by Mark Russo
The suffering guy moaned and groaned. His voice got lower.
When I approached the dispersing mass, I found Andrew kneeling by the side of the burnt guy. He saw me and shook his head.
The person on the ground was not talking anymore.
I surveyed what remained of his face; I had no idea who he might have been.
19
Vaim
When the noise grew too sharp, I searched for a place where I could do all the complex update procedures in peace. I went into the woods. My eyes could see well even in the absence of light, but I should have considered what that meant for humans.
A few steps from the party, I bumped into two drunken men naked from the waist down. They did not care about me, so I moved past them.
I was far from them when I considered sitting to complete the update. A tall tree appeared before me that looked large enough for me to do what I had to do undisturbed. I climbed the large crowd of leaves and branches and sat on the largest one I could find.
I was finally ready to start the program again. I closed my eyes as I entered my idle state.
“Vaim, this is Alpha,” the mothership said to my communication system. “This update will work slightly differently than the others. We will restart your system now.”
Then it all went black.
*****
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in the woods in the sky. I was tied by multiple cables to a vertical pod, like those I remembered seeing a long time ago. It whirred for a moment when the straps loosened, and the wires retracted into the pod’s interior. My body was now free to move.
The surrounding environment was made of metal and glass. A large circular room surrounded the pod I was in. I stepped out of it and landed my naked feet on a steel pavement, but it didn’t feel cold. On a table nearby, this one made of metal too, were some clothes that I put on. They looked different from the ones humans wore, with all those zippers and pockets. The fabric was way too rough for planet Earth inhabitants.
“Vaim,” the mothership said, “this is part of your updating process. I’m restoring some of your memories. This will be a gradual process. Explore the surroundings, and you’ll start remembering.”
I must be inside the vessel, as it spoke to me through some speakers I could not see. “Okay.” I got dressed and as soon as I stepped close enough to the only door in the room—a narrow panel of green glass—it opened, revealing a long corridor lit only by strip lamps embedded in the walls, and I entered. My eyes immediately adapted to the absence of light, allowing me to walk faster. A wild pain hit me in the center of my forehead. I almost fell from how badly it compromised my balance. I leaned against the wall and waited for it to dissipate.
“I’m sorry, Vaim. I tweaked the settings of the memory reinstatement. You won’t experience dizziness anymore.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t know if I had thought or had said that. I looked to the pod room, and it hit me. That was the first memory I’d had. That was the place I had been created many years before.
“I have that information, but it is not relevant at the moment.”
“Can you hear my thoughts?”
“Of course, it will be easier for us to communicate.”
“I see.” I walked in the opposite direction of the pod room. The corridor seemed longer than I thought; As I moved forward, the light at the end of the tunnel remained stationary.
“You passed this test too. Your visual systems seem to work properly.”
A whirring sound shrunk the corridor, and the light was now at arm’s reach. I stepped into the light, and I was blinded. The surrounding space moved like an elevator. It climbed for a few seconds. When it stopped, a sliding door revealed a large room. Black metal walls were adorned with numerous devices, monitors, digital counters, and other digitally interfaced tools I recognized. I approached the large, thick glass windows at the bottom of the room and saw a gray planet devoid of orbiting moons.
“This is the main planet of Plane Marcov. This is where you come from,” the ship said.
“I remember that. I spent a long time with them. They work a lot.”
“Yes, Marcovians are hardworking folks. You spent years with them. Let me show you what that looked like.”
*****
The surroundings changed again. I was in a Marcovian lab now. A lot of them moved in all directions, but none talked to me. The room was almost ten meters long and just as wide, with all sorts of equipment neatly lined in parallel ranks. At the center stood a large chest that did not match all the technological gadgets; it was something that belonged to another world, and I knew which world that was.
A couple engineers were using a large lens to collect data about the ancient artifact, while another was projecting an intense light on the lid of the antique. Lots of data columns appeared on a wide monitor behind them as three other scientists closely monitored them. A light fog-like substance poured from the base of the chest. Some Marcovian scientists walked away, while some covered their mouths and noses.
Soon, the entire room filled with gas, and my visual systems stopped working. I moved a couple steps ahead, as I remembered the layout of the room, then my right foot hit something. I crouched and realized I had almost stepped on an unconscious scientist. I checked his vitals; he was breathing. I decided I’d better stay there and wait for the smoke to clear; I didn’t want to hurt anyone.
Time passed, but the situation didn’t improve. I still couldn’t see anything, and the guy on the floor remained there. I could hear something was happening though. Judging by what my ears told me, the equipment around me was moving. Maybe walking was not possible, but crawling might have worked. I moved slowly and passed a couple other unresponsive Marcovians.
The lens the scientists had used to inspect the chest floated above my head then disappeared in the fog. I crawled forward, where I remembered the chest being. More bodies slowed approach, but I reached the stand where they had placed the object. Its lid was open, and many Marcovian tools and gadgets were flying in the air and inside it. Many transparent beings flew above my head, carrying all they could grasp inside the chest. They didn’t seem very interested in me as I watched them. I waved a hand toward one, but it ignored me. I crawled farther ahead and reached the side of the antique furniture.
There stood a creature slightly differed from the standard Marcovian. His skin was way lighter and much less wrinkly. He looked more like me. A human being, once mothership Alpha said. While supervising the job his intangible thieves were doing, he spotted me and approached me. His eyes were covered by a peculiar device with large red lenses.
I didn’t budge and waited for him to reach me. I had nowhere to go.
He kneeled in front of me. “How do you do it?”
“What?” I asked while getting up.
“Why is the gas not making you sleep?”
“I’m not like them.”
He rose and came closer to me. His visor lifted and revealed two deep eyes slightly bigger than mine. “Are you like me?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He studied my eyes. “No, you are not. You’re something different, something I have never seen. You should come with me.”
“Why would I do that? I was sent here to help these people. You’re stealing from them.”
“I believe you have only been in this world. Am I right?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
He opened his arms. “This, see? I’m not from this plane, and yet, I’m here.”
The fog lessened, and I had a clearer peek at the creatures this guy was using. They looked like ghosts from a kids’ horror story but without the scary element. “I don’t know what a plane is.”
“There’s a lot I can teach you, and you can learn a lot from me. There’s still time.”
The smoke had almost completely dissipated, and I heard two scientists on the ground moan.
“What will it be like on the other side?” I asked.<
br />
“Like nothing you’ve seen here before.”
I stared at him and knew what I had to do.
*****
Everything around me had changed again. I was sitting in a large chair, and the man I had followed through what he called a portal was by my side. “Is this going to take long?”
“I’ve seen nothing like this. I have no idea what any of these components do. Do you perceive any pain?”
“I do not perceive sensations. What does it look like?”
“What?”
“The inside of my head.”
“It took me half a day to understand how to get it open. Now I’m looking at metal pieces blinking, a few cables, and something resembling a piece of mud.”
“Do not touch any of those components. I don’t know how my body would react.”
“I won’t. One thing I know for sure, I’ll never manage to build another you.” A few clicks and a weird clanking sound announced he had closed my skull again. He walked a few steps away, pluming a lot of the dust from the enormous building’s floor. “Would you have a problem with making a few adjustments to our story?” Valu faced me. His hands were close to his body but pointed at me.
“I need more details to answer.”
“I need my people as close to me as possible. I need them to trust my leadership.”
“Is this because of the new Communion that was recently created? The Great Communion.”
“Yes, I need them to believe I can create life. I need them to think I can do anything.”
“I understand. What’s in it for me?”
“You’ll always be my right arm. We can achieve a lot more, but you must trust me. Can you do that?”
“A promise is not much. It’s just words.”
“What do you want then?”
“Let’s say, you have to trust me. Can you do that?”
Valu nodded.
I approached him. “I’ll tell you what I need when it will be time. For now, let the others believe you can create life, as you said.”
20
James
I looked down and saw the edge of the island a foot from me. The sky was clear and punctured by the occasional star. The wind had stopped blowing, and no sounds were audible in the night’s obscurity. It was the third night in a row my eyes would not rest; my thoughts had become increasingly clouded as I got more sleep deprived.
“It looks like you really can’t catch a break these days,” Akko said behind me.
“Yes, kinda. I keep thinking about what you said. I can’t say what’s real and what’s not anymore.”
“If you keep on like this, you won’t be able to tell up from down, James.”
I heard his tiny legs rub against one another as he trod by my side. “Are you looking at anything in particular?” Akko peeked down the edge of the island.
“No, I was just thinking of going for a ride to clear my mind a bit.”
“I assume you have a way to safely get off the island.”
“I do.” I jumped and saw him in the corner of my eye trying to grab me with his short arms. I waited a few moments to use my stone giant skill while plummeting. The view of the approaching land beneath me was fascinating. Then my body grew in dimension, and it all looked smaller.
Upon impacting with the wet grass, I tried a somersault, and it mitigated the noise of my heavy limbs touching the ground. It had worked, just like the last time with Emma. I didn’t get hurt, not even a scratch. When I looked up at Akko, he seemed even smaller than normal.
He waved his stick at me.
I said goodbye, conjured a stone board and left. I remembered being in that same valley maybe a month before when we had first met Andrew and saw the islands in the sky. So many things had changed since then. The canyon we had ran almost entirely on that day had been way too dark to follow, so I climbed the side of the mountain, headed for the top. Thankfully, I was wearing my warmest jacket.
When I reached the mountain’s peak, I looked around, but the conditions did not help much; it was dark, and the more I distanced myself from the island, the murkier the night became. I turned and checked the other edge of the canyon, and again, I did not see a thing. Obscurity had wrapped the entire surroundings in all directions.
I pushed the board mindlessly forward, keeping the speed at its minimum. The noise had a repetitive quality, so I focused on that. I descended the canyon again and raised the other side of the gorge. Again, blackness swallowed me as I got to the other peak. It looked like there was nothing left and right, above and below. The only thing that proved I was still somewhere was the noise of the board grinding the soil.
I moved forward. Soon I entered a patch of woods. Somehow, it got even darker. Because of the trees surrounding me, I had to push the board even slower. I didn’t remember ever going that slow; I was literally moving with baby steps. Then I had an idea. It had been a long time since I had summoned a stone worm, but I guessed it would be just fine.
The stone worm burst from the ground with its typical earthquake like vibration.
I could not see the creature, but I could perceive its presence.
It chirped in its uncomprehensive language.
“Lead the way,” I told him.
The creature didn’t react.
“Just go. I don’t care where.”
The worm submerged into the ground and scurried as fast as it could.
I heard trees break and crumple to the ground. I yelled, trying to get the beast’s attention I had just summoned.
It trashed everything its path. It was too dark to say how far it went. Then all the racket stopped, and it emerged from the ground and remained silent.
“Slow down. I do not see anything. Got it?”
It did not say anything before it plunged into the ground again. It probably had gotten the gist of what I meant, as it now moved at half speed.
I followed the worm, switching off my brain. Now the sound of grounding rock increased, and it almost lost its soothing quality. I was trying to think about something, but I just couldn’t focus on anything.
The worm stopped, emerged from below and chirped, trying to show me something.
My body found new vigor as I dismounted the board. I walked with my arms extended as I ambled through the obscure woodland.
The stone worm guided me, adjusting the intensity and tone of his voice.
I trudged forward until my hands touched a wooden wall. I slid my hands on it to guess what it was. A small splinter lodged into a finger. My right hand found a much smoother wood. I slid my hand down and found a doorknob. I pulled it, but the door was stuck. Something blocked it on its lower end. I used more strength, and the hinges creaked. I had just opened a door to a room I could not see.
My next step creaked a floor, and so did the next one. I turned right, and my hand gently touched a smoother object than I had felt yet, so I grabbed it. I couldn’t surmise what it was, so I slid my hand farther and touched something that might have been metal. My fingertips grazed a tiny cog, so I twisted it. The room brightened slightly with the old oil lamp I had been fondling, and I covered my eyes for a moment.
I turned to see a tiny wooden room with a couple pieces of furniture. A small, empty shelf hung against the wall on the other end. A few gardening tools gathered in one corner. An old mattress on the floor covered with a thick quilt surprised me.
I went outside to talked to my pet monster. “I’ll take a nap, and you stand watch, okay?”
It emitted a low sound I took as a yes.
I went inside, and, as soon as I threw myself on the mattress, I fell asleep. It proved to be the longest sleep I’d enjoyed in days.
*****
I woke up, and everything around was still pitch black. I got up, and my headache was almost gone. My thoughts seemed to run in a more organized way. Once I put on my clothes, I grabbed the lamp, turned it on and went outside.
The stone worm emerged from the ground and regarded me.
&nbs
p; I pet it on its enormous head; it seemed not to hate it. “How come it’s still dark? How long was I sleeping?”
It made a lot of different noises, but I didn’t understand.
I lifted the lamp to peer into the woods, but it seemed just as immobile as before I fell asleep.
The stone worm stood before me, like waiting for instructions.
I asked him to canvass the area, see if anything useful was around there.
It left immediately, drilling forward in the ground.
A strong urge grew from within my guts. I shook as the impulse grew irresistible. I screamed as loud as I could until my throat hurt. I took a breath and did it again. My throat hurt much more that time. When my voice disappeared inside my mouth, a weak trembling of branches occurred in the trees. The rumbling grew; I felt it under my shoes and throughout my whole body. Everything around me shook like a hundred stone worms were all thundering in different directions. The earth broke, swallowing trees in all directions. It lasted maybe a couple seconds, but it left permanent marks.
When the earthquake was over, I noticed something that knotted my guts even more. The devastation had struck the entire area except for a small circle of soil around my feet. I checked the lamp, and its flame was still burning.
The stone worm popped from the ground and regarded me in a way none of them had ever done before. “It seems like you finally managed to cause an earthquake. There’s no need for you to scream, just so you know.”
“You can talk now?”
“We always could. Now you handle the Path well enough to understand us, but we always understood you.”
My mind got stuck, trying to process all that. “Okay, this’ll make things easier. Why hasn’t the sun risen yet?”
“That, I don’t know. I was here all night, and the day just didn’t come.”
“I need to talk to Emma. Do you know the way back to the islands?”
“Yes, follow me. It’ll just take us a few minutes.”
We were speeding in our new home’s direction shortly after. While jumping from a piece of rock to the next, because of what the earthquake had done, I contemplated the stone worm’s voice. It had a low-pitched sound, one that echoed deep in my body. Soon after, I spotted the islands; they appeared as three darker patches in the blackness. My lamp didn’t help seeing them better.
