Conclave

by Murray, Lee

  “There must be other teams,” Ari insist.

  “Then why aren’t they here?”

  Tonya pipes up. “In the last amphitheatre, when I was up in the palm trees, I saw several patches of white water, so more than one whirlpool. Maybe those other eddies opened up somewhere else, at other points on this plateau. If that’s the case, other teams might have already gone on to the next challenge.”

  “Or the next life,” Rowan mutters as he gazes out over the gorge. Still a tiny hope flowers in his chest. Maybe, by some miracle, they’re the second team to reach the canyon, apart from the Gyptors and Crons. And if something were to happen to the team in the box…

  They’ve reached the curve. They turn and look back and see a tiny platform, like the cage on a cherry picker or a tiny preacher’s pulpit, hanging out over the canyon. Too close to the edge, Rowan and Tonya hadn’t seen the structure earlier.

  “Hey,” says Mathilde. “Something’s happening.”

  From beneath the box, and the tiny pulpit, a narrow walkway extends out of the rock. Sliding out into the air, it stretches across the canyon like a pontoon over a river.

  Whoa. Like a plank in a pirate story: that is one scary walkway! It definitely wouldn’t satisfy any Terrean safety regulations. But then Rowan remembers the Gyptors and the Crons lying bloodied and broken at the bottom of the canyon and decides that, even without the safety rail, the walkway is an attractive alternative.

  Still extending slowly into space, it stops moving when the bridge reaches midway. At that moment, a team steps out of the cage-box and onto the cherry picker section.

  “So, it’s the Vauxhons,” states Mathilde. Her statement carries a wistfulness that makes Rowan wonder if she’s disappointed not to see the Taikarions there. If that’s true, Rowan doesn’t really get it. Any remaining Taikarions wouldn’t be rooting for the Terreans. Just because Mathilde made a connection with one of them, doesn’t mean the others would hesitate to sacrifice a few teenagers. Not when the chance to give their species supreme leadership of the entire Laitier system is at stake.

  “Can anyone tell what the one at the front is carrying?” Ari asks.

  “It looks like a stone,” replies Tonya. “Maybe a weight of some sort?”

  “Could it be a key?”

  Tonya shakes her head, annoyed. “I can’t tell.”

  They watch as the leading team member appears to place the stone near the front of the cherry picker. Immediately, the walkway extends over the gully until it touches the bank on the far side. They’ve breached the gap. As the Vauxhons stomp their feet, emphatically applauding their achievement, Rowan’s hopes fall. The Vauxhons will be the first, then. Well, winning was more than the Terreans could have hoped for. When they set out, Rowan’s only hope had been to survive…

  The first two Vauxhons are starting out over the bridge, when the walkway jolts unexpectedly. Caught by surprise, one of the Vauxhons loses its balance, its limbs wind-milling helplessly in the air as it topples sideways. It makes a final grab for the edge of the bridge. Misses. Its bellow echoes over the canyon, falling away.

  Rowan doesn’t hear the thud as the creature strikes the valley floor, but beside him Mathilde draws in her breath. Not wanting to look, she closes her eyes. Tonya, too, has her lips clamped shut and is avoiding looking at the crumpled corpse. Instead, she keeps her eyes fixed on the walkway.

  Rowan turns back. The second Vauxhon is running ahead of the retracting walkway, making for the safety of the cherry picker platform. But the walkway stops in the middle of the canyon once again.

  “Uh-oh, looks like they’re having an argument,” says Mathilde. The Vauxhons are braying at each other, waving their limbs about and pointing at the far side of the canyon. Eventually, it seems, they resolve the issue, because the bawling stops and a team member—the original team member, Rowan can’t tell, they all look the same—approaches the front of the cherry picker platform.

  Rowan is confused. “What’s it doing now?”

  “I’m not sure,” Tonya says. “I think Ari may have been right about the stone being a key. Maybe they didn’t fit it correctly and that’s why the bridge retracted.”

  “Or perhaps there’s a time limit?”

  Rowan nods at that. Ari’s suggestion is plausible, although there was hardly enough time to get across before the walkway slid back into the rock face.

  On the platform, there’s a rapid exchange of words between the surviving Vauxhons. Rowan presumes they’re words, although they sound more like the last elephant mourning the loss of its herd. Then, suddenly, the two on the bridge turn and sprint for the far side. Rowan’s blood chills. The Vauxhons are abandoning their team member, sacrificing it to save their own skins! It’s a terrifying thought: your team mates leaving you to die. Rowan glances left and right at his friends. Would his team mates do the same? Rowan has only known Mathilde and Ari a few months, and Tonya even less. Would they sacrifice Rowan to save themselves? Not Ari. He’s already stepped in front of a spider to save Tonya. Granted, Rowan may not be as pretty as Tonya, but he can’t see Ari running off and leaving anyone. He’s takes his role as team leader seriously, so the mission is his first objective, but to just abandon any of them? No, Rowan can’t see it. Mathilde wouldn’t leave him either: if she’ll mourn the loss of a Fhage, a creature which is little more than a shambling swollen bladder, Rowan would like to hope she’d have some compassion for him. That just leaves Tonya. Back in the tunnels, when Rowan had wanted to go back for Mathilde, Tonya had insisted they go on. She didn’t exactly suggest they abandon Mathilde, but if the Taikarions had doubled back, Mathilde could’ve been killed and the result might have been the same. Is she really that heartless? Rowan shakes his head to clear the idea. No, he can’t see it. So, that just leaves himself. When it comes to it, what would he do? Would he make a run for the other side of the canyon, or would he be brave enough to risk his life and come back for his friends? Rowan swallows hard, his throat suddenly dry, because deep down in his core, he honestly doesn’t know.

  On the bridge, the two Vauxhons are eating up the distance to the far side of the canyon. Their forsaken team mate shrieks, its desperate scream penetrating Rowan’s skull in waves, the loneliest sound he can imagine. The Vauxhons are just metres from the far side now. In a panic, the deserted creature lets go the stone-key and rushes onto the bridge. Immediately, the walkway retracts.

  “Oh my God,” Mathilde wails.

  Rowan feels the blood drain from his face. For all their speed, it’s clear the Vauxhons aren’t going to make it. The canyon will reach up and claim three more lives, and perhaps Rowan’s own before the day is out. Rowan wonders if that were to happen, will his body make it back to Terra or will it lie on the dirt, picked over by scavengers… The Vauxhons might be their opponents, but Rowan can’t bear to watch them fall, knowing that in a few minutes he could face the same fate. He looks away, just in time to see Ari sprinting off along the plateau towards the box.

  “Stop!” Ari screams, waving his fist at the box. Rowan sees the outer door closing.

  Another team has arrived.

  “Someone’s trying to push in,” Rowan shouts to the girls as he careers off after Ari towards the structure, sounding more like a petulant school kid who’s missed his turn at the slide than a Conclave competitor, but they were there first. After the Vauxhons, they should’ve been the next team across the bridge. Only metres from the box, he pulls up. Stops. His heart thumping. They’re too late. Ari, red-faced, bangs on the door.

  “Ari, leave it,” Rowan pants. “There’s nothing we can do.”

  The girls arrive, bewildered. At least the distraction has meant Mathilde didn’t see the Vauxhons fall to their deaths.

  Dispirited, they sit down on the dirt to wait.

  18

  It isn’t long, though, before two Taikarions, one taller than the other, come out of the box. They eye the Terreans suspiciously as they move away, sitting down a distance from the edge of t
he canyon. Rowan and Ari rush to the cage, securing the team’s place as its next occupants. Tonya is about to head in too when Mathilde says, “They look so sad, Tonya.”

  Tonya wants to tell Mathilde to get over it. What did Galileo tell them? Unnecessary sentiment can be a liability. Yet she can’t help but glance over. The Taikarions do look dejected. Their antennae are flattened to their heads like a puppy dog’s ears when it knows it’s being told off, and they smell of despair: their normal lime scent tinged with the oversweet reek of rotting fruit.

  “They’ve given up, haven’t they?” murmurs Mathilde.

  Tonya nods. “It looks like it. They must’ve been in there when the Vauxhons fell. Seeing that would’ve scared anyone.”

  “What will happen to them, do you think?”

  “I expect they’ll be whisked back to the Village. They shouldn’t have to wait too long.” Tonya doesn’t like lying to her, but what can she say? The Terrean girl from Conclave Four wasn’t whisked back to the Village, was she? Conclave organisers left her to desiccate slowly in the sun. She gives Mathilde what she hopes is a convincing smile as they head toward the boxcage. She knows there are only two ways to get out the amphitheatres: alive or dead. And there are different kinds of deaths. A few days on the edge of this canyon without food or water and a Geronimo leap might seem like a desirable option.

  Inside, the box is open to the canyon. The view is spectacular. The rocks on the far side are splashed with colour, vivid oranges and dark blood reds in a wall of urban graffiti. Beautiful, but deadly. A wire cordon is all that prevents the Terreans from falling to their deaths. Ignoring the drop, Tonya concentrates her attention on the centre of the room. A champions’ podium takes up the main part, with places for first and second on either side of a solid upright. Off to one side, on a structure resembling the ball return at a bowling alley, are five bowling balls.

  “Damn,” she says. “I didn’t bring my bowling shoes.”

  Rowan shakes his head.

  Grow up. It’s a little humour, that’s all.

  Ignoring him, she inspects the ball return and notes that these particular bowling balls lack finger holes. Well, that’s not so surprising. Many of the Conclave competitors don’t have fingers. Although, how they’re supposed to pick them up to bowl them is unclear. Immediately, she puts out a hand to examine one of the swirly globes.

  “Don’t touch that,” growls Ari, extending his own hand. Tonya stares in horror. A sixth ball is fused tight to Ari’s hand, his fingers blending into the swirls. ‘If you choose wrongly, there’s no going back.”

  “It’s okay, Ari,” Rowan says. “Just because you chose quickly, doesn’t mean you’ve chosen badly. I ate those bananas in the last amphitheatre and I’m still here. We just need to slow down and think about what to do next.”

  Ari’s grin is sardonic. “It’s like a sperm hitting an ovum. The first one that touches is the winner.” He turns his deformed fist, eyeing it quizzically. “This is my key. Now that I’ve touched it, I can’t change it, and I can’t pick up another one.”

  “Yes, well, we’re pretty sure the…er… balls are keys,” says Rowan. “Now all we need to do is find the one which will extend the bridge.”

  “A game of chance, then,” Tonya says.

  Mathilde taps the upright of the podium, gaining their attention. “Not really,” she says, coming around from the back of the champion’s podium. “There’s an element of probability, but this challenge involves logic.”

  They stare at her, waiting for her to explain.

  “My first thought when we came in was that this was a winner’s platform, but I’ve had a better look now, and it’s actually a scale. The bowling balls are keys, but they’re also weights. I think we have to use the scale to find the heaviest ball, and that ball will be the key to extending the bridge.”

  Tonya walks around the podium-scale now. “But there are no numbers written anywhere; how can we know we’ve got the heaviest?”

  “We compare the relative weights on both sides.”

  Ari nods, clearly heartened by Mathilde’s comment. “I saw a variation of this problem once at maths camp. We’re only going to get a limited number of tries on the scale, aren’t we?” He must have the right of it, because Mathilde smiles.

  “Well, can someone please explain to me, because I don’t get it,” Tonya says.

  Ari takes a deep breath. “If we were using a normal scale, we’d each put our item on the scale, and then compare the numbers. Right?”

  Tonya nods.

  “But there are no numbers. So, instead we each take a weight, two of us standing on one side of the scale and two on the other. We place the balls on the scale. The heaviest ball will be on the side to dip the lowest. Then, the team members on that heavier side each take their weight and stand on opposite sides of the scale, and repeat the process. The person whose ball causes the scale to dip the lowest will have the heaviest ball, and the key to getting us across the canyon.”

  “We need to work with the Taikarions,” Mathilde announces suddenly. Before anyone can object, she rushes on: “Well, think about it. If we asked them to join us, it would give us two more options. That way we can try all six weights on the scale. One of them has to be the heaviest.”

  Tonya isn’t sure. “But we’d be helping them, Mathilde. Without us, they would only have a one in three chance of picking up the right weight. We could be the first team across.”

  Mathilde’s voice is sharp. “Or we could be the fourth team lying dead in the bottom of the gully.”

  “I like Mathilde’s idea,” Rowan says quickly. “With the Taikarions helping us, we’ll know that one of us has the right key.”

  Tonya has to concede it does make sense. And any plan that increases their chances of surviving gets her vote.

  “That’s not the only reason. We should help them because it’s the right thing to do,” Mathilde insists. “It’s not the Taikarions’ fault they’re short two members. They were the victims of foul play…”

  And a hungry Fhage.

  “That’s settled, then. We’ll approach the Taikarions,” Ari says, bringing the discussion to an end.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll ask them, then,” Tonya says, pulling back her shoulders. “I expect a female will be less intimidating.”

  The others look dubious, but Tonya isn’t waiting around. She pulls open the door and stomps over to the Taikarions, who leap to their feet in a waft of something that smells of alcohol.

  “We want you to join our team,” Tonya says, taking care to enunciate every word clearly. She sweeps her arm in an inclusive motion, taking in Rowan, Mathilde, and Ari. “If we join together, we can pick up all six weights.” She points to Ari’s fused hand, then holds up six fingers. “Do you understand?”

  The antennae swish and sway, as the creature’s lemon-lime conversation permeates the air.

  “Do you understand?” she says again, splaying her palms in the universal gesture of honesty. Except, when she thinks about it, it’s probably only universal if you live on Terra.

  The Taikarions step closer to each other. There’s a rapid undulating of antennae and this time the lime is layered with wet dog and the faintest aroma of fresh pineapple. Finally, they back away from the box-cage, taking up their places on the ground again.

  “I think the answer is no,” Ari says tightly.

  Well, that’s that, then. Frustrated, Tonya throws up her arms.

  But Mathilde isn’t ready to give up. She rushes over—favouring her sore knee— and grabs at the hand of one of them, clutching it to her. “Please,” she implores. “Please! We really need your help.”

  The taller Taikarion bends her antennae, cautious. Abruptly, she grasps Mathilde by the elbows, pulling her closer, her antennae rippling. The other Taikarion pushes forward.

  Tonya gasps. “What are they doing? Are they sniffing her?”

  “Ari, we need to get Mathilde out of there,” Rowan growls.

  “Wait,
” says Ari. He tries to lift his hand to his eyes, forgetting that the ball is fused to his fist. “That smell…” Tonya smells it, too. At first, she thinks it’s the salt on her clothes, dried white after their experience in the whirlpool, but there’s something else too, the expectant tang of the beach. Wasn’t that how Mathilde described the last words of her Taikarion friend? Tonya’s heart quickens.

  “Yes, I remember,” Mathilde is saying, speaking to the taller of the two Taikarions, their eyes locked. “Yes, that scent represents the last words your friend left. I was with her when she died. I didn’t want her to be alone.”

  The two Taikarions get up from the ground. There is more swishing of antennae. Have they changed their minds? Because if they have, there’s an outside chance she’ll live to see seventeen. Tonya holds her breath. Do Taikarions detect scents like words printed on a page? Can those words linger over time? Is it possible Mathilde could still be wearing a scent-message from the Taikarions’ dying friend? Tonya hardly dares to hope. After a long moment, the taller Taikarion steps around Mathilde, making a bee-line for Tonya. Perhaps, because Tonya made the first approach, they believe she’s their leader? Tonya’s heart pounds out a requiem. Then, like a queen’s bodyguard, Ari moves to her side. From the corner of her eye, Tonya sees his spare hand clench as it gauges the weight of the ball, now a fused weapon in the other. It comforts her to know that Ari will swing it if he has to. She feels a twinge of guilt. This whole time she’s been thinking about saving herself.

  The Taikarion comes closer, her diamond eyes glinting in the sun. Suddenly, she extends her hand.

  “What do I do?” Tonya whispers.

  “I don’t know,” says Mathilde cheerily. “Maybe give it a shake?”

  19

  They cram into the little room, Terreans and Taikarions, and all seize a weight, the balls fusing to their fists in a hiss. It’s a weird sensation, like a large weighted itchy bite on Rowan’s wrist. Where the swirls blend with his fingers, it feels hot and inflamed, as if he’s scratched for ages in the webbing between his fingers. He wants to scratch some more, but Mathilde is gesturing to the Taikarions to step up to the scale with her, so Rowan joins Ari and Tonya, placing their own weights on the opposite platform.