by James Murdo
The green creature took a step back and stamped her foot. “Not if they’re waiting for their own kind.”
Seremend shook her head. “Believe me, you’d be wasting your time.”
“What else can I do? What can any of us do?” Before Seremend could respond, the creature carried on. “Well anyway, even if I wanted to, couldn’t, could I? Not with him being like this.”
“Is there transport?”
“Not yet. Isn’t a priority here, being so close to a couple of boundaries anyway. Big things stop working as you pass through. You must’ve noticed. And the Masses want to grow the settlement here, so why help anyone leave?”
“They don’t allow it?”
“They prefer not. If you leave, you lose the right to come back.” She pointed at one of the dull crimson lights. “The only industry we have is these. Well, these and the drones. Defences. Safety, and all that. Understandable, but restricting. Anyway, like I said, it’s not like I want to go with him right now, being like this.”
“Oi!”
“Quiet!”
Seremend glanced at the red glow. “They’re shields, aren’t they?” The creature nodded. “Could I acquire one?”
“For here only, I’m afraid. Shields, drones, nothing works outside a short perimeter. Smart, when you think about it.”
“Okay,” Seremend said, sighing and making to leave, with Galphranx by her side. “We need to go. Good luck to you.”
“And you too.”
“The Tracker will get you!” the imprisoned green creature shouted.
Seremend froze. “What did you say?”
“Yes,” the creature sneered. “Took a moment to remember, but I do. It described you, I’m sure of it.”
“That makes no sense,” Seremend replied quietly, looking at Galphranx.
“Said it thought you’d be new here. You or another one. Even described your companion too,” it sneered.
Seremend turned and began to walk quickly away.
“Knew I was right! It’ll be back!”
She ignored it, feeling the need to hurry and leave as soon as possible. As soon as they had some answers.
44
REQUESTED KNOWLEDGE
There were no dwellings near the obelisk, although there were many creatures congregated in various groups around it.
“Where’s the entrance?” Seremend asked one standing alone.
“Around the other side,” came the reply. “Anything you want to trade?”
“I’ve nothing of value.”
They moved off, around to the other side of the obelisk.
“Anything you want to tell me?” she asked Galphranx. “Anything about the Tracker?” She waited. “No?”
They reached the other side. Steps leading up to a large, circular opening had been created from thick, segmented stems that increased in height. The steps rose up to a level just above the top of most of the dwellings in the settlement. The rest of the obelisk carried on higher into the sky. No one else seemed to be intent on entering, although some looked interestedly in their direction.
Seremend climbed the steps. Behind her, Galphranx managed well, tilting and lifting up its circular base with apparent ease. “Just as well,” Seremend said. “You’d probably scare everyone if you opened your mouths.”
They reached the top and entered what appeared to be a simple, bare, circular room. It would have taken a couple of seconds at most for Seremend to walk from side to side. The walls, floor, and high, flat ceiling were a dull white, nowhere near as brilliant as the outside. Two other entrances were on the far side of the room, nothing else.
“Preference?” she asked Galphranx.
She walked quietly and slowly across, waiting for anything or anyone to stop her. The two entrances were both dimly lit. Peering into the one on the right, it looked to continue for some way up. The one on the left pointed down.
“Let’s start here,” she said, taking the one on the left and descending the steps, which were spaced a little too widely apart to be comfortable. The winding passage was brief, and they emerged into a room of similar dimensions to the above. Not unexpectedly, a hatch-point waited before them. They often looked different, but the same overall characteristics made them immediately discernible. This particular one was flat and lay horizontally on the floor, like a shining metallic sheet, or a still, circular pool of water.
She waited a few moments, surprised at her own calm. “No? Thought not.” She turned around and led them back up the stairs. “Information must be up here.” They reached the initial room again. “Let’s…”
Some flecks of black near the ceiling caught her attention. She gazed up, walking to the centre of the room.
“Welcome.” The word sounded gusty, as though it were spoken by the wind.
Startled, she half-crouched down, peering around quickly. “Where are you?”
Thousands of tiny specks coalesced high up and descended, hovering level in front of her. The fuzzy mass thickened into a ring and vibrated. She felt the air between them being disturbed.
“Here.” It pulsated. Despite knowing the translation device was interpreting the language and somehow implanting the information into her mind, the words still appeared to come from before her.
She cleared her throat. “Are you the Masses?”
“We are.”
“And this is your settlement?”
“It is.”
“Is this…” Seremend trailed off, looking around them. “Is this your territory?”
“Explain.”
“I saw another, similar to you, in a high-pressure territory.”
“Not ours.” The Masses separated into two individual units, side by side. “This ours.”
She spluttered, “This territory is yours?”
“We believe.”
“That’s rare,” Seremend said.
“All changes,” one unit pulsated. “In time,” the other unit pulsated. It recombined into a single unit again. “Hatch-point closed.”
“We’re just here for information, not to stay.”
The Masses dispersed briefly, and then came back together. “Information.”
“How’s your information stored? I’d like–”
“By us.”
“Where can I go to–”
“In us.”
“You remember it all?”
“With us.”
“There must be a device I can access? If you’ll just show me.”
“We remember.”
“What–”
Before she could finish, from the right-side entrance on the other side of the room that she had not managed to walk up, an enormous swarm of tiny specks entered in a long arm. It whipped around, interchanging a few specks with the single unit of the Masses in front of her, and then retreated.
It began pulsating again, blowing air over her face. “We remember.”
“There are a few things I want to know.”
“Give us.”
“What?”
The Masses separated. “New information,” one unit pulsated. “Or device,” the other pulsated. They recombined.
“Shall I tell you of my travels?” Seremend asked. For some reason, she did not think it would be a good idea to talk about her prior time in the Outer Layer since no one else had returned to the Spires as far as she was aware, and the reaction of the specks from the blue territory had not been good. There was no point in causing an upset.
“Go.”
Seremend began. She talked about everything that had led up to them entering the settlement. While she was talking, individual specks flicked to and fro between the unitary Masses and the entrance where the arm-like swarm had emerged from.
“More.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
The Masses split. One vibrated. “Nothing new.”
“But… all my devices are broken. They were–”
“Show them.”
Annoyed, Seremend brought her
pack around and knelt down. The Masses descended lower as well.
“See, here,” she said, holding out the charred remnants of the projection bracelet and sensor ball. “And these too – all useless.”
“Repairs possible.”
“Not by me.”
“By us.”
The Masses recombined and thickened at the bottom, into a ledge. Seremend placed one of the charred devices onto it
“All.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You want them all?”
“All.”
“Fine, but I’m not giving you my food. And you’d better have the information I’m looking for.” When the pack was empty, except for the food packets, she closed it and stood up. “Is that settled?”
“It is.”
“Then there are a few things I want to know. Firstly, are there any copies around here?”
“Be precise.”
“You’ve not heard of the copies?”
“Be precise.”
“Fine – have you heard of the Original?”
“Be precise.”
“Tolren?”
“Many Tolrens.”
“An individual of my species called Tolren.”
“None.”
“Do you know anything?” she asked angrily.
“Just ask.”
She tutted, loudly. “Fine, well maybe you can help me find a place. I believe it’s near here.” She looked at the Masses unappreciatively. “I can tell this is going to take some time.”
45
RESOLVED DIRECTION
Seremend stood at the top of the stemmed steps that led into the obelisk.
“We know where we’re going now,” she said to Galphranx, who waited a step below, while smiling uncontrollably. She pointed to the left of their position around the obelisk. “It borders this territory, not that…”
There was a commotion around the base of the obelisk. Some of the groups were shouting to each other, others were fragmenting and dispersing. There were loud bangs as many of the apertures of the dwellings were hurriedly closed. Her vision flashed crimson – the security lights all around the settlement were extinguished.
“Security’s down…” she muttered. “Not good.” A few of the crimson lights lit back up, although dimmer than previously. “Hmm.” Before she could say anything else, the flying drones all came crashing down.
As though in response, everything was silent for a brief moment, until an even louder panic set in.
Seremend shot a worried glance at Galphranx. “We need to leave. Now.”
They hurried down the steps. The area around the obelisk was almost completely empty.
“This way,” she shouted.
They sped away. Others darted in and out of their path, in a confused panic. Behind them, there were vicious snarls accompanied by distressed cries. Seremend did not turn back.
The path they ran through came to a junction – with turnings left or right. To the right, a whizzing, small, green, furry form tackled and pulled down a much larger creature, which emitted a terrifyingly high-pitched scream in response. Other creatures darted away. The scream stopped, and the green, furry form chased another nearby creature.
Seremend raced to the left. “This way,” she said between breaths to Galphranx, who was keeping up beside her. Soon, they came to the end of the settlement. The bank to the surrounding vegetation sloped sharply up, but Seremend ignored the hurdle. There was no point searching for a gentler passage or a well-trodden route with such little time. Coming for the bank head-on, she jumped up and grabbed at the top. Feeling a nudge from behind, she looked back and saw Galphranx pushing her up, while also extending its own body and exposing its mouths. When she was at the top, the extended Galphranx was still taller than her from its position at the base of the bank. It bent over and grabbed onto the side with a set of teeth, pulling its body up easily.
There was no one behind them. “Staying like that?” she asked, with a sideways nod of her head. “Can’t hurt.” A massive explosion rocked the earth, and a thick, white plume of smoke began to rise from the direction of the settlement. “That hatch-point’s going to be a little harder to access now, I think.”
They turned and began to wade through the forest. Galphranx seemed to be all around, with the fore-part of its body gnashing and pushing at the obstacles in front of her, and the back-part forming a barrier behind her. Thick stems, interspersed with colourful vegetation, lined all around them. Everything sprang back into place where it had been trodden over or forced aside.
They became aware of rustling behind them. It veered to the side around and in front of them, before stopping. They came to a halt in the dense undergrowth.
The rustling sound resumed. It was difficult to place. It rose, higher and more energetic, then stopped again. Terrified, Seremend scanned around.
Galphranx twitched and reared its front mouth up. Seremend looked up and saw a green, furry form silently dropping down towards them from high above. She fell to the ground, shielding herself when something else burst against the green form from the side, tackling it away from them before it reached Galphranx.
Seremend rose and crouched next to the lower part of Galphranx, breathing heavily. Her companion was completely still, extended up against the stems.
“I think that was the–”
Rustling from behind caused them both to flinch. It was coming from the direction of the settlement. Galphranx heaved itself down, smashing against the ground and forcing the stems aside.
You’re in great danger. Run.
Seremend did, with Galphranx creating their makeshift route. Finally, they burst onto what appeared to be a pre-cut path. The ground was harder, and it was wide enough that Seremend could have stood beside herself many times with her arms extended.
After a while running along the path, without any signs of danger, Seremend tried to slow their pace, but Galphranx nudged her forwards. This process repeated, until eventually, Galphranx began to grant her a reprieve. Once they stopped, she placed her hand against her companion. “Thank you,” she said, out of breath. “We need to stop for a moment.”
Noises to the side of the path behind them took their attention. She turned around and Galphranx moved in front of her. It was one of the small green, oversized child-like creatures. It looked at them and opened its mouth. “Leave! I can’t hold him back forever, and the Tracker – it’s coming for you!”
Wide-eyed, Seremend did as she was told, and began to run in the opposite direction with Galphranx. On either side of them the vegetation rustled. On one side, there was a flicker of white. The flickering became more pronounced and a tall figure erupted from the vegetation onto the path ahead. It was one of the three, similar companions she had seen before, upon first coming across the settlement. A Phratian. Loose clothing fluttered about its body as it moved, revealing bulging, green veins. It did not appear to have noticed them.
“Tum’nen?” she shouted.
The Phratian swivelled around without slowing down. It opened its mouth, about to reply, when an enormous, dark form erupted from the side of the path, splitting the thick stems on either side of it and accompanied by a thunderous roar. The Phratian barely had time to turn and face the aggressor when an enormous mouth clamped around its body, shook it to the side and threw it into the air.
Galphranx curved around Seremend, forcing her to an absolute halt and cushioning the impact. The creature stomped fully onto the path ahead of them. It reared a huge head back to roar again. It had two legs – each easily the size of Galphranx’s extended body – underneath a thick, dark purple, scaled body and a vicious head, lined with sharp spikes. Seremend had never seen a creature so big in all of the Outer Layer.
Galphranx reared up in front of her, stretching larger than it ever had before, although still pitiful in comparison with the monster in front of them. Seremend noticed a metallic module attached to the creature’s head, just above its terrifying mouth.
“NOT
YOU!”
The sound came from the creature, although its mouth had not moved. It ducked its head down, swiped to the side and smashed into Galphranx. Seremend watched helplessly as her companion was swatted away from her, as though a mere fly. “Galphranx!”
The enormous head turned to Seremend. She was rooted to the ground in fear.
“YOU!”
The legs bent, and the head tipped forwards, coming close to Seremend’s. Two nostrils, each the size of her own head, sniffed around her.
“Tracker,” she managed to say.
The head tipped to the side.
“I don’t know what you are… or how you’re able to change your form,” she said, between tight lips. “But you’ll never get what you want. I’ll never help you!”
The head faced her centrally. It sloped down, and its sole, central eye focused on her. It was spheroidal and dark yellow, with one central pupil surrounded by many smaller pupils, like planets orbiting a star.
“YOU KNOW ME.”
The sound seemed to come from the metallic module above its mouth.
“You’re the one they call Tracker.”
The monster sniffed, loudly. “YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT.” The head reared backwards.
Seremend frowned. “What?”
The head moved close again. “WHERE IS HE?”
“What do you mean?” she shouted back.
The monstrous head tipped to the side and sniffed again, loudly. “ALL THAT TIME AGO, I WAS SO CONFUSED. MY NATURE ELUDED ME. BUT I CAN FIND ALL I WANT FROM YOU.”
“W-what…” Her voice trailed off.
“I MUST KNOW HIM.”
“Who?” she shouted. “Who are you looking for?”
“HIM.”
“What did you do to Galphranx?”
“ITS KIND GAVE ME SUBSTANCE, BUT I NEED ANSWERS.”
She bravely took a step forward. “I have nothing you want, and I will never help you!”
The monster reared up and opened its mouth. “THEN I SHALL TAKE THE INFORMATION I SEEK!”
Seremend closed her eyes, in dreadful anticipation. Instead, she heard odd, loud popping sounds, followed by tremendous, sizzling crackles. The other two Phratians were to her right, holding weapons that fired great bolts of white energy that slammed into Tracker. She took a step back, watching the energy bolts impact and singe the beast. It roared in pain, unable to defend itself, and launched into the vegetation, away from them.