Chichester Greenway

by Alton Saunders

  Chapter 3:

  LET'S ASK VORTINN

  The cluster of planets around a central sun had been somewhere in Akkri’s dreams during the night and it was the first thing he thought of when he woke up. From the surface of Vika the only celestial body visible was their own sun. Even the two small moons of Vika were obscured by the triple layer of moisture and ice crystals that refracted the sun’s light, producing the changing spectrum of colours in the Vikan sky.

  That sky was turning violet as Akkri went out onto the balcony, though the snow on the mountaintops was still tinged with ultra, and a few wispy ultra clouds hung high in the sky. He had an unaccustomed feeling of sadness inside him. He felt as if big changes were on the way and that for a time at least, the satisfying routine of his life was going to be disturbed in ways he could not envisage. His parents were still asleep. He had arranged to meet Vonn early at the restaurant where they had eaten the night before. He decided to leave straight away and have his breakfast there.

  The rush of the cool morning air against his fingertips and through his hair was refreshing and exhilarating, and as he step-landed on the terrace he found the heavy mood had gone. Instead there was a sense of adventure. If he was right about their meeting the previous afternoon it could prove to be a more exciting challenge than anything he had ever experienced. A small silver skimmer came into view and drifted down onto the terrace. Vonn stepped out and the skimmer was gone.

  “Hi, Vonn! Have you had breakfast?”

  “Just a bite, but I could do with some more.”

  The morning staff had not yet arrived so they walked through into the kitchen and helped themselves to crusty white rolls, cheese, lettuce, smoked fish and fruit juice. Several other early risers were looking after themselves in the same way. The table they had used last night was occupied so they sat down in the shade of an awning at the other end of the terrace where they could enjoy the fragrance from a bed of white roses.

  “What did you make of it, Akkri?” Vonn had stayed up late, making music with some of the other girls in the house they shared, thirty miles or so down the coast – considerably closer than Akkri’s parents’ home in the country. She had not had time to give much thought to yesterday’s meeting but she knew that Akkri would have already given the matter a lot of serious consideration.

  “Well, it seems like a visit, don’t you think?”

  A visit! It seemed so obvious now that Akkri had said it. A visit to that beautiful planet, blue and white in the blackness of space. Perhaps they would be the first people to make contact with an alien species! Three other inhabited planets had been located, the last less than forty years ago, but none had been found suitable for contact.

  “I daresay we will only be taking part in the planning stage, though.”

  “Why do you say that, Akkri?”

  He could hear the disappointment in her voice. He realised that he, too, very much wanted to go. It was not as if there would be any difficulty in travelling there. Presumably some team of researchers, casting their vision far out into the depths of space, had come upon something of particular interest in that region. That, most probably, meant some form of life, even the possibility of inhabitants with intelligence and self-awareness, and the even more exciting possibility of contact with them.

  “I think I just said it in case we are not meant to be part of the actual visit – if it is a visit. It would be the most amazing thing we’ve ever done. I don’t want to hope too much and be disappointed, but I really don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be involved. The group there yesterday seemed ideal. Just think of the variety of talents in the people round that table. And I bet Viney will have something more to tell us this afternoon.”

  “I got to bed late last night. I really haven’t thought about it very much. I think you’re right, though. I think it is a visit. Have you met Karwi, by the way?”

  Akkri had been to Vonn’s house a number of times but he had not heard of Karwi before.

  “She joined us a few months ago. She’s brilliant on guitar. I was playing my flute and Ferroll had her mandolin. We were composing a piece of music together. I think we’ve got the overall structure worked out and we’re going to go on working on it next time we’re together. I played a few notes near the beginning of our session and Karwi wove them into a beautiful melody. It was as if we all recognised it. You must come and hear it when we’ve completed it.”

  They had finished eating now, so they took their plates back into the kitchen, then set off along the canal towards Library Four where they were currently working. As they got close to the great golden dome, part of the side melted away, closing behind them as they walked through into the lofty entrance area. A boy had seated himself beside the fountain and was playing a reed pipe, the plashing water his only accompaniment. The delicate sounds followed them as they walked up the white stone stairway to the upper floor.

  The room they were using was itself dome-shaped, with a large tilted translucent screen and two comfortable armchairs. The lighting, from the whole inside surface of the dome, followed the colours of the sky outside or could take on various shades of pearly white, whichever they preferred.

  They sat down and looked at the screen. A picture gradually took shape, partly forming from impressions in the collective memory of the Vikans and partly from the mental traces of the work they had already done. Any new knowledge they achieved would itself become part of the collective memory, available to everybody.

  They arranged their chairs in front of the screen and watched the story unfold. A group of hunters was crossing a river, leaping from rock to rock. Vonn and Akkri had been following their journey for some time and even knew the names of some of them. Men were helping women and children to find the best places to jump. Faint shouts and laughter could be heard above the roar of the river. The bank on the opposite shore was not so high as today, but it was recognisably the same spot where the bridge provided the main way in from the east into the City of Silver and Gold. The group was carrying sacks of food, and sleeping gear. It had been clear for some time that they had not yet reached the stage of all-provision.

  Safely on the other side, they sat down by the water’s edge. Soon smoke was rising from a campfire. It seemed they were going to settle down for the night.

  “A few days further on, do you think?”

  Akkri nodded. There was no need to track every inch of the party’s progress. They had come up the coast from the south, crossed the moorland and, if Vonn’s theory was right, were on the point of forming the first settlement that would eventually become their own City of Silver and Gold.

  The screen cleared and the images re-formed. A discussion was taking place on the bluff overlooking the river. The younger children were playing in amongst the circle of adults, or sitting or sleeping in their mothers’ laps. The older children sat and listened. A grey-haired man was talking quietly. He seemed to be explaining some point of view to the others. From time to time he would look round as if to gauge their reaction, but he did not give the impression of someone who wished to bend others to his will.

  “It looks as if the feeling of mutual agreement may have already started to appear,” Akkri commented.

  “Mmm,” said Vonn. She did not want to leap to conclusions. “Shall we listen to him?”

  The man’s face filled the screen. He had a powerful, weather-beaten appearance and a kindly, humorous expression. They could understand the meaning and feeling of what he was saying, though it was strange to have this understanding overlaid by the sound of his archaic language and accent.

  “We have done much travelling. We have seen many fine sights. We have encountered many strange beasts and many new fruits. We do not yet know which of them may be eaten, though I hear young Kerri tried a tempting mouthful a few days ago and found it did not agree with him at all.” There was a chuckle from the circle around him. “We could go on travelling,
and in many ways that would be no bad thing. We have learnt to rely on one another in all sorts of difficulties. We have learnt to love and trust one another. We could go on travelling and learning together, but my feeling is that it would be good for us to settle down here. Once we are comfortably established we could arrange a further expedition to explore some more of our world if we wished to do so.”

  He paused and seemed to be listening to a question. “I agree. We need to make sure that this place really does suit us, but we can only know that if we stay here for some considerable period of time. We may find there are problems we have not envisaged, in which case we can always move on again.”

  “Later?” said Akkri.

  “Yes. Let’s try a month or so.”

  The screen cleared again. They gave a gasp of astonishment. A circle of large domed huts stood close to where the meeting had been. They appeared to be made of close-fitting wood though in places the wood was transparent, reflecting the green sky of early afternoon.

  “They’ve got there!” Vonn exclaimed. “They couldn’t possibly have designed and built those domes in just a month!”

  This was a major discovery. The process that had led to the development of Vikan civilisation had been an ongoing matter of discussion for centuries. Here, in the original settlement that had eventually become their own city, they might find an answer.

  “Back a few days?”

  Vonn did not answer. When they were working together their minds were so much in tune that words were not always necessary. A new picture appeared on the screen. A heated discussion seemed to be taking place.

  “It’s too far to the forest. It’ll take forever if we’re going to build a settlement here.” The speaker was a young man, his golden skin darkened by the urgency of his convictions. “It takes two days to get to the forest, a day to find enough suitable wood, and another two days to drag it back again. It’s exhausting work, too.”

  “But we have water in abundance, fish in the river, and the soil here is good. The seeds I planted are already beginning to sprout,” said an old lady with a wrinkled, kindly face. “Let’s ask Vortinn.”

  This suggestion seemed to please everyone. The old lady went over to where the rest of the party was sorting wood into two piles – one for burning, one for building. They listened to what she had to say, left their work and followed her over to the group who had been in discussion together. They seated themselves in a circle as before, and the grey-haired man they had seen previously began to speak:

  “It looks as if we have indeed encountered a problem. It seems to me that difficulties are sometimes opportunities in disguise, or perhaps that is always the case. We have our histories which we recite. It appears that our understanding of life is gradually developing. Despite the hardships we have encountered on our journey we have remained friends, indeed our friendship has deepened. We can sit down like this and reach a mutual agreement without it turning to controversy and bitterness. We are discovering that life itself holds the solution to all our problems, though we often waver, and are nervous of trusting life fully.

  “It has not always been like this. Our histories tell of disagreements and hostilities, friendships breaking down and families breaking up, but gradually we have matured as a species and such breakdowns of trust are now a rarity. We could allow our present difficulties with the wood supply to drive us apart, forgetting the fine feeling we all had when we set out on our journey more than three years ago. Instead, if I am right about difficulties being opportunities in disguise, we may be on the threshold of a deeper understanding which will be of benefit not just for ourselves but for everyone, for life itself is one. I want to ask you to close your eyes and imagine what our settlement might look like when it is completed.”

  The circle of travellers closed their eyes as Vortinn had bidden them.

  “Our huts are in a circle, like the circle we are sitting in,” said the old lady. “A bigger circle, though, with plenty of room between each hut.”

  “The huts don’t let the rain in at all, or any draught,” said a younger woman who might be her daughter. “The wood is very close fitting.”

  “Inside the huts there are comfortable beds,” said the young man who had started the discussion about the wood supply. “And at some places around the walls the wood lets the light in. You can see through it. It’s amazing! It lets the light in and you can see through it, but it’s hard like wood!”

  The younger children had fallen silent while this was going on. Suddenly one of them, a little girl who had closed her eyes when the adults did, exclaimed: “The huts are shaped like half an egg!”

  Vortinn was himself sitting with closed eyes. “Is that how you would all like our settlement to be?” There were no dissenting voices, just the easy silence of good friends in agreement. Vortinn stood up and opened his eyes. “Then so let it be,” he said quietly.

  Akkri and Vonn felt it themselves, a feeling like being lifted by a slow, gentle wave, and the world was changed. The other travellers opened their eyes and strolled back to their dome-shaped huts. It seemed entirely natural to them that they should be there, for as everyone knew, all life was one. When they were in harmonious agreement, their thoughts, their hopes, their imaginations were wholly a part of the oneness of life and were thus a part of the cosmic process of creation, change and development.

  What they did not realise was that only a few minutes earlier they had not thought that way at all. Only three people seemed to be aware of the great thing that had happened: a basic shift in the outlook and understanding of the Vikans that would change their destiny from that time onwards. One of the three was Vortinn, long ago, standing on the bluff with tears of joy running down his cheeks. The other two were Akkri and Vonn, who leaned over to each other with tears in their eyes, too, and gave one another a hug expressive of their own joy and amazement.

  “I’m hungry,” said Akkri. “Let’s go and have some food. And after that I expect it will be time for us to go off to the meeting.”

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