The tension was high and on this cold still night the only movement was the breaths that could be seen in front of each person as they slowly breathed in and out. Everyone was in a kind of transfixed trance waiting for the spell to break.
The first person for whom the spell broke was Cunac. Being closest to the Punku he could see a slight shimmer begin to appear and then a few wet drop of rain land on the dark wooden floor which shone in the starlight. Now was the moment. Cunac was excited, not scared. This was his time. He began to get ready to reach for the flask as soon as he felt it was right. Suddenly there was a flash of brilliant white light that illuminated the space between the pillars of granite. The whole quadrant shone bright white and then there was a sudden crash of thunder that rolled around the walls of the quadrant as if it were an angry beast trapped in a cage. The faces of all six people in the quadrant were lit up. There was no mistaking the sign. Five people winced at the brightness of the light and jumped back at the noise with Sarenen landing on his feet from a cross-legged position. He had not known he could do that.
The light faded quickly but in the time he had had Cunac had acted almost instinctively. He whipped out the flask from inside his robe, drank a large mouthful of the liquid and then with his last breath he threw the flask through the Punku to WaytaPata. Nobody would know he’d killed himself. He was sure his legacy was secure and his life's work complete.
16Legacy - The day that followed
(Earth Year 1998)
Sarenen ran to his father as soon as his senses recovered enough. By the time he reached him the rock he had modelled himself on, he lay dead on the floor. Sarenen fell at his father's side screaming. He lay there holding his father close. He could still feel the warmth of his body through the thick tunics. Slowly Sarenen got to his knees and pulled his father into a seated position next to him and shouted, “Father, Father! Come back to me. Don’t leave. I have no doubts! I believe. Father!” Sarenen was half shaking Cunac in the forlorn hope he could shake life back into the old priest. Slowly breaking into deep sobs Sarenen was coming to the realisation his father was gone. The two men stayed there, one sobbing and one slowly cooling.
The two men were surrounded by four onlookers who were trying to come to terms with what they had just seen. Each was processing the scene in a different way but all felt a swell of pity for the son who had just watched his father die.
Betts was the first to approach Sarenen. She had not known her family for more than the thirty-six cycles since she arrived on Pachamama but in that moment she felt great empathy for Sarenen. She simply went to him and joined him in a three-way embrace. At this Illary, a lifelong scientist who prided herself on being detached from emotion to remain objective wept. But she could not move from her position on the edge of the quadrant about sixty feet from the three figures hunched in the starlight.
Da’Cince was stood in denial trying to believe what his eyes were telling him. He had not believed his old friend earlier that day, or was it yesterday? He had no idea. How could Cunac have known what he’d obviously known? It was not possible. Cunac had surely just had too much shrouple over the years and his mind was leaving him. Everyone knew it happened occasionally. Everyone shared the care of those whose mind had slowly started to depart leaving the body to catch up eventually. Da’Cince had even been planning how to help his old friend adjust to a relaxed final few cycles. But not this. This was not possible. Da’Cince just stood looking, watching and then his eyes stung and he began to weep for Cunac.
Ma’Kusi was horrified. The old fool, what had he done? She knew he was stubborn. She’d always suspected he was a Listener first and foremost and knew he believed in WaytaPata, at least the WaytaPata of legend. Not the corrupted Realm they had studied for more than a generation, but this, this was insane. He had truly lost his mind. Not in the way her husband naively thought but in the dangerous way that could cause pain and damage. But how and why? Even with his death, he had made a statement that was going to risk the security of the Realm and even of DiPacha. The light and noise, not to mention Sarenen’s wailing would have been noticed. They were going to have to manage another situation to ensure the truth did not cause disaster. Damn Cunac! Ma’Kusi then remembered herself and was horrified at her own extreme. A man had died and her first thought was of anger toward him! Whatever he had been in life he had left a son who loved him and he was grieving. Sarenen was grieving here and now in front of her. As Ma it was her duty to do the right thing.
“Da’Cince of Pachamama! We need to help our friends,” she admonished her husband and silently herself.
The shock and force of the address from Ma’Kusi shook Da’Cince and Illary back into action.
Between that moment and sunrise they set to work moving Cunac to his home to be laid out ready for cremation at sunset. Once Cunac was safely laid out in his home they cleared the quadrant. Ma’Kusi brought up her concerns that they would need a story to tell of Cunac's final moments.
“Ma’Kusi, please!” said Betts
“Look, Betts, I am sorry for the loss of Cunac but the noise and light will have been noticed. Your work and your background, come to that, are at risk if we are not careful. We must be practical as well as respectful,” replied Ma’Kusi trying to sound mournful.
“Ma’Kusi is right,” said Da’Cince who appeared to be waking from a long sleep and realising the reality of the situation. “We need to be clear on two things. We need to be clear on what we record on the neural-net and what we tell our friends and families who share this Realm.”
Ma’Kusi smiled. There was the man she loved.
It was while they were clearing the Quadrant that Illary noticed the block of black rock. “What in the name of the Gardener is that doing there?!” She moved over to it and picked it up.
Sarenen had been sitting where his father had lain since he passed. He had gone back to the spot on the return from his father's home. He was not fully aware of what was happening around him. His guard was unusually down. “I put it there,” he said bluntly and with a lack of emotion.
“What! Why?” shouted Illary and Betts in unison.
Sarenen was immediately transported back to the moment and his normal internal editor was now fully engaged. He needed a reason, a plausible reason quickly. One that protected his father and the True Listeners. Free of doubt he was inspired in spite of his personal grief.
“My father asked me to put it there,” he said plainly.
Everyone now stopped moving and all were focussed on Sarenen. There scepticism and curiosity were evident.
Illary asked, “Why in Pacha would he ask you to do that?”
Ma’Kusi was looking worried.
“It was for two reasons. As you and I now know my father was truly aware of his death. I have no explanation for this except that which he himself gave. The Gardener and he had made contact in his meditation. My father wanted to leave us with gifts. Not just any gifts, he has left us important legacies we can share.
“In his death, he has shown the truth of the Gardener and this can only strengthen the message the Listeners can share with our fellow Pachans. This can benefit all DiPacha. For the Guild of The Punku, he has left us a key to the Punku. He has provided a way to WaytaPata we can use to help in our mission to unite the Realms in peace and for the benefit of all.
“I can sense your doubts, my friends. We can only test this key. In a final lesson, he shared with me that he knew of a storm on WaytaPata heading for Stonehenge. We all know that storms have opened the Punku from WaytaPata. My father said that the power of the black rock would help open the Punku more predictably by attracting the storm.
“I can only say that he was inspired correctly as we have seen. I pray we can share these legacies for the benefit of all, and Ma’Kusi, I understand that we must not deliver the whole truth at this time. It would be too dangerous.” Sarenen finished his speech and realised he’d been listening to himself as much as saying the words he hed spoken! They sounded
like his father’s words. He recalled the old man’s recent teachings and smiled inwardly. The old priest was a clever man. With a key, disciples could be sent to WaytaPata and start clearing the Garden.
Especially if Eik was correct about the Punku he believed he had found. Afterall, The Guild of The Punku had still not identified more Punku to WaytaPata, Sarenen smiled. Blessed be the memory of his father.
16.1New Connections
For the past thirty-five cycles Eik had been been one of Cunac’s most trusted disciples and trained by him in all Illary’s discoveries and techniques for observing the emissions from WaytaPata, including learning the English language in secret. Eik had shown immense ability and insight in all disciplines. Illary kept all her knowledge in the Guild of The Punku room within the neural-net. Only those who knew where the Guild of The Punku room was had access and Cunac had shared this knowledge with Eik who in turn had created a room for just Cunac, Sarenen and himself, a room for the True Listeners. With the knowledge the three had gained over a generation they knew more about searching for and interpreting the emissions than Illary and Betts. Their motivation bordered on fanatical and they had spent many days linked together through telelink and researching the neural-net for any clues that could get them to WaytaPata. As Listeners, they did not have the distraction of growing their own food and had used their time to the full.
To Cunac's constant amazement paths had kept opening for them. This encouraged his conclusion that the Gardener was guiding them to their destiny. Eik had now worked out a way to scan for emissions using Illary’s technology. He had not only worked out how to scan for the emissions as Illary had done but had made it possible to pack the tools needed into a small bag that could be carried without suspicion. He had a small device that used black rock to detect the emissions and another Illary had designed that emitted the sounds from WaytaPata.
So while the Guild of The Punku were looking for the lost WaytaPata Punku by researching recorded history in the neural-net and listening to other realms for rumours of emissions Eik could actually search for emissions. This was the advantage the True Listeners felt they deserved. Eik had made the discovery a cycle before Cunac passed in the quadrant. Now with Eik and his son David both in the thrall of the True Listeners they were travelling through the Pacha Realms. Their official reason for travelling was that of a mission blessed by the Ma and Da of their home realm, Stacha Pacha. They had been sent across DiPacha to ensure all Realms knew that two ancient trees had just fallen on Stacha.
Stacha trees were legendary and no Punku was large enough for a single tree to pass through, indeed few were large enough even for a single branch. Each tree grew across countless generations and when they fell they caused tremors that could be felt across the Stacha realm and the mourning of its people as a part of Stacha died too. Fallen trees were a rich resource and could be mined for building materials and fuel, enough to sustain whole towns for a generation. Being of Pachan mind the Stachans did not want to waste the resources now available, sharing them would be met in kind by any realm interested in the trade.
David had suggested to the Stacha Ma that this would be a good opportunity for Stacha Realm to be seen across DiPacha. This was an opportunity for Stacha Pacha to reaffirm ties in a way that was best done face to face. The Ma and Da of Stacha did not need much convincing, even from a boy of just thirteen cycles. No one suspected Cunac, the puppet master, was pulling his strings.
David and Eik, ‘True Children of the Gardener,’ as Cunac often called them, had now been travelling across DiPacha for a quarter of a cycle. They had visited ten realms on their journey and were tired and disillusioned as they had arrived on Khalil, the Giant Realm.
This realm was like no other. On this realm everything was bigger and when humans or animals moved from Khalil to any other realm they struggled, were slow and cumbersome. For this reason Khalilians mostly stayed on Khalil. That was one reason and then there was the legend of the small boy who had accidentally killed one of the strongest Khalilian men when he had gone to visit other realms to see what could be shared. The story that a small stone, thrown by a small boy, could kill a mighty Khalilian man still reverberated down the generations and kept the Khalilian people isolated in their home Realm. The legend was not helped by the fact that when visitors did come to see them they were always so strong yet small. They could outrun any Khalilian and lift weights well above anything their size suggested they could. It was as if they had trained all their lives to be stronger and faster than the Khalilians just to scare them. Khalil had become an isolated and insular Pacha. Its community wary of anyone from another any other realm. Over the neural-net and telelink there was no issue.
On the day that David and Eik arrived it was a harvest feast and the Khalil Da, Da’Anak, received them warmly but with obvious respect borne out of his inherent fear. David and Eik shared a huge feast but could only eat a small portion of what was offered as they were quarter the size of the average Khalilian.
The two travellers were in the Khalil Punku city of Golan that connected directly to Stacha. They were very pleased to be there as this city was one of the cities Illary had identified as a potential home of a Punku to WaytaPata. It was also one of the cities with a Punku large enough for entire branches of the Stacha trees to pass through.
Ancient rumour had been part of Illary’s reasoning for her suspicions of Khalil but more than that there was an ancient ruin of a city about half a day's walk from Golan. The ancient ruins were like a miniature Millham. As if the city had started to grow around a central point as Millham had. But this city had been abandoned before it had time to develop the many rings of buildings Millham was famous for.
This ruin of a city had a central structure which was surrounded by a few rings of broken down buildings, David and Eik were determined to visit the ruins of this fabled town with its rings of stone and layput that mirrored that of Millham. It was as though Millham and this ancient city had been built to the same design, maybe by the same builders. Millham had survived while this city had crumbled and a new city, the city of Golan, had since grown around the Punku to Stacha.
Father and son were staying in the home of the local Chief Listener, Sosen whowas descended from the first Listeners to have served on Khalil. Over the many generations this community of Listeners had also grown to be almost as tall and slow as their long-term hosts. However, they did not hold the same fear of other Pachans as their hosts. Sosen was a loyal Listener who honoured the Senior Wilaq. Cunac had known her well and he knew she was not for turning to his way of thinking. She was too loyal to a mortal person, not the Gardener and WaytaPata. However, David and Eik did have a loyal disciple of the True Listeners in Sosen’s household. Her youngest daughter, Genet, who had shown she was hungry to make a difference and step out of her mother’s and sister’s impressive shadows. Her desire had made it easy for Cunac to turn her. She now believed that when the time was right she could show her mother a better world. It would be a fantastic surprise and her mother would be proud of her. At twenty-two cycles Genet was young by Khalilian standards but still about three times the size of David and Eik.
As agreed Genet woke her guests and fellow True Listeners in the middle of the night. She showed them to the edge of Golan and the road to the ruins. They would have the equivalent of a normal day on Stacha to get to the ruins and return to Golan as days and nights in the giant Pacha were twice as long as those on Stacha Pacha.
With the extra speed that they were able to use on Khalil David and Eik headed quickly out of Golan and reached the ruins in a time a Khalilian could only manage on a TuyTuy stone, and only then if they were a skilled rider.
The two men had decided not to use the TuyTuy stones as they floated at head height on Khalil, not knee height. Although falling hurt less on Khalil the idea of falling from that height at speed was not appealing. Especially when they could run as fast as they did here!
The light of the stars and two faint moons in the ma
ssive Khalilian sky only vaguely lit their way as they ran at speed towards the ruins. So vaguely indeed that they almost ran into the piles of black rough stone that made up the outer ring of the ruin.
Once at the ruins they took a drink from the native leather flasks Genet had given them and rested briefly. Climbing onto the top of the outer ring they could just make out the circles of darker stone which were set against the faint ground on which the stone lay. On the opposite side of the ruins from where they were standing was a faint hint of a road leading into the centre of the ruins. It was an eerie and mysterious sight made stranger for them as the pre-dawn pink glow of Khalil’s red sun started to rise and melt the night away. The air was still, cool and it was completely quiet.
David and Eik knew they had to make the most of their time. They were due to have breakfast with Sosen. David reached into his sachel took out the contraption his father had made and passed it to him. Eik turned it on, the peace of the quiet pink sunrise was suddenyly shattered by the sounds of voices from the machine Eik held in his hands. Fumbling in alarm Eik tried to switch it off as fast as he could.
They had not thought this through. Eik had never had the machine near enough to any emissions to test it properly. Everywhere they had been so far they had believed the machine had worked but that there were no emissions to detect. However, Eik had not thought of what would happen, exactly, when he did detect emissions.
He could turn the machine on and off but had no other controls. It occurred to him at that moment that controlling the sound would have been a good idea. But why did Illary not have this problem or this ability in her machines? Then he realised that she was in a private workshop. He was in public! But in the Gardener's mercy, he was currently alone except for David. He was mightily relieved that this had happened in such an isolated spot, yet elated!
Disconnected (Connected series Book 1) Page 23
