prood running towards them, from the same direction that Galphranx had just come from. “Follow!” she shouted at them.

  They chased Galphranx until it started to slow, eventually coming to a stop. It backtracked into the second last compartment it had sped through, and convulsed silently, as usual.

  “Nothing’s changed there,” Seremend said, staring critically at it.

  The compartment’s blue streaks were brighter and more numerous than within any others they had passed through. Galphranx’s blue streaks were also shining brighter than they had been. It began moving again, slowly taking them into the next compartment, where the blue streaks were also brighter than just before. Seremend looked behind them. “The whole spire’s lighting up,” she muttered to Tolren.