by J. J. Green
“Oh, okay.” She shrugged, and eyed the jewellery as Notos removed his hand. A shell-like, whorled piece, there did not seem anything special about it, but maybe it had some cultural significance.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some help with that, my dear?” asked the dandrobian as Carrie tied a large knot under her chin.
“I think I’ve got the hang of it now.” She tied another large knot between her legs. “That’ll do. Shall we go back to the others?”
Rogue was already dashing up the hill, panting, wet and sandy after his play at the beach. Carrie and Notos climbed after the excited dog, Carrie’s happy mood dissipating at the thought of the day ahead. She still had no idea how she was going to move the squashpumps and dandrobians on from their stalemate.
But as she reached the top of the slope, all thoughts were driven from her mind and her knees became weak. At a distance, heading towards them, was the white horse that had stuck its head in the door at the meeting the previous day. Only it was not a horse, for what had been invisible to her before was that on its back were long, feathery, brilliantly white wings.
Carrie gripped Notos’ arm and pointed at the creature, her mouth unable to form words. It was not only the sight of the animal that moved her. Pieces of the puzzle of Dandrobia—the familiarity of the buildings, the dandrobian names and their history and the aliens themselves—were slotting into place in her mind like the levers of a lock closing. Finally, it all made sense. Earth had been one of the worlds the dandrobians had colonised, thousands of years ago. Greek mythology told of them. Apate and Notos, their names were familiar because they were minor gods of Ancient Greece. The stories told of the gods’ marvellous deeds, and how they had bred with humans and animals, giving rise to strange creatures. But when they died they became stars. They went to the stars.
“Are you all right, darling?” asked Notos.
“P—P—P...” Carrie made an effort and spat the word out. “Pegasus. It’s Pegasus!”
Chapter Sixteen – Carrie’s Mistake
“Well, it’s a pegasus, yes. You’ve done your research. Well done. Complete pains in the bottom, they are, to be honest.”
Carrie swallowed and shook her head. “Wh-what?”
“Oh, they’re always following us around, wanting someone to ride them. We keep chasing them off but give them a couple of days and they’re back again. They can’t help it, you see. That’s how they were engineered. To be in a constant state of eagerness to be ridden. They’d be too damned difficult to catch otherwise. But once you’ve been on a pegasus several thousand times the novelty wears off.” He sighed.
“You can ride them?” Carrie squeaked.
“Of course you can ride them. That’s what they’re for.” Notos rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m being rude. You can certainly ride them, but you have to hold on tight. We’ve lost quite a few fellow dandrobians that way over the years.”
“I—I could ride one...now?” The pegasus trotted up and began nuzzling Carrie’s cheek.
“Go away,” said Notos, flapping his hands.
“Please don’t shoo him.” Carrie stroked the animal’s velvety nose.
“I don’t see why you shouldn’t ride one if you like, but I don’t think you have time, darling, before the meeting.”
Carrie’s mind, which was already soaring amongst the clouds on the back of a beautiful white-winged stallion, came down to earth with a bump. The meeting. “Oh, yes.” She heaved a massive sigh. “Maybe I’ll have time after.” She would have time. She would make time. Bending down, she pulled up a handful of grass and wildflowers. She fed them to the pegasus, and it chomped them down and nuzzled her for more.
“If you carry on doing that it’ll never leave you alone,” said Notos.
He began walking back to the complex, and Carrie slowly followed, dragging her feet. The pegasus came with her, blowing through its nostrils into her face to show it wanted to be fed. She ran her hands through its silky mane.
Notos slowed his pace so that he was walking alongside her. As the three of them crossed the hills he explained more of the wonders of Dandrobia. The apparently wild, natural landscape they were walking through was entirely engineered, he said. He explained there was not an inch of Dandrobia that had not been manipulated to meet the dandrobians’ material and aesthetic desires.
“The whole planet?” exclaimed Carrie. “I’d heard you’d fixed everything to be exactly as you wanted it. But an entire world? That’s an enormous feat. I almost can’t believe it. It would take forever.”
“Don’t forget we’re an ancient species, my love. As far as anyone knows we’re the oldest intelligent species in the galaxy. Our years on Dandrobia number in the hundreds of millions.”
Carrie looked Notos up and down and shook her head. “I don’t understand it. I would have thought dandrobians would have evolved into energy, or light or something like that by now.”
“I’m very old in your terms, my dear, but even I’m not old enough to know or remember why we didn’t do that. I do know we have no desire to now. We’re physical beings, the same as you. We enjoy physical pleasures as well as intellectual ones. Why would we want to give those up? We are already immortal.”
Immortal. The immortal gods of Ancient Greece. And here she was walking beside one. She tried to remember which god Notos was, and Apate. But she was no expert. The names were just two of the many odd pieces of generally useless information she had picked up in her years of doing pub quizzes. She wondered what had happened to Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Poseidon and all the others. Recalling the god of the sea reminded her of her swim. “There was something in the water that carried me to shore, Notos. Do you know what it was?”
“It was a miliot. They were designed to help dandrobians who swim beyond their depth in the ocean. It must have thought you were one of us.”
“It saves people from drowning? That’s amazing.”
Notos smiled. “Did fish also approach you while you were out?”
“Yes, a whole school of them were swimming around me.”
“We engineered those, too, to offer themselves up as food.”
Carrie’s eyes grew wide, but then she gave a look of disgust. “That’s terrible.”
The dandrobian shrugged. “We aren’t forced to kill other creatures or damage the ocean habitat to catch them.”
Carrie’s mind spun with questions. She had to know more about this amazing species and find out about the time they had spent on Earth. “Notos, I’d love it if I could spend some time in the library. Dandrobia’s history sounds fascinating.”
A flicker of tension crossed the alien’s face, quickly smoothed away by a smile. “I don’t believe our written language would be comprehensible to you, I’m afraid.”
“No, it wouldn’t, but I bet my translator could deal with that somehow.”
Notos hesitated. “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. Well, I’ll see if I can find the key.”
“You open the door with a plain old key?”
“I agree it’s old-fashioned, but that’s the highest level of technology the Unity allows us.”
“Sorry, I keep forgetting.” The Unity certainly spared no punches when it came to controlling the dandrobians. They had no doubt also engineered themselves to have massive intellects. She began to understand their frustration and Apate’s escape attempt. Even living in paradise life could become pretty boring without any mental stimulus. She wondered what marvellous inventions, creative works and philosophies had been lost to the galaxy due to the obstruction of dandrobian progress.
Back in her retiring room, Carrie ate the bread the dandrobians had left her and prepared for the meeting. She decided to stay in the dandrobian robes. Her Transgalactic Council jumpsuit was extremely uncomfortable and wasn’t going to fit her anytime soon, if ever. She would have to explain to Errruorerrrrrhch that she needed a larger size, she realised with dread.
While waiting to be called, she went outside to practise
circle walking, the central exercise of her Bagua Zhang training. Moving and stretching her body after its restrictive confinement in her uniform felt wonderful. As she exercised, the impending meeting winkled into her mind. As a neutral observer, she could not dictate anything to either side, and she didn’t relish the thought of another several hours locked in debate.
Notos had left her promising to find the key to the library, but he hadn’t returned. She wondered what had happened to him. Dandrobians began leaving their buildings and walking in the direction of the library,. She gave up on Notos, deciding to follow the others rather than wait to be officially summoned. They were scanning the ground as they walked and Carrie did the same, carefully avoiding the several squashpumps she overtook on her way.
As the other attendees were taking their seats in the meeting room, she wandered to the other side and surreptitiously tried the handle of the door that led into the library. It rattled in its frame but remained closed. It was very strange. Why would the dandrobians lock their books away? Why would any of them want to steal one?
She settled herself down into a chair. The dandrobians talked among themselves while their slug-like guests glided and slithered onto the tabletop. She could hear the squashpumps but she could not quite make out what they were saying. She looked for Foreign Secretary Mark 1 or Mark 2 but wasn’t able to spot him.
There was an increase in volume from the squashpumps. They began sliding towards the centre of the table. Carrie caught snatches of their speech. “It’s no right,” they were saying, and “will ye look at the brazen hussy sitting there like butter wouldna melt.”
Brazen hussy? Carrie glanced uneasily from side to side. There were plenty of females in the room, but she had an uncomfortable feeling the squashpumps were talking about her. The aliens drew closer to the table centre. When they met they didn’t stop, but began sliding on top of each other. Late-arriving squashpumps glided up the table legs and across the surface to join the growing, writhing bundle of their fellows.
Watching the progress of the slug-like aliens, the dandrobians fell silent. All eyes turned to Carrie.
Finally the squashpumps’ words were plain in Carrie’s mind. “Wearing one of their outfits, if ye please! I’ve ne’er bin s’ insulted in all ma life.”
Carrie’s heart froze. She looked slowly down at the ruby-red dandrobian cloth that was knotted loosely onto her body and realised the implications of what she was wearing. In removing her Transgalactic Officer uniform and accepting the clothes from Notos she had made a partisan move, destroying her appearance of neutrality.
She stood, the knot on the fabric swinging between her legs, and waved her hands in a gesture of denial. “No, no, no. You don’t understand, I was swimming, and...this was just more comfortable, that’s all. My uniform was too tight.”
“We’re no stayin’ any longer,” said a voice from the squirming slimy lump of squashpumps. “If we canna get satisfaction from the Transgalactic Council, we’ll have tae take matters into our own hands.” The lump began to disengage, and the squashpumps slid across the table and down the legs.
Carrie grabbed her head. “No, don’t leave. Don’t go. It’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll go and get changed.”
But it was too late. None of the squashpumps spoke another word. The only sound in the room was a faint squelching as they glided out the door.
Chapter Seventeen – Dry as Dust
“Ooops,” said a female dandrobian, who was looking sideways at Carrie. Her hand over her mouth, she giggled.
“I hardly think this is a laughing matter, darling,” said another. “I didn’t like the sound of that threat that they were going to take matters into their own hands.”
“Hmm...” The female put a finger to her lips. “I think you’re right. Is there something we should do?” She addressed this last comment to Carrie.
Her head in her hands, the Transgalactic Council Officer looked up blearily. “I—I’m not sure.” She closed her eyes and mentally cursed her incompetence. How could she have been so stupid? Seduced by the beautiful environment, bored by the endless debate and discussion, she had forgotten her role as a neutral mediator. She tried to think of something sensible and decisive to say. “I think in the circumstances, in the face of the words from the squashpumps, it would be wise to take precautionary actions.”
The dandrobians exchanged glances. “What kind of precautionary actions do you suggest?” asked one.
“Err, prepare your defenses, that kind of thing.” But as the words left her mouth Carrie saw her mistake. The dandrobians had no defenses. They had been stripped of all technology they didn’t need for survival, particularly technology that could be used to invade or wage war on other planets. They were utterly vulnerable to whatever the squashpumps decided to do. She looked around at the beautiful ex-tyrants. What would happen to them?
Where had the squashpumps gone, and what were they doing? She would have to contact Errruorerrrrrhch and tell her what had happened. Maybe the Transgalactic Council or Unity could protect them. Would they arrive in time?
Notos arrived and stood framed by the doorway. “What’s happening? I just passed a line of squashpumps heading in the direction of their ship.”
“Oh dearie me, I do hope they aren’t going to attack,” said a dandrobian.
“Attack? Why would they do that?” asked Notos.
“They saw what I was wearing,” said Carrie, “and took it as a sign that I was on your side. They said they would act for themselves if they didn’t have the support of the Transgalactic Council.”
Closing his eyes, Notos said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. It was my idea that you wear our robes. I didn’t think. I’m such an idiot.” He covered his eyes with a hand.
Carrie joined him at the doorway. “It isn’t your fault, it’s mine. You aren’t the diplomat, I am. I bet it’s rule number one in the Transgalactic Council Liaison Officer handbook: Don’t do anything that could be interpreted preferring on side over the other.”
The other dandrobians were watching and listening. Notos motioned Carrie to follow him.
“I have to contact the Council,” Carrie said.
“Yes, you can speak in private down here.” They walked away from the library towards the complex. Suddenly the bright sunlight faded as a large object approached overhead.
“What’s that?” said Carrie, though the answer was obvious. She just didn’t want to believe it. A dark red, oblong spaceship was cruising closer. She swallowed. “How did the squashpumps get back to their ship so quickly?” She had seen no sign of it nearby.
“They’re docked underground, where they prefer to sleep. There’s a cave not far from here.”
What was the squashpumps’ plan to revenge themselves on the defenceless dandrobians? Carrie’s throat constricted at the thought that some of them might die due to her thoughtless actions. She wished she could go back in time and put on that stupid, too-tight jumpsuit when she got out of the sea. If only Errruorerrrrrhch would allow her to return to that moment and make the right decision, but there was no chance of that.
They began to run to escape the spaceship looming above, but it was hopeless. From above there came the sound of hundreds of clicks. Holes had opened in spaceship’s underside, and clouds of black powder sprayed out. Carrie couldn’t make out what the black stuff was. She sped over the hillside with Notos, but they were in open with nowhere to run to escape the squashpumps’ weapon. As the powder hit they hunkered down, and the dandrobian covered her with his body to protect her.
But though black was all around them, it seemed to have little effect. Carrie felt no pain and she could breathe normally. Was the black material only a shower of dust? She covered her mouth and nose. “Is this stuff poisonous? What are the squashpumps doing?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it can’t be good. Quick, let’s run. It isn’t far to the complex now.” Notos’ thick, chestnut hair was turning dark grey with the falling powder.
Following him down the hill, the dust made Carrie cough and wheeze. Though it did not seem to be immediately deadly the powder was very unpleasant. Grains clung to her hair and eyelashes and coated her nostrils. She didn’t want to open her mouth to speak because more of the obnoxious stuff would no doubt slip inside, adding to the grainy texture she could already feel on her tongue and gums. All around, the soft, lush, mossy green sward began to shrivel and turn brown.
Squinting over his shoulder, Notos caught Carrie’s eye and motioned towards a building at the edge of the complex. As they reached it he opened the door and they slipped into the dim interior. “Thank goodness,” breathed Carrie as Notos closed the door behind them. Inside, the air was free of the nasty dust. She slumped against a wall and caught her breath.
Notos leaned forwards and ran his hands through his hair, shaking the dust from it. He rubbed his face and eyes and wiped his arms, and Carrie did the same, powdery showers falling from both of them. They seemed to be relatively unharmed, and she wondered if the squashpumps were attacking according to what would be harmful to themselves—destroying the moist, lush environment—but hardly hurting the dandrobians.
They went farther into the building’s interior. All the rooms were empty. “I suppose we’ll have to stay here for a while until the dust settles.” Realising what she had said, Carrie put a hand over her mouth to cover a smile. Notos looked at her quizzically.
“Never mind,” she said, then, “Oh.” The sound of shuffling footsteps was coming from the adjoining room.
Notos frowned, then understanding dawned on his face. “Oh dear, we have to leave.”
“Why? I don’t fancy going out into that dust again.” The footsteps shuffled closer.
“I have a horrible feeling, darling...well, they probably aren’t dangerous providing we don’t let them get near us.”