by Ariane Souza
“Ok then. Have a nice rest.” She said, dismissing him.
He passed through the empty kitchen, heading to the third floor where he found Tevis and Elin occupying the two bunk beds, already sleeping. Before lying on the bed under Tevis, he looked at him for a moment, remembering everything Nense had just told him. And he fell asleep thinking Tevis had a strong heart.
23
The Recapture of Infiesa
“What were you thinking to pull me along? We could have been in free fall!” Ed retorted, angrily.
They had fallen on their backs, and for their relief, there was another rope bridge beneath them. Ed fell upon Zian, so he managed to stand up first, trying to find balance in the swinging bridge. Then, he quickly took the flashlight out of his coat, and looking behind them, he saw there was a ladder also made of rope connecting the hole into which they had just fallen through to the bridge on which they were. He was still looking around when two blue flashlights appeared in front of them, where the ground restarted.
“Don’t move.” One of those carrying the flashlight spoke.
“What’s happening over here?” A third voice just arrived. And the two standing in the bridge recognized that one. What made Ed turn his flashlight in the direction of that question, even though he was told not to move.
“Well, that’s interesting. What are YOU doing in here?” Ed asked, casting light on Bob’s surprised face.
*
In Iliona City, there are many stories concerning the Grooves Valley. Stories about people who fell into its cracks and never came back, about wanderers who decided to cross it out of pure curiosity, and about ones who chose to live in one of its dens. Although, the number of caverns in this valley overpasses the number of tales about it. And Zian and Ed were guided into one of them.
Into a broad and flat cavern narrowed into a dark corridor leading to an open courtyard. Whose only lights came from the fake stars above it, and which offered three possible paths. The two ilions who had appeared carrying the blue flashlights guided them, along with Bob, who said nothing all their way to the room inside the cavern.
They followed the middle path, passing through another dark and narrow corridor, ‘till they arrived in a round shaped room, with an amber light in its center. The light was coming from a long cylindrical lamp on the floor that made the place warmer. Far different from the freezing wind outside.
The people inside it were gathered around the lamp, and they talked among themselves. Some were sitting on the floor and others on stools, but all of them turned their attention to the new visitors as soon as they passed through the crooked overture that worked as an entryway. The silence grew as they realized they didn’t know the new faces. While Ed just scanned the room, recognizing some timers who were not using their cloaks. He realized most of the ilions in there seemed to be very young with their pale gray hair or dyed in vibrant colors. Then his eyes finally met hers. They had found Muriel.
Bob and the other two entered first.
“We found them under the bridge,” Bob announced sitting next to Muriel who was still sustaining Ed’s gears eyes.
Zian was looking around too, and when he found another known face, he exclaimed:
“Oh my, so you are here too!”
“There aren’t better places to be nowadays,” Joanna replied, showing him a smile.
“I bet there aren’t,” Ed remarked, moving his eyes around the room again and landing them on her. Then he added, “Since timers are scanning the whole city in search of fugitives, and traitors,” he looked at Muriel when saying that last word, “and humans.” He met Bob’s eyes while speaking that one. “I guess then, here it’s a good place to be indeed. But what’s next? For how long are you going to hide in here?”
“We’re not hiding.” An ilion answered from behind him, his hair was so pale it was almost white. “We’re planning, organizing.”
"So that's why you went missing without news? To plan and organize?" Ed asked sarcastically toward Bob.
"I was on my way to Timothy's when I heard a buzzing that increased progressively, which left me with no time to get to the nearest subway station. I didn’t have much choice, if I didn’t seek for a way out, I would forget about everything along with the whole town, even about Joanna. I remembered how you yourselves had crossed a nil that had led to the forest, I thought, then, there could be others around. So I used the little time I had to look for a nil with the twond Joanna had given me. And I found it. I happened to appear at the Grooves Valley station. "
"Timothy was worried when Joanna called Muriel saying she didn’t know where you were. We all were." Zian commented.
"I can imagine," Bob said apologetically. "But I didn’t want to wander around the City of Iliona without knowing where to go, and my mobile was dead. So I thought it would be better to go to the way I already knew, and I came here, to the cave, to wait for the others. "
"All this explanation sounds a bit...coward," Ed said, scanning the room's surroundings with his eyes.
"Do not let him tease you," Joanna whispered by the side of Bob.
"I know, but the worst of it is that he's not totally wrong, is he?" Bob answered her also in a whisper.
"You couldn’t have stopped the singing, Bob. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do anything for Silvia at that moment." Joanna stroked his shoulder.
“But anyway, are they actually staying?” Another one asked right after.
“Yah, we need to continue with the reunion.” Another voice reinforced.
“That depends entirely on them,” Bob answered looking at Zian that time.
Ed laughed boisterously. He was standing near the entrance yet, with Zian next to him. The sound hit the walls producing echoes and making everyone turn their attention to them again. He ceased it gradually, and then said carelessly:
“I’m not joining you. Why should I?”
“He’s just here to watch,” Zian said, bitterly, walking further from Ed and nearer to Bob.
“I’ll tell you why,” Muriel said standing up
“He has already made his mind, El. He’s not worth your time, our time.” Bob said next to her.
“It’s fine, Bob. I was kind of hoping an opportunity like this one anyway.” She said, looking at Ed seriously.
He waited.
She continued:
“It’s easy for you to say you’re not joining us, Ed. You’re part of their team, you dance accordingly to their music. For centuries, the Administration has ruled Iliona City, telling us we should never feed infiesa. And we continue to live in isolation under the timers’ command, believing no one can change that, not even ourselves.
We’re not naive to think humans will just bring us good things, and willingly help us. But nothing is made of one side only, and the infinzys also have qualities they can teach us. Such as fighting for the changes they want. We depend on their wishes to be alive. Haven’t you ever been curious to know them better? Or To understand the worlds outside Iliona? Haven’t you ever felt like breaking this isolation?”
“No,” Ed answered drily. “I’ve seen enough from them. Their wishes produce the fake stars we eat. They don’t know about us, and we don’t need them to. And when they do, we change this part of their memories. Both sides go on living. I don’t understand why all of you think this a bad thing. It sounds to me more like an excuse to go against the Administration.” The words came out from his mouth quicker than usual.
She gritted her teeth.
“So you think our cause is a whim? You can go to wherever you want just by opening a nil. While the others who aren’t timers can’t leave Iliona on their own, or can’t leave Iliona at all, and also can’t contact outside people.”
However, before Ed could respond something, they heard hurried footsteps coming from the corridor outside, what made them all look at the room’s entryway.
“There’s a group coming, and they’re wearing timer cloaks. Since all the timers that support us already agreed not
to use the cloaks in the meetings, just so to avoid confusion, I don’t think they’re with us. They’re already crossing the bridge. We would better go.” Said a heaving ilion of pink hair that appeared along with other two who were guarding the main entry near the bridge.
“Did you bring them here?” Joanna asked incredulously to Ed while standing up.
Zian remembered of the whistle sound they had heard earlier in the bridge and how the dragon reacted to that. “I guess they came behind us. We noticed them trying to calm down the sower dragon. We were so worried no to fall, we didn’t give much thought to it. By the way, that dragon is with some of you?” He asked.
“He gives me rides.” One ilion of pale and braided hair answered him. “I found him wandering the valley and started training him. He is aggressive yet, but he can understand some commands.”
“His antennae are torn off. You know what this means, don’t you? He can be very irritated and confused.”
“I know.” He answered, a little sad. “I read about it. But even though, he comes when I call him using the whistle, and he also understands when I’m on his back and want to climb down. I’ll continue to train him, who knows some day he becomes calmer.”
“Well, anyway, whoever was annoying him, they’re not with us. I mean, not with me at least.” He corrected himself while staring at Ed, who said in a dry tone:
“They aren’t with me either.”
“How many are they?” Muriel asked.
“We counted six of them through the night view binoculars.” The pink haired ilion spoke again, with her already normal breathing.
“We’re in almost thirty, we can face them,” Joanna suggested.
“Not if they start singing.” Someone remarked.
“Your thinking is not completely wrong. But words aren’t all they have to fight with, especially if they wear amber cloaks.” Ed commented.
“We would better run this time. We could try talking to them, but there are many people in here to put at risk. Let’s go.” Muriel said. And many timers in the room started trying to open nils, each of them pronouncing the phrases that suited them better.
“They have sealed this area already.” One of them said.
Ed tried as well, even with his tiredness. But he didn’t get it.
“We’ll use the manual get away then. Come!” Muriel said. She hurried to a far corner of the place and began to climb the metal bars attached to the wall there, one behind the other, forming an improvised staircase. After climbing all the bars, she pushed open a circular wooden door near the ceiling and slid to its inside. The door’s appearance was so similar to the stonewall that nobody would have noticed its existence in there.
Everybody started to stand up to hurry after her, while Bob took off the batteries of the cylindrical lamp and kept them inside his coat.
“Won’t you stay and talk to your friends?” One of the ilions asked sarcastically to Ed when they were hurrying to get to the offhanded ladder.
“He has no friends,” Zian said behind him. But Ed just kept on climbing.
*
All of them had entered the door on the wall. Then crawled through the narrow passage inside the cavern room ceiling. A few minutes later, two timers arrived in the chamber, and Flen was one of them. They divided the group of six when they found the trifurcation in the open courtyard. Thus, each double chose a pathway.
“Should we go back to that courtyard and try another corridor?” His companion suggested by the sight of the empty room. Both of them had black cloaks.
“No,” Flen answered touching the cylinder lamp, “the lamp is still warm, it’s been lit for a while. Besides, this place doesn’t seem like it’s not used for a time. There’s too much presence in here, I can feel it.” He said, pointing his flashlight upward. And Ed could hear his voice through the wall ceiling. “There must be another way out. We know they didn’t pass through where we came.”
Zian and the others were crawling through the dark, narrow corridor over Flen’s head. And one of them just dropped his flashlight on the way, making a sound.
“Be more careful, or they will have sure we still in here,” Zian advised him with a whisper.
“Flen already knows,” Ed said.
Flen smiled to himself in the dark room:
“Did you hear that noise?” He asked his companion. “They still here indeed.” They started scanning the walls with their flashlights, while the others continued to crawl above them.
*
The passage ended in a descending slope, which they slid down onto a ragged cushion below that was supposed to ease their fall, but that did not work so much in Ed’s opinion.
They arrived in another open courtyard very similar to the existing one that was halfway to the room they just left. Except that the walls of the present one were taller making the sky look even further. And the only way out of it was through its missing ceiling.
There were iron bars attached to a stonewall again, right in front of the cushion, and they worked as steps as well. Everyone started to climb again.
“It’s an ingenious way out,” Zian admitted while climbing.
“It’s a tunnel inside the wall that ends up in a large well. It’s not ingenious it was what they could get.” Ed said behind him in a corrective tone.
“This getaway path was already in here when we found the cave. That’s why we chose this one among so many.” Muriel said. She was going up ahead of Zian.
Everybody went up hurriedly but trying to be careful at the same time, since there was a great distance between the edges of the courtyard and its floor. And because the flashlights could not illuminate the surroundings for long since they were all moving, they had to pay close attention to where they stepped.
Sometimes, however, the whole caution you can have is not enough to make you safe from what’s already waiting ahead of you.
“What happened? Why everybody stopped?” Muriel asked as soon as she got outside, and noticed nobody was walking anymore. The cold wind of the valley was swaying her yellow scarf along with her hair. She made her way through the crowd of almost thirty people, ‘till nobody was blocking her view and she saw who was in front of them.
“I happened,” Lumma responded her. She was sitting on a boulder, wrapped in her purple cloak, with which she had made a hood that involved her blue hair. Tris was standing next to her, wearing her blue cloak and holding a rod with a metallic cone on its tip, which cast a red light over Lumma’s head and illuminated the surroundings.
“Despite the suspicions, it’s a surprise to find you here, Ed,” Lumma said toward him when Zian and he appeared after Muriel.
“I would say your presence in here is equally surprising. But tonight I’ve found enough people I didn’t expect to see here. So if you want to surprise me, you’ll have to do more than that.” He said calmly. “Flen is still inside, by the way.” He added.
“I know. We split up, they got the inside of the cavern, while we scanned and sealed its surroundings. And it worked.” She said with a smile, standing up. “But let’s go straight to the point.” She turned her eyes to Muriel who sustained them with a gaze of her own:
“Congratulations. You have done a great work. But it’s over now. Erry told us everything.”
“I’m no longer with Erry.” Muriel promptly replied.
“We know. But you’re not all gathered in here for a party, I suppose. You still with the plan of infiesa resumption.”
“Timers do it whenever they want to. You can leave Iliona City anytime, even have a life out of here, talk to humans and then come back as nothing happened. Why the rest of the town has to remain in isolation?”
“Iliona City is under the Administration shield. And as members of such shield, the timers are trained and instructed to suit the purposes of the citizens. We feed you, we school you and protect you. So what else could you wish for?”
“To choose.” Lumma’s eyes widened with Muriel’s words. “The timers built a great
city, but we’re isolated. It’s difficult even to make contact with other cities of Iliona. We can’t keep spending our enduring lives like that anymore. We want more than just survive; we also want to choose how to live.”
“The isolation came as a form of protection. Otherwise, the humans would have found Iliona City, and the same that happened to Dandelion would happen to us. I know there are better ways of living, but this one we have now is the best for all us.” Lumma said, holding her nerves. “We’re not supporting the resumption of ties with humans. We’re not feeding infiesa.”
The sound of the wind whistling over the grooves was the only one lingering for a moment, along with the sound of swaying clothes. Muriel waited.
“You want to choose, right? Then, here’s something for you to choose. I know Erry is somewhere moving on with his own plans, which involve bringing infinzys to Iliona City. We are aware the situation took on greater proportions than we expected, and that our actions now have lesser effects than we would like. But, this doesn’t mean you’ll walk away from this unscathed. Now you can choose: we can change your memories and those of your group, and this story ends here for you all.” Lumma quickly looked at Ed, and then turned to Muriel again: “Or, you can come with us to Timers School, and we’ll spare the memories of you all.” She finished with a smile.
“A sacrifice?” Bob reacted.
“An example.” Joanna corrected him.
“Recognition, I would say,” Lumma added. “Although you were working against the Administration, we notice talents when they happen right in front of us. You also did a spectacular job while Erry was behind those glassy walls, commanding things inside his head only. You gathered ilions of this city and convinced them, and gave them tasks.”
“It wasn’t exactly a big effort to convince them, most of them was already discontent with our current situation. With the way the non-timers are pushed aside from any significant decision added to the constant isolation of the city, there was only a little push missing. The Administration convinced them better than I.” Muriel replied.
