Olivia slowly rotated to try to take in these new surroundings.
‘Olivia! It’s surely 50, maybe, 60 metres high and what’s that octagonal strip of light right at the top?’
Olivia looked up, transfixed, ‘These two walls behind us are also studded with crystals and they must let light in later but I can’t make out the side walls because they’re not visible in the gloom.’
‘The internal design of this closed octagonal pyramid is nearly identical to the farming dwellings. I see the familiar arrangement of four triangular pools, except that the fourth one is much bigger than the cooking structure. The recognisable channel runs from the centre and disappears under the front wall. However, the space where the arrays of wooden shafts are stored is quite different and will become obvious as I progress my narrative. ’
They shivered with cold as they watched dozens and dozens of these beautiful blond females with piercing blue eyes warming up as they moved from pool to pool. Scott was speechless and then he looked around for Seren but could not pick her out among all these identical figures until a head turned in the third pool. Her eyes focused on Scott.
>> welcome to my home > welcome to my people and our revered workers >>
The two astronauts warmed quickly as they were eager to explore further. For ease of recognition, they decided that they would refer to the Seren lookalikes as the ‘Serenites’ to distinguish them from the blue workers. Whilst the Serenites were feeding, Olivia and Scott were distracted by the sight of a door, about 2 metres high and four wide that had opened in the front wall. As they walked down the ramp and into the open space dominated by a raised triangular platform, the sun poured in and drew them through the opening. They were surprised as they walked into the blazing sunshine of an even bigger dwelling and gasped at the enormousness of the light sheath.
‘I include a 3D diagram here to help explain the concept of a 100 metre pyramid dwelling sitting inside a 200 metre dwelling. The design is identical to the farming structures except here there are two assemblies of black shafts in the open space. In terms of population, there are about 500 blue workers in the outer structure and 200 Serenites in the pyramid.’
Single pyramid dwelling
They walked forward a short way and looked back,
‘What a stunning structure!’ Olivia enthused. Externally, the octagonal pyramid of red clay bricks soared up towards the light sheath. It was flat at the top with a large black structure sticking out.
‘What’s that at the top?’ Scott wondered. Then the heat and thirst forced them back into the cool of the pyramid. They walked around the huge raised platform just as Seren appeared at the top of the ramp. She was surrounded everywhere by hundreds of her people. She raised hers arms upwards in greeting and all the Serenites followed her gesture.
The power of the telepathic message coming from these people was so forceful that Olivia and Scott clamped their heads as they saw, over and over,
>> welcome > welcome > welcome > welcome >>
They raised their arms in reply and the beautiful Serenites smiled in response. Then Olivia saw the group of 10 Serenite males and stared open mouthed.
Scott followed her gaze. These males were as equally magnificent as their female counterparts. They had similar blond shining hair, stunningly handsome faces and the same amazing blue eyes. They were broad shouldered with muscular bodies and strong legs and wore red triangular flaps at their waists.
‘Oh my!’ she admired, ‘They’re beautiful.’
And she looked knowingly at Scott and said,
‘Something for me to stare at - at last!’
Scott shrugged his shoulders and tried to reply in a matter of fact way,
‘Have you noticed these males have similar squares, tattoos and octagon shapes on their bodies? And nearly all the triangles on their chests are black!’
‘And another thing,’ Olivia said, ‘all the Serenite females are wearing one of those strange triangular necklaces similar to Seren’s.’
And they are all as stunning and perfectly formed as Seren, thought Scott to himself, but with slight subtle differences in features and form. What a world!
Chapter 39
Serenite Culture
And now the astronauts turned their attention to the huge triangular structure on the floor of the pyramid and they walked up a ramp that led towards the top.
‘It must be 40 metres wide and 50 in length!’ whistled Scott, ‘and 4 metres high.’
When they reached the top, they could see that the inside was a series of ledges leading down to a flat clay floor about half the size of the overall space.
Their attention was caught by the sight of three massive vertical pillars at the points of the raised triangle.
They stood in front of one of them and looked up in sheer amazement, unable to take in what they were seeing.
‘The block of wood is 3 metres square and 40 metres high. It is cut into triangular shapes from midway up to the top. The angles and shapes seem surreal. The colours are black, red on black, black on red and stretch up to the roof of the pyramid. The way the light interplays with the angled surfaces creates a mesmerising effect. These sculptures do not seem to obey our rules of perspective!’
It was now nearly an hour before noon and the shafts of light were pouring in from the front and rear walls into the pyramid. The illumination was soft and dramatic and changed as the sun moved across the huge structure housing the pyramid dwelling. Now their gaze was drawn to the side walls.
Looking across the four hot pools, Olivia could see that they were ‘painted’ from floor to apex with huge gashes of red on black, black on red in rising triangular shapes with the predominant colour being red. The dramatic impact of the colour scheme was bright and hot.
Scott turned and looked at the opposite side walls. These had similar designs but with a reverse colour scheme. Black was now dominant and the effect was austere and cold.
‘Why is their art so different on opposite sides?’ mused Olivia.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Scott, ‘but who’d have thought we’d be critiquing art on another planet?’
Serenite sculpture
Serenite art
The beat of a drum from outside the pyramid caught Olivia’s and Scott’s attention and they walked out into the hot, humid sunshine. They watched, enthralled, as this time two farming groups of blue female workers assembled. They marched through the huge door and disappeared into the rain and mist with their young group of reapers and sowers.
The oppressive atmosphere quickly forced Olivia and Scott back into the relative cool of the pyramid where they could clearly hear the incessant beat of the three drummers.
‘I reckon its 25 degrees inside and it must be 10 degrees hotter outside. Have you noticed it’s less humid in here,’ he said as he lowered his mask, ‘and there’s definitely less chlorine in the air – this is about the same as a commercial swimming pool – I don’t think we need our masks or goggles in this pyramid – what a relief! But I wonder why?’
Olivia gladly removed her protection, and walked to the black structure that rose to the top of the roof.’
‘It’s ventilation! Scott! And see,’ Olivia stood on the edge of the 2 metre square of black protruding from the ground, ‘this is floating! Like the lift screw. This 1 metre square shaft in the middle goes all the way to the octagonal block in the opening – it’s a chimney effect. But it doesn’t really explain the lowered chlorine levels – there must be something else.’
‘And over here,’ Scott added, ‘there’s five of those drum structures against the wall of the screw lift platform and what are those? - they look like small, square pipes by each drum.’
Meanwhile Olivia had made her way to the large fourth pool as she had noticed the Serenites using it frequently. She tested the water.
‘Ooh! Scott! This is cool, let’s go in.’ So they walked down the ramp into the inviting waters.
‘It must be about 22 degrees,�
�� agreed Scott, and they bathed and relaxed whilst around them the Serenite females, and an occasional male, happily enjoyed their company.
The drumming outside had stopped and the blue female workers brought food to the Serenites who fed and drank before they entered the channel to wash.
‘We’re getting low on fresh water, Olivia, you must start taking their milk, it’s really nourishing and you’re in danger of dehydrating.’
Stubbornly she wouldn’t agree to this. She could not explain but she still had an aversion to drinking something from inside these creatures’ bodies.
Lunch over and Olivia and Scott sat as the Serenite females and males formed groups around the inside of the pyramid and their ritual of mating commenced. In comparison to the blue workers, it was done in a more caring and sensitive manner. Again each female mated in turn with their male and this intimacy was repeated several times during the course of the afternoon.
Scott noticed that Seren sat apart from these groups whilst she sent and received telepathic messages.
Olivia and Scott found the overall spectacle quite moving and they also found the mating ritual of these beautiful people very erotic. They put their arms around one another, kissed and, quite unembarrassed, walked down the ramp into the cool waters and made love.
After, Olivia relaxed on the edge of the pool and closed her eyes. Seren then walked towards Scott and as she passed by, her eyes sparkled,
>> is your female feeling better >>
Now, with a jolt, he realised what had woken him in the middle of the night in that black tunnel when Olivia had nearly fallen out of the boat. He had seen in his mind,
>> your female is ill > she is in DANGER > DANGER >>
and he realised that Seren’s telepathy had woken him up in time to save Olivia’s life. His mind said ‘yes’ and ‘thank you, thank you’ and Seren responded to him with a smile that rocked him with emotion.
By mid afternoon, the mating had finished and the groups were lazing around and behaving in a soporific way. The astronauts were dozing when they suddenly jerked their heads around to the sound of drum beats from within the pyramid.
Five blue female workers were now in front of the drums each accompanied by a young Serenite female. Two of the workers were drumming - a deep off-beat sound similar to the call for farming.
After a short time, a column of about 100 adult female workers filed through the door into the pyramid dwelling. They stamped the ground and smacked together short wooden sticks as they jigged to the beat and made their way upwards and into the large triangular plinth surrounded by the three monolithic sculptures. When they arrived at the lower floor they formed perfect concentric triangles which moved in opposing directions.
Olivia and Scott had a birds’ eye view from the edge of the third pool into the three-sided ‘theatre’.
‘Look at them moving to the rhythm of the drums, Olivia, this is incredible!’
When the beat stopped every blue female halted. The electric silence was interrupted by a high pitch reed-like sound caused by the young people as they blew into the small square tubes at the side of the drums. As the sound resonated around the pyramid, all the young female Serenites stood up and waved their arms aloft. Then they moved gracefully and slowly towards the triangle. They filed down onto the ledges forming their own concentric triangles which moved in different directions and heights.
In the late afternoon sun, with the dozens of shafts of light playing over their light blue bodies, it was a spectacular sight.
‘Lovely!’ Olivia whispered, and when the piping stopped the young dancers froze like statues.
Olivia and Scott jumped as three drums started in unison and their booming crashed around the walls. The blue female dancers leapt into contra flow motion with louder stomping of feet and clashing of sticks. The rays now bathed their darker blue bodies as they gyrated with staccato movements.
‘Wow!’ shouted Scott. The drums ceased, the female workers stopped and a higher note pierced the atmosphere. The young dancers now moved slowly and gracefully and rose on tip toes using their arms to form magical silhouettes.
‘It’s beautiful, just like the ballet,’ Olivia breathed.
The contrast continued as four drums delivered a deafening wall of sound and the movements of the blue workers became wilder. The sound stopped and the silence was broken by a haunting higher note followed by even slower movements of the dancers.
The whole pyramid then rocked to the furious beat of five drums and the frenzied blue females stomped until they crashed lifeless to the floor in the eerie silence. Now a barely audible note filled the pyramid and the young dancers posed gracefully with arms aloft and remained perfectly still. Slowly the note declined until, when it was hardly audible, they lowered their arms.
Then, in unison, they slowly turned towards the astronauts, knelt slowly and together raised their arms towards them and smiled.
Olivia’s heart burned with emotion for these lovely young creatures and she and Scott raised their arms in appreciation. Then all the Serenites in the pyramid responded likewise and they saw repeatedly,
>> help us > rescue our people > save our world >>
Finally Seren walked to the front of the platform by the drummers and looked intensely at Olivia and Scott,
>> we must continue our journey > we have a long way to go >>
‘I show below the inside of Seren’s pyramid. You can see the familiar pools on the left but most striking is the triangular theatre with its massive wooden sculptures and the wall art at the back.’
Chapter 40
Outside the Dwelling
The two astronauts followed Seren underground and arrived at the boat dock where they were surprised to find two tunnels side by side with their duplex docking chambers. Seren read Scott’s question and pointed,
>> this one is for leaves > using many boats all the time > the other for our people > who only travel at night >>
‘So they send the food on to the dwellings near the equator,’ Scott said aloud, ‘and according to Zec-C’s information we are about 100 kilometres away.’
‘How far is the SOS dwelling?’ Olivia queried.
‘Once we reach the equator, it is two further structures along, not that far.’
‘On their journey from the edge of the forest to the equator, our astronauts travel through four small dwellings each 100 metres across, three farming dwellings at 150 metres and are now leaving their eighth structure – a combined farming and Serenite dwelling 200 metres across. Next is a similar-sized dwelling and at the equator is a 300 metre structure that completes the 500 kilometre radial limb from the edge of the forest.’
Before they left Seren’s home, Scott had gently told Olivia the frightening events of the previous night. She was shocked and her fears of the black tunnels returned. Scott removed one of the straps from the pack he carried and told her that he would use it to bind them together at the waist once they were settled in the leaves. This seemed to satisfy Olivia and the night’s journey passed without incident.
The next dwelling was identical in basic layout but with subtle differences in the sculptures and wall paintings. There were no Serenite men at this dwelling but they were disturbed to see two lifeless blond forms taken away by the blue workers to the outside channel. Again, where ever they were, deaths exceeded births for both blue workers and Serenites alike.
As the sun climbed through the sky dragging the light sheath with it, Olivia and Scott donned their waterproof clothing and boots and ascended the lift screw into the pyramid dwelling. They had argued heatedly earlier that morning about going outside the walls of the dwelling; Scott had been cautious about this but Olivia couldn’t wait to get outside and explore the hostile environment. However, she had made the sensible suggestion that they travel inside one of the farming groups.
‘We’ll be able to see the young farmers at work and take samples for analysis.’ Olivia had continued, excited at the prospect of investigating
another aspect of this surreal world.
They walked out into the heat as the first drummer signalled the assembly of the blue females and young sowers. Perspiration was already running down inside their wetsuits making them feel most uncomfortable. As they crossed the open space they lined up inside the forming group to the beat of the second drum. Then Scott turned and saw Seren who stood in the doorway of the dwelling.
The Blue People of Cloud Planet Page 17
