There was a large hole in the plinth where the screw lift would have been and Scott wondered if they were preparing to abandon this structure.
On closer examination he realised they were modifying the walls of the dwelling. Blue workers had formed a line from outside and ferried red clay bricks to the walls opposite the light shaft. They were being carefully positioned and ‘cemented’ in place using thick, red clay slurry. This formed the double channel with a castellated centre wall – identical to the structures from which the light shafts emanated.
He moved position in order to see over the canal towards the triangular plantations. Between the canal wall and the start of the plantations were flat lattice structures where the blue workers were moulding thick red paste into bricks. These were then baked in the sun.
‘So that’s how they make their bricks.’
He then noticed that a shallow clay ramp had been fabricated from the side of the canal and ran down into the hole in the dwelling. Water sluiced over this ramp from the edge of the canal and a huge square trunk was being shunted out of the canal, onto the top of the ramp where it started to slide in the water flow. Dozens of blue workers carrying black wedges levered and coaxed the huge trunk until it disappeared from sight underground.
Scott selected crystals from further inland and saw the same frenetic activity and modifications to the walls and underground. He moved forward in time and back to the first dwelling by the dam. All the walls had been modified to the double channel design and water flowed around the circumference of the dwelling. Scott deduced that the central wall was covered by hundreds of clay bricks to protect the crystals from the sun. When they were removed, he again concluded, the whole dwelling would be enveloped in the light sheath. This they would do just before the dwelling was enveloped by the advancing cloud bank.
He turned his attention to the clay ramp leading to the underground chambers. What he saw now completed his understanding.
Two black boats were coaxed out of the upper canal and shepherded down the wet clay ramp where they disappeared from view. Doubtless there had been equal activity and construction below ground as the tunnel, which was the mineshaft providing their crystals, was linked to the next dwelling and converted into a two-way hydro transport system.
‘Your people were very adept at protecting their way of life.’ Scott said to Seren, ‘because they had the foresight to realise that they were going to lose their dwellings on the plain to the advancing cloud.’ Seren looked at Scott and her eyes blazed,
>> we were once a proud and clever people as our leader told you > but our world changed and our people started to die >>
Scott felt deep compassion for Seren and his heart ached for the beautiful female standing before him. Then he looked back towards the dam and the towering cloud bank which even now seemed to be tumbling over the mountains and spilling down the steep sides towards the red plain. This was the painful history of her people unfolding in this unlikely holographic amphitheatre.
But there was worse, far worse to come.
Chapter 55
The Black Strikes
Scott moved forward in time, selecting crystal after crystal and watched the huge cloud bank advance across the red plain consuming the dwellings of the Blue People. Each successive dwelling ‘switched on’ their octagonal light sheath in order to preserve their sunshine and hot water by day. Now, presumably, they used their underground transport system by night.
It had taken a whole wall of crystals in that dark pyramid to lose the red plain to cloud as far as the equator.
He and Seren now stood on the ledge by the ramp looking out over the ‘capital city’ and at the awesome cloud bank a few kilometres away. It was so high that he could not discern the top but here at the equator it was still difficult to imagine that the sun was going to be blotted out in the not too distant future.
Then they walked around the ledge until they were facing the direction of the opposing red plain and its distant unseen mountains.
Scott drew in a sharp breath!
The light shaft of the next dwelling 50 kilometres away was still visible but he could not believe what he saw behind it.
‘My God! It’s another massive cloud bank right across the horizon!’ With dread he wondered if what he had witnessed on this side of the land mass had occurred on the other side. ‘Surely not!’ he said aloud but Seren had read his fears and her eyes blazed,
>> our world changed >OH > HOW OUR WORLD HAS CHANGED >>
For a further wall of crystals the picture was very similar. Some crystals gave views from outside the dwelling with the light sheath visible through the rain and mist. Others must have been positioned inside giving them the familiar views of the farming groups and the dwellings containing the pyramids. He wondered how they accessed the external crystals and he presumed that it was done during a farming expedition.
On one occasion they watched transfixed as, from their view outside one of the dwellings, they saw the huge wide door slowly lower revealing a broad band of internal light. Then the front ‘v’ of the dwelling of blue workers became visible under the doorway, their crystals now faced upwards and ignited as they left the cover of the wall. The farming group moved slowly away and disappeared into the rain and mist. Scott knew that inside were young blue females who carried their leaves stuffed with seeds and that after planting the continuous drum beat would guide them back.
He selected the next crystal up, which took them right inside the farming group as it formed and disappeared outside. Now cold and hunger drove them out of the dark pyramid and into the brilliant sunshine.
They re-entered the dark pyramid and Scott guessed that they were over three quarters of the way around the walls from their starting point. From what he had seen so far – the early paradise, the tsunami, the creeping mist, the loss of the forested valleys and then the red plain, and the formation of the complete cloud collar – surely this passage of time spanned many tens of years, even hundreds. He reviewed the next wall of crystals which showed no noticeable changes to Cloud Planet. Its’ Blue People firmly banished beneath the cold, wet and misty blanket around the equator.
However the next and last wall of the dark pyramid finally revealed the horrific truth.
In the hologram they were outside one of the 200 metre dwellings, similar to Seren’s ‘home’, and, through the mist and rain, they watched as the huge wide door slowly lowered revealing its bright interior.
But the view to their left and away from the dwelling was dark, very dark. They were used to poor visibility, perhaps 50-75 metres through the mist and rain, but never such a dense blackness.
>> why is it so dark >>
‘I don’t know.’ Replied Scott and he thought that the darkness looked menacing and it gave him a very uncomfortable feeling which Seren now picked up on,
>> i do not like it >>
Their thoughts were diverted as a farming group of blue females marched out of the dwelling and moved across the rain swept ground directly towards the dark shadow. As they moved into the edge of the darkness so their light shafts cut swathes through the blackness above them.
Then it seemed to rain - but it was black rain! It fell around the farming group as it penetrated deeper into the blackness; their light shafts wobbled upwards through the dark.
Then the black above became even more intense. It happened very quickly. The laser shafts dimmed and the group stopped as if unsure of what was happening.
In horror they watched as the light shafts were extinguished.
Suddenly the blackness descended in a torrent that enveloped the farming group of hundreds of blue females and the young inside!
>> what has occurred > what has happened to our workers >>
Scott could not answer, he was so visibly shaken. Not only had they just disappeared from view, they had been buried in a deluge of black. But what was this Black?
Then he felt Seren’s anguish. Another farming group was leaving the wide black
door and heading in a slightly different direction. And they too were moving towards the darkness.
Scott wanted to shout ‘Stop! Go back! But he realised the futility of this as he was standing in this hologram of events from ages past. He and Seren watched the situation with mounting fear and frustration as they were helpless to intervene. The light shafts of the moving dwelling again swathed into the darkness creating black rain around them. As before the black intensified, descended and snuffed out the second dwelling of blue workers.
And then – nothing – just stillness at the edge of visibility. They waited, hoping to see the light shafts reappear through the mist. But nothing moved in the darkness and, after what seemed an eternity, the drums stopped and the wide black door of the dwelling started to rise and finally closed.
‘Oh God – it’s a disaster!’ Scott blurted out and he pulled Seren’s trembling body to him and saw her telepathic message as she repeated the words of her leader,
>> then our revered workers started dying > and we did not know why >>
Scott anxiously selected another crystal, and they were outside the next dwelling, towards the equator. There was blackness outside as the wide door lowered. They watched in misery and horror as two more farming groups scythed into the black and were suddenly exterminated by the dense mass just outside the dwelling.
‘Just outside the dwelling!’ Scott repeated to himself, ‘A dense black mass just outside the dwelling! Is this the same black mass as the ones building up outside us now?’
But he couldn’t take it all in. He couldn’t think or see clearly as his head was reeling at Seren’s terror which masked all rational thought.
He urgently moved forward in time.
They were now inside one of the 500 metre ‘super cities’ and, from their vantage point they looked down onto the huge area in front of the pyramids.
The space was full of hundreds and hundreds of Blue People who had formed into groups similar to the farming ones. Scott counted – 10 groups nested together – the outer ‘ring’ comprised of blue females holding the familiar light shafts down to the ground. Inside the outer circle, blond male Serenities held smaller light shafts similarly turned downwards. He added up – there must be a hundred male Serenites in each group – he whistled through his teeth – it’s like an ‘army’ made up of mini-battalions!
And this army was facing the huge door which slowly lowered into the ground.
>> what are they doing > what are all my beautiful males going to do >>
He could hear the increased tempo of the drummers as the first two battalions moved forwards towards the wide black door.
Scott and Seren moved down to the floor of the dark pyramid and forward so they were among the armies of Blue People and could watch as they marched out of the door turning their crystal shafts upwards so they ignited in the mist and rain.
The Black seemed to be just outside although it was probably 50 metres away. It was a huge and menacing sight as the first two battalions marched towards it. Then hundreds of shafts of light shot upwards into the undulating belly of the menace.
The male Serenities attacked the Black. Their lasers cut huge swathes and it rained black all around them. The two battalions scythed a channel through the mass and more battalions left the door and fanned out, advancing on the broad front.
Now the Black pulsed up and down and huge quantities deluged onto the armies of male Serenites and blue females.
The whole vista was a mass of swinging laser shafts mixed with torrents of black rain. Now all the battalions advanced as one force into the black.
Scott and Seren watched from just inside the huge doorway as the male Serenities scythed away the blackness in cascades of inky rain.
And just as their hopes of victory started to rise, the black suddenly intensified and descended behind them. Thousands of laser shafts suddenly swung erratically, uncontrollably and their lights started to dim.
‘Oh no! Please no!’ Scott’s mind screamed, ‘Don’t let it happen, don’t....!’
Seren’s terror then reverberated in his head as the lights went out.
The darkness 100 metres away was terrifying. Everything was black and still.
The few Serenities standing in the doorway looked dumbstruck; they were inclining their heads in agitation and disbelief.
Suddenly a few male Serenities appeared out of the gloom and crawled through the rain and mist towards the door. Black clung to their blond hair as, just short of the doorway, their mouths opened and they spewed black rain onto the sodden clay ground.
Then they collapsed and were still!
Seren had fallen to her knees on the floor, her hands clasped tightly in front. Tears streamed down her face which showed a mixture of terror, disbelief and anguish. Her brilliant blue eyes blazed,
>> what has happened to all those males > oh > what has become of my wonderful people >>
Scott knew and he realised with sickening dread that over 1000 Blue People had just perished fighting the unknown menace of the black.
They had just witnessed the second disaster to strike her people and he feared that this catastrophe was far worse than the tsunamis at the coast.
He felt devastated and shaken. His mind shrieked with Seren’s sorrow and then she inclined her head and a few moments later repeated the words of Hotenka,
>> we lost nearly all our blond males > we do not know why >>
Scott forced himself to look at more crystals from the same time but at different ‘super cities’. The appalling carnage was repeated and, at the capital city, 50 battalions fell to the terror of the black! 5,000 perished!
He could still not come to terms with what he had seen – surely this had not happened in all the major cities of the Blue People of Cloud Planet?
‘My research shows that it had! The Serenite males fought valiantly across the planet and inflicted huge damage on the unknown black menace. But this was at a devastating price to their race. Ninety five per cent of the male Serenites perished fighting the black, leaving the Blue People bereft of their manhood and their intelligent skills. Twenty million perfect blond beings and 8 million blue workers suffocated under that awful black tide on the red plain of Cloud Planet.
‘And now, time is the new enemy of the Blue People. Time, as their habitat, already devastated by the cloud collar, cools imperceptibly slowly. Time, as their revered blue workers die faster than they are breeding. Time, as the cooler planet temperature swings the balance of births from equality of males to females to predominantly female.
‘Time, as the leader of the Blue People says in the huge pyramid.’
>> now our revered workers are dying faster than they are birthing >we cannot birth enough males > all our people are doomed to die > our world is ending >>
‘But time is of no consequence to the Black. It has all the time in the universe.
‘Although it suffers huge losses in this battle against the inhabitants of Cloud Planet, it now waits and lets time complete its gruesome erosion of the Blue People.
‘Time is the Black’s ally. With time the Black regenerates!’
BOOK SEVEN
THE RETURN OF THE MENACE
Chapter 56
The Black Strikes Again
Scott and Seren wearily trudged out of the dark pyramid. They staggered away from the holographic amphitheatre and its terrible portrayal of the history of the Blue People of Cloud Planet. They were forlorn, dejected and very cold.
Scott cast his eyes up at the 500 metre light sheath towering back over his head into the sinking late afternoon sun. He looked at the brilliant red pyramids casting their dark shadows on the ground and on one another. He reflected that once this magnificent structure had stood under a cloudless blue sky – but how long ago he could not judge. He approached the open space in front of the huge pyramid and gazed at the wide black door......
........ fifty battalions of Serenites and blue workers had marched through that door, fought the Black a
nd perished and that scenario had been repeated outside dwelling after dwelling all over the planet, decimating the Blue People.
He shuddered and Seren, who had read his thoughts, shook and then took his hand and led him inside the huge pyramid and towards the hot triangular pool.
It was not just the hot water that warmed their bodies in preparation for the coming night’s rest.
Scott contacted Zec-1 via his palm top and was disturbed to learn that the black masses had formed outside eight of the dwellings leading to the Capitol City. Furthermore, he found it deeply worrying that they had formed 50 kilometre ‘bridges’ linking the masses. He was now beginning to believe that these black masses were the same or similar to those that had nearly wiped out the Blue People in their past. This new information was important but he was so exhausted that he could not concentrate, so he pulled his huge leaf more tightly around him and fell asleep next to Seren and her attendants.
The Blue People of Cloud Planet Page 26