Terra's World

by Mitch Benn

  - Listen to me, Yshn. He lied. He lied to everyone. He’s not who he says he is. He can’t do what he says he can.

  - He can! insisted Yshn. It’s all happening like the prophecy said it would! It’s the moment of his ascension! It’s happening right now and I’m having to miss it because I have to guard your stupid apartment!

  - Same old Yshn, snarled Pktk. Still whining.

  - Quiet, Pktk, spat Terra over her shoulder. She turned back to Yshn. - Give me the comm, Yshn. And the pulse-orb. You might get me, but you won’t get all of us. I’ve played dfsh with you; you’re not that fast.

  - I’m one of his now! said Yshn proudly. One of his elite! And I’m proud to be one of his. The old leaders were weak! You were here – they let us get invaded! He’ll never let that happen again.

  - Er, it occurs to me that there’s no point not getting invaded if in order to not get invaded you have to make things worse than if you HAD been invaded, observed Billy.

  Yshn hadn’t noticed Billy until now. - Who’s THIS? Is this another Ymn? Why is there another Ymn here? Ymns spoil everything! They’re the bringers of lies!

  - I wouldn’t come by our planet if that’s how you feel, our kid. Billy smiled, sidling up to Yshn in a friendly manner. Place is crawling with them.

  Yshn, said Terra, come with us. You don’t belong to him. You don’t belong to anyone.

  Yshn’s eyed darted from one of his old friends to the other in turn. His mouth opened and closed silently, then he grabbed for the comm.

  Yshn managed to shout, - They’re— before Billy slapped the comm from his hand. With his other hand he shoved Yshn back against the door. Pktk piled in, grappling the pulse-orb from Yshn’s belt and handing it to Fthfth, who looked at it like he’d just handed her a dead sknth.

  - They’ll be coming, sneered Yshn as Billy pinned him to the door, they’ll be coming for you.

  - We’ll be ready, said Billy.

  Terra shook her head, tears in her eyes. - Oh, Yshn, she said. She wished she could feel more shock and disappointment at her old classmate. All she felt was pity and a hint of disgust. Get him inside, she said to the others.

  The gang of friends bundled their hostage through the door.

  Terra stood in her childhood home.

  Everything was much as she remembered it.

  There was no layer of dust over the furniture as there would have been in a long-deserted Earth house – the building’s air filters were far too efficient – but it was immediately obvious to Terra that no one had set foot in the apartment for a long time. She missed Lbbp more keenly than at any time since she’d returned to Fnrr. His not being in the one place he really OUGHT to be . . . Somehow his absence now felt total. For the first time, Terra found she wasn’t sure that he was still alive after all.

  ‘Terra.’ Billy interrupted her thoughts. ‘We’ve got stuff to do.’

  Terra blinked and went into her old room. What she saw in there made her jump with alarm, giggle with amusement, and then feel rather guilty at having giggled.

  Yshn, his wrists and ankles sealed in binding gel and his mouth stuffed with a torn-off piece of his own robe, was rotating, upside down and weightless, in her old sleep-well. Fthfth and Pktk were watching him revolve, admiring their own ingenuity.

  - Well, that’s one way of keeping him out of mischief, said Terra. Where did you get the binding gel?

  - It’s his, said Pktk, grinning. It was on his belt.

  - Well, that’s poetic justice, I suppose, murmured Terra. She walked over to her cupboard and went inside.

  After a moment, she emerged, triumphant. - Told you, she said.

  In her hand, she held an interface. Her own, personal, Ymn-friendly interface. It had been made specially for her after her unfortunate experience with one of the standard models. Shortly before her return to Earth it had been delivered, along with her other belongings, to the apartment. There was no point leaving the interface at the Lyceum; no one there could use it. It had been missed during the Gfjk’s purge of its fellows.

  Billy smiled. - Let’s get to work, he said.

  3.30

  The Gfjk-Hhh looked around the inside of the spaceship. He had no idea what any of the controls did. But it didn’t matter. He was in the hands of Fate now. Fate had appointed him. Fate had guided him. Fate had preserved him. And now, Fate had brought the Black Planet to him, that he might defeat it and take his rightful place among the gods.

  If Fate could do all that, then surely Fate could be trusted to pilot a spaceship.

  The ship’s forward visualiser showed the Black Planet. Silent. Implacable. Unstoppable. Until now.

  On the console in front of him, a small communication screen flickered into life. He saw – what was his name again?

  - Can you hear me, Luminescence? asked the face on the screen.

  - Of course, replied the Gfjk. But can the people hear me? Can they see me? They must witness this! They must all witness this!

  - Yes, Luminescence, said the face.

  The Gfjk smiled contentedly. This was going to be the best day EVER.

  3.31

  - Oh, what now? snapped Pktk impatiently.

  He was kneeling on the floor of the main room of Terra and Lbbp’s apartment, trying to assemble the equipment he’d brought. He had wired up the home-made transmitter (he’d made that as a Lyceum project the previous orbit) to the signal booster he’d cannibalised from the visualiser in his parents’ apartment, and was now trying to hook up Terra’s old interface to the resulting jumble of cabling and circuits. The last thing he needed was the big visualiser on the wall suddenly springing unexpectedly to life, and the last thing he needed to see on the visualiser was the enormous grinning face of the Gfjk-Hhh in unpleasantly tight close-up.

  - How’s he done that? wondered Fthfth. I thought that thing was switched off.

  - Probably some sort of override system for use in cases of national emergency or something. Who cares? Turn it off, I’m trying to concentrate, grumbled Pktk.

  - No, wait! said Terra. We need to see this. We all need to see this. Billy, get Yshn in here – he needs to see this most of all.

  Billy shrugged and left the room.

  - I think one of our troubles might be about to take care of itself, said Terra.

  3.32

  Lbbp, with his armed escorts, walked into ‘Mission Control’. The old Forum building was a hive of activity. Technicians – or at least Fnrrns dressed as technicians – bustled around the haphazardly installed machinery. Some of them even looked as if they knew what they were doing.

  Above all this, the newly installed giant visualiser crackled into life and the Gfjk-Hhh’s beaming visage loomed massively over the room. A thrill passed through the crowd of courtiers and acolytes. Lbbp sighed. Ah well, he thought, not long now.

  - My beloved children! said the Gfjk-Hhh. I feel your fear! I sense your apprehension! But worry not! Now is the moment! We ascend together! You will be witnesses! Witnesses to my ascension and your deliverance!

  Gzzks, thought Lbbp. Utter gzzks from start to finish. He’s making it up as he goes along. Does he even know he’s making it up?

  - I speak to you now to invite you all to join me in our moment of common triumph!

  Wonderful bit of syntax, thought Lbbp. I’ll almost be sorry when this is over. He looked around. The guards who had escorted him to the Forum were no longer watching him; their attention, like everyone else’s, was fixed on the visualiser, rapt smiles upon their faces. Their hands remained on his arms, but their grip, he noticed, had finally relaxed . . .

  3.33

  - What’s he doing? asked Fthfth, her brow furrowed as she stared at the visualiser.

  - I think he’s attacking the Black Planet on his own, said Terra.

  - Well, this should be interesting, said Fthfth. She f
ound a chair and settled down to watch.

  Billy entered the room, Yshn over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He flopped the captive acolyte onto the sofa-thing. It didn’t look much comfier than the one he’d tried to sleep on.

  Yshn righted himself grumpily, then sat bolt upright upon seeing the visualiser. He said something like, - Lmmnffnf !

  - That’s him, said Billy.

  Pktk continued to tinker intently, and did his best to ignore the goings-on going on around him.

  Billy went to the window. The Black Planet seemed almost to be touching the tops of the city’s highest buildings.

  It occurred to Billy that maybe it wouldn’t be such a disaster if the Gfjk-Whatsit DID turn out to be a reincarnated demi-god after all, because just at that moment he couldn’t see another way out . . .

  3.34

  On board the little lemon-shaped spaceship, the Gfjk-Hhh stared at his forward visualiser. The black orb all but filled the screen. Yes, he thought. Yes, keep on coming. I’m here. The one you’ve been searching for. The one who will end this.

  He addressed the comm device, - Distance to target?

  The voice of the technician – what WAS his name? – answered him. - Sixteen by sixteen and closing. It’s approaching you as fast as you’re approaching it, Luminescence.

  - I must speak to it. Open a channel! said the Gfjk with an authoritative wave of his hand.

  There was a pause. - Erm . . . A channel to what, Luminescence? said the voice. (Fmsk? Was that it?)

  The Gfjk-Hhh did the wave again. - To the planet! The black . . . orb thing! I must speak to it now!

  A longer pause.

  - No one knows how to communicate with it, Luminescence, said the voice. (Fmgst?)

  - Well . . . The Gfjk-Hhh pondered this a moment. Open all channels! The planet WILL hear me. ALL planets will hear me!

  The Gfjk drummed his fingers on the console expectantly. The Black Planet loomed ever larger on the visualiser . . .

  3.35

  His Luminescence’s order had caused a degree of confusion and consternation in Mission Control. No one seemed sure how to comply with the Gfjk’s command, or indeed if it were within their ability to comply.

  Lbbp sensed the suspense and bewilderment in the room. Nothing could alter the course of events now, but he didn’t want to put the Gfjk off in any way. He turned to his escorts. - May I? he offered politely.

  The custodians barely seemed to register his question, so intent were they upon following the events unfolding on the big screen. Lbbp shrugged off their hands with no resistance and went over to the machine that looked like a protein manipulator.

  Lbbp began merrily punching random buttons and throwing switches. The machine beeped satisfyingly and a convincing amount of light-blinking resulted. Lbbp looked over at Fshnk, his face triumphant.

  - Tell His Luminescence all channels are open! he announced.

  Fshnk nodded and conveyed this information to his master.

  No idea what I just did, thought Lbbp, but you’re still going out live to your people, and that’s what matters, Luminescence.

  3.36

  The Gfjk-Hhh received the news gratefully from Fshnk. (Yes! Fshnk. That was it. Good old Fshnk) Now he could get on with the business at hand.

  He drew himself up to his full height, bashed his head on an overhead control panel, muttered a curse, hoped no one had heard him, cleared his throat and began.

  - This is the voice of His Luminescence the Gfjk-Hhh! Champion and Defender of Fnrr! Commander of the Platinum Legions! The Past and Future! The First and Last and Always! I command you to TURN! TURN, pestilence! Turn, destroyer! Leave this world in peace!

  The Gfjk stared at the little ship’s forward visualiser. The Black Planet filled the screen now. Its surface seemed to swirl and pulse. He spoke again.

  - Turn! Depart! Was there another way to say go away? Oh yes. Desist! That meant stop it rather than go away, now he thought about it, but it was the same thing really. Still the black sphere drew closer.

  The Gfjk-Hhh was not worried, of course not, but suddenly he felt that perhaps his beloved people down on the planet’s surface might be. He looked towards the little communication screen and gave them all a reassuring smile.

  He became aware that he was gripping the lip of the control console very tightly. He looked down at his hand. He saw that his fingers were indeed clenched around the edge of the panel, his knuckles pale with tension. He stared at the hand. Skin. Bones. Tendons. Flesh. Blood.

  A great freezing chill rushed up his spine. His eyes darted left and right. His knees quivered. His vision swam and then cleared, and it was clearer than it had been in a long time.

  He saw the black orb, filling the whole frame of the little ship’s visualiser. Wisps of black dust began to reach out from the surface, towards his ship, towards him. His mouth opened, but no words came.

  The ship juddered.

  The snub prow of the little ship, visible at the bottom edge of the image, seemed to blur and shimmer. As the Gfjk watched in horror, the prow dissolved away.

  The Gfjk-Hhh found his voice, and it came from him in a shrill, strangulated cry.

  - I’m not the Gfjk-Hhh! I made it all up! My name’s Bfgsh! I’m a cleaner! I work at the Preceptorate!

  The ship shook violently. The visualiser crackled and died. Bfgsh – for that was indeed his name, and always had been – turned to look through one of the little ship’s portals, and saw the Black Planet. Clouds of black dust were billowing towards him.

  - I’m nobody! he screamed. I want to go home! I want to go—

  3.37

  The Forum’s giant screen, which had been showing an extremely tight close-up of Bfgsh’s terror-stricken face, went blank. Silence.

  Lbbp looked around him. Everyone else in the room was staring at the inert visualiser, mouths and eyes wide open in dumb shock. Technicians – if that was indeed what they were – sat frozen at their stations. The courtiers were no longer lounging on the benches but sitting upright and rigid. The custodians stood, arms limp, jaws slack.

  Lbbp waited a moment for someone to speak. No one did. So he spoke himself.

  - I really liked that ship.

  No one reacted. Lbbp went on.

  - Right, well, things to do . . . I’ll be off, shall I?

  Lbbp strolled towards the exit. Nobody tried to stop him. His escorts, like everyone else in the Hub, were staring aghast at the visualiser, their pulse-orbs in their holsters, their arms helpless at their sides.

  Lbbp strolled, unimpeded, to the exit. As he opened the door, he had a thought. He addressed the mute throng.

  - Listen, if he reincarnates again, you will let me know, won’t you?

  Some of the assembled acolytes turned to look at him, but their horrified gaping expressions did not change. Lbbp winced.

  - Too soon?

  No one replied. They gazed at him in blank, wordless confusion and despair. Lbbp slipped silently out of the room. He was not followed.

  Lbbp exited the building and strolled into the now deserted Forum square. The crowd that had seen the Gfjk off had doubtless hurried home to follow events on their visualisers. Warm evening air enveloped him and he breathed deeply.

  It was impossible not to feel a tingle of grim satisfaction at Bfgsh’s (was that what he’d said his name was? Didn’t matter now) downfall. He’d been steeling himself for a rush of remorse at how mercilessly he’d manipulated the dictator along the road to his doom. Hadn’t happened so far. I’m probably still in shock, thought Lbbp. He decided to give the grieving process time to work and deal with the guilt when – and if – it hit him.

  But as Lbbp looked to the sky, and saw the black orb hanging above the city, tendrils of black smoke twirling around its outline, he reflected that if he was lucky, he might just get half
a spectrum or so to feel smug about his victory.

  He hoped the Gfjk hadn’t been the only one with a plan, that somewhere out there someone had a plan at least vaguely grounded in reality.

  That was the thing about reality, thought Lbbp. However far you ran from it, it would always find you in the end.

  Lbbp heard what sounded like distant screams. Either rage at the Gfjk’s fall, or the sudden realisation that Fnrr was helpless against the Black Planet had just dawned on someone.

  The screams multiplied. It was, as the Rrth expression so colourfully put it, kicking off.

  Lbbp cast one last glance up at the Black Planet, and with not much idea what else to do, headed for home.

  3.38

  Terra stared at the visualiser. Fthfth stared at the visualiser. Billy stared at the visualiser. Yshn stared at the visualiser. Even Pktk, intent as he had been on his work, stared at the visualiser.

  - Well, said Fthfth. That was . . . unpleasant.

  - Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke, though, opined Billy.

  Yshn sat bolt upright and rigid. He trembled. His face was one of abject despair. Into his gag he said softly, - Lmmnfnff . . .

  Terra looked at him sadly. She couldn’t help but pity him. She knew many others would be feeling the same anguish, and many, she expected, would be feeling more than a little angry, even if they didn’t yet realise with whom.

  Pktk snapped himself out of it. - I’ve got to get this finished! he said. We’re almost out of time! We’ve only got about as long again as it took the Gfjk’s ship to reach the Black Planet before it reaches us!

  Billy and Terra stared at each other in alarm.