The Meat Tree

by Gwyneth Lewis

  Inspector of Wrecks

  At this point, I’m thinking it’s just a game, with these ridiculous forays into animal nature. We’re not even close to the part of the programme I want to find.

  Apprentice

  But surely this section contains relevant information. The crew was human, so it must signify something that the animal young are turned into boys.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I think you’re mistaking pseudo-medieval fancifulness for actual data. This is all decorative.

  Apprentice

  But it feels so much more real than it needs to be. Why would they waste resources on something that doesn’t mean anything?

  Take how we feel in here, it’s breathtaking. I’m finding the forest floor so delightful that it’s arousing. The excitement reaches around my bowels, and I shit where I stand, with the thrill of just being here.

  Have you got over your snit at being the sow?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I’ll ignore that remark. What’s really shocking is how easy it is to revert to being animal.

  Apprentice

  Those early VRs usually made people into more evolved beings than they actually were. This one goes backwards, down the evolutionary scale. It’s actually much more interesting.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  It has its pleasures. Even otter scat tells me a story.

  Apprentice

  Except that our offspring will be turned into a human child, remember. It’s as if we’re beginning to generate a story quite independent of what we’re experiencing now.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  That’s the imagination for you. Look at the detail! I must say, you have a particularly fine set of nape bristles. Quite handsome.

  Apprentice

  Thanks. You don’t look bad yourself, I love the little wiggly tail.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Here’s a particularly fragrant patch of mud. Care to roll with me?

  Apprentice

  What about our mission? This is too much like fun.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I don’t see anything else to do but go with the flow at this point. Got any better ideas?

  Apprentice

  What’s that noise?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I can smell humans. They know where we are.

  Apprentice

  Oh, no, dogs! It’s a hunt!

  Follow me! I know where the underbrush is thick and they can’t follow. That’s the joy of having such short, powerful legs, we can run to the undergrowth and use brambles and nettles as cover.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  We’ve got to survive this, or we’ll never get out of the forest!

  Apprentice

  Don’t worry, humans are no match for wild pigs, especially ones which have human minds. Remember, if all else is lost and you’re cornered, wild boars have been known to charge and attack their pursuers.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I’ll see you back at the mud patch in half an hour, when we’ve lost the hunters.

  Tally ho!

  *

  Synapse Log 3 Feb 2210, 23:45

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Hychddwn, Hychddwn. Can’t get the name out of my head, or how the little boy went so obediently with Math. He left us without one look backwards. I felt quite hurt, given that… oh well, never mind. After all, it’s just VR, isn’t it?

  Nona’s turned out to have a natural ability in the game. It’s much more old-fashioned than the stuff the kids are playing these days, but she’s got the knack of standing a little aside from what she’s experiencing. I must say I’m beginning to rate her comments. Though she’s cheeky and I can’t have that. But what’s the use of caring about discipline? I’m through. She won’t be working with me but in the new unit. Still, it’s important not to let standards slip, even now.

  I might give her more scope in the VR as we go on. She’s perceptive. And it’s good to have another pair of eyes on the interior landscape of the ship. It’s been a long time since I worked closely with somebody else. I’m beginning to like it.

  Are you lonely, you old fool?

  Reason I chose this job was so that I wouldn’t have to manage other people. So that I could follow my own train of thought without interference.

  So what am I facing now when I retire? A solitary cell. As much of my own company as I want. To come back home and know that everything will be in exactly the place my own hand left it. Doesn’t sound quite so good as it used to. Still, I worked hard all my life to make things that way. I chose it.

  Stupid, I’m feeling a little low. Must be the effect of seeing that kid going off with Math. Think I’ll look out of the porthole for a while. That always cheers me up, puts things in the right perspective.

  No, I won’t look down on Mars but out into space. I like the way they put a telescope at each of the windows on this ship. It lets you view the skies at any wavelength you choose, so that you can see the full range of what’s out there. My favourite is the infrared. There, that’s adjusted. No, I’m not interested in the black but in the dense areas of stars, the parts of the sky so speckled with light that it looks like an inflamed rash, as if the whole universe were in a fever.

  Oh, and look over there. Filigree gas and clouds from a nebula, dense as the petals of a rose. With shock waves reaching far into the pulsing sky.

  7

  The Wild

  Joint Thought Channel 4 Feb 2210, 09:00

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Here we go again. Another day, another forest.

  Apprentice

  No, same forest, different animals.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  What are we this time?

  Apprentice

  Wolves. It was good of you to take the female role again.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Not at all, my pleasure. After last time as a sow, I’ve come to enjoy bearing children. I love that feeling of a new life stirring inside me. It was quite a wrench to see the piglet being changed into a human child and taken away by Math.

  Apprentice

  Yes, he was handsome, wasn’t he? What was he called again?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Typical male, can’t remember the name of your own offspring!

  Apprentice

  They all sound so alike.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  The first was Hyddwn. The piglet was Hychddwn. I wish they could stay with us, so that we could see how they grow.

  Apprentice

  You’ve changed your tune. Is that Campion speaking or Gilfaethwy?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Campion. Gilfaethwy couldn’t give a shit. He just wants to get the punishment over as quickly as possible. No, seriously, it worries me about the boys.

  Apprentice

  Well, Math could hardly leave them with two brothers who are still busy living as animals in the forest, and different species from the offspring. And two who don’t care about anything other than getting their own way. Hardly parent material.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  No, I suppose not. But I wonder what will become of them? If this year is anything like the other two, then there will be another little one. Three in all.

  I don’t know how effective this punishment has been. Fascinating for us. You’re Gwydion this time. What have you learned?

  Apprentice

  Hard to say. He doesn’t give a thought to the children once they’re in Math’s hands. There’s a terrible hard streak in Gwydion. If you’re in his world, nothing’s too much trouble. If you’re outside, he won’t lift a finger.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  What else do you notice?

  Apprentice

  What I don’t understand about Gwydion is why he thought for a second that Math wouldn’t catch him and Gilfaethwy. Goewin was bound to tell the king what had happened to her when he got back from war.

  Inspector of Wrecks

 
Perhaps he’s like one of those compulsive liars who seem to want to be caught?

  Apprentice

  There’s something to that. But it’s more. He’s missing the moral element to his character. He’s like a poet who sees everything in his work as a technical, rather than a human, problem.

  Isn’t it interesting how we’re being turned into animals that are higher and higher up the food chain? What eats wolves? Not many creatures, whereas deer and boar are staple foods for forest dwellers. Not even humans hunt wolves for food.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  So what have we learned so far about the person who’s programmed this world?

  Apprentice

  He’s created a realm which is highly sophisticated, much more evolved than we might have expected.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Yes, that is a puzzle. And we know that it’s generative, that it creates stories beyond its own scope, with the children we’ve made here in the forest.

  Apprentice

  Who knows what kind of narrative those children could generate?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Absolutely. There’s something else I can’t quite put my finger on, but which is much clearer in this third punishment. It’s a world which is…

  Apprentice

  Dog eat dog? Or, rather, wolf eat pig? Do you mean predatory?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  It’s not quite that, but it’s close. It’s something to do with how this programme treats the body.

  Apprentice

  That’d be the magic aspect of things. The way wizards take bodies and do what they want with them.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Do you think the Mastermind is a wizard?

  Apprentice

  Well, yes, in a technical sense, in that he makes the rules of the game and we have to abide by them.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  But I still can’t get those three missing crew members out of my mind. The two men and a woman.

  Apprentice

  Like the three absent children. Sorry, I don’t know what made me say that. The third one, the wolf cub, isn’t even born yet.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I still believe that the story of what happened to the crew is locked in here. Might as well continue with our year of being wolves.

  Apprentice

  Yessir! I wouldn’t have believed that it was possible to have a keener olfactory sense than a pig, but I’m getting news of fresh meat down near the river. Do you smell what I’m smelling?

  Care to run with me for a while?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I do. I think we’re about to have a feast.

  Apprentice

  Come on, she-wolf. Hurry up and let’s go! The crows are already there.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Your eyes, with the dark circles around the light irises are terrifying.

  Apprentice

  Come on, slowcoach!

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Those eyes. For a moment, I saw something watching me through them. Something that has no concern at all for my welfare. It took a long, deep look, as if it were calmly trying to work me out.

  Apprentice

  Ah, there’s the corpse!

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Before it destroys me.

  The male wolf’s faster than me and when I catch up, he’s in a frenzy of eating. Hey! Leave some for me!

  Apprentice

  A fawn. I plunge in my jowls and wear the blood like light on my face.

  *

  Synapse Log 4 Feb 2210, 18:50

  Apprentice

  I’m beginning to like Campion. He’s smarter than he looks. Though I don’t know what he’s on about half the time. Clever of him to take the female roles. He’s been respectful. After that rape when I was Goewin, I don’t think I could have been the passive one in all that incest and bestiality. He’s not to know what happened to me on Mars surface. I’ve had to work hard to hide it in the Joint Thought Channel, but I’m pretty sure that he hasn’t a clue. A repeat of that would destroy me. I told him I’d kill him if I was raped again in VR and I meant it.

  We’ve done the magic three years in the forest; it should be the end of our punishment. Can’t wait to see what the programme does next.

  Right, I’m all in. Who’d have thought that following an entertainment system could be so exhausting? Channeller on. Good night.

  8

  Offspring

  Joint Thought Channel 5 Feb 2210, 09:00

  Inspector of Wrecks

  This time, I’d like you to take the Gwydion role again, paying especial attention to the kind of magic he uses.

  Apprentice

  Strictly speaking, we need three people to go into the VR. Have you noticed how many triangles there are in the story? Gwydion, Gilfaethwy and Goewin.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  No to mention how many names beginning with G.

  Apprentice

  No kidding. Then there are the two brothers and their offspring. I bet we’ll find more. Do you think these were the roles the travellers created for themselves?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  It’s perfectly possible.

  Remember that Gwydion is a storyteller, and I want to see if it’s his magic that’s driving the plot. If it is, then he’s the key and if we download his files then we’re nearly there.

  Apprentice

  Why not download his files anyway?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Because this is a logo-cryptographic programme. You can’t have access to parts of the game in which you haven’t participated. Simple device. Designed to keep the suspension of disbelief for the players.

  Apprentice

  Frustrating for us, because we have to live the whole damn thing. We haven’t got many days left now before I have to report to Mars Surface. And we’re no closer to finding out what happened.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  I’m very aware of time moving on. That’s why it’s important that we log as many hours as possible in the VR. Do you think you can do longer than we did in the forest?

  Apprentice

  Don’t worry about me. I’m up for anything that needs doing.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Good. So let’s have a push today and see where that leaves us. Ready to go in?

  Apprentice

  Hang on, which part are you going to take?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Hard to tell till we see what’s going on. I’ll have to be quick and decide once we see what comes after the punishment. All right. Let’s go.

  Apprentice

  Ah, back to the court. I’ve found and entered Gwydion, next to Gilfaethwy, of course, and in front of Math. The brothers are both back as humans. They seem to have made up with Math. He’s consulting them about who he should pick as a new footholder. She has to be a virgin. I’ve said Aranrhod. New character. That might be the one for you.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Who is she?

  Apprentice

  Their sister. See? Another threesome. Here she comes.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  You’re right, I’ll take her. Oh. She’s a piece of work. Just like her brothers, who she hates.

  Apprentice

  Look out, Math has put his wand on the ground. It always makes me nervous when a magician’s staff appears. This is a test for virginity.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  It appears that I have to step over it. There’s something here between me and Gwydion, a secret. I hope it’s not what I think it is.

  Apprentice

  And that would be?

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Incest.

  Apprentice

  Not again. This game is full of it. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy did it three times to our knowledge. Do you think that there was a pair of siblings in the crew? The two men, perhaps? Or a brother and sister? It would account for the recurring motif.


  Inspector of Wrecks

  Math asks Aranrhod directly, ‘Are you a virgin?’ And I reply, ‘That is my belief.’

  Apprentice

  Slightly tricky answer. So, step over the wand.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Here goes. But you know, I feel like I did in the forest. My womb… I’m sure…

  Apprentice

  Oh. That’s done it. You’ve left a child behind.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  Nothing to do with me.

  Apprentice

  Come on! The evidence is there as plain as day. You gave birth to a beautiful boy. Listen, he’s crying for his mother.

  Inspector of Wrecks

  How could he be mine? I’m a virgin. You should know. You were the one who recommended me. If Gwydion says I’m a virgin, then I am.

  Apprentice

  Come back for the boy! You can’t just step over him and leave him, like embarrassing underwear shed in a public place. You’ve got to face up…