He didn’t notice when the earth began to shake. He didn’t even notice when the cave disappeared. All he felt was darkness surrounding him. Suddenly he was on his knees, and couldn’t keep his balance. He closed his eyes to stop himself from throwing up. Tristan didn’t want to know what would happen next. He was no match for the monster that attacked him, and he was no match for what would come. He was on his own.
EB26392
Journal 1
Emily came out of the darkness in seconds and found herself surrounded by clear blue glass in every direction. It was stunning. It was a building, but unlike any building, she'd seen. She looked up into what she thought was the sky but realized it was actually water. She was staring at the ceiling when she heard her name being called with an odd accent. She looked around and saw a human-like creature smiling at her. It had no teeth, but a perfect mouth with perfect lips worthy of a magazine cover. The beast was almost pure white. The skin was see-through and felt like it would rip off the body with any touch.
Two holes looked like nostrils, but on the side of their head, there were also gills. The being was wearing the most beautiful blue cloth Emily had ever seen. They felt ethereal, and she was clumsy and dirty in comparison. She turned to look for Geoffrey. He was hugging one of the creatures, and the being was hugging him back. It was more like a merging than a hug.
Geoffrey turned to look at her and smiled.
"Emily, follow us. Welcome to our world. We are the Anica. We are sea people." The being spoke in sentences that went directly into her brain even though she could see the mouth moving and making sounds.
Emily followed, waiting for Geoffrey to give an explanation. He was deep in conversation with the other being. She was actually feeling a bit jealous because she had never seen Geoffrey speak so much. He was obviously capable of communication. He just didn't feel like talking to her.
“My name is Saai,” the being said. “And that is my husband, Manaii.”
"Nice to meet you," Emily said, feeling out of her depth. It reminded her that she had never ventured beyond the United States. She had barely traveled within her own country. The closest she had come to intercultural interaction was in the Los Angeles metro.
They stepped past several rooms, all surrounded with glass walls. Emily noticed the Anica walked awkwardly on the ground. Their feet were bare, and they had no toes. Just a thin membrane of skin that extended from the end of their feet, making waking more complicated. The floor was spotless, and again Emily immediately wished she could at least remove her dirt-filled shoes. Geoffrey approached her as they followed Saai. He took her hand in his again. She could feel his joy because they were obviously Geoffrey's dear friends. Emily looked around and realized that the husband was gone.
They came upon a bridge that led to a series of interconnecting tunnels. Each was just a little taller than Geoffrey. Emily couldn’t see links connecting panels of glass. It looked as if it was all created from one piece of glass. She touched the panels. It didn’t quite feel like glass. She expected it to be cold, but it was actually warm. It felt almost like a very think membrane. It felt organic. Saai smiled when she saw Emily touching the wall.
"Everything here comes from our oceans. It is part of how we live. The tunnels are made from our farms. We harvest it and mold it into our drylands." Saai said.
“Do you live within these as well?” Emily asked.
“Yes. We can breathe underwater, but it is more comfortable to be in these spaces for us. They need to keep at high humidity so that our skin can tolerate it. It works. It is comfortable.” She said.
“Do you ever go to the surface?” Emily asked.
"Our skin would burn off. We can only function deep in our oceans. There are no landmasses like there are in your XT991. Our MD877 is all water. We have kept a close connection to your world, and do some trade. At least we did for a long time. It has been very quiet on earth for almost ten years. I don't know why. Our skin makes it almost impossible to travel there. We need special suits and layers of clothing to make it happen. The only human we get here is Geoffrey." She pronounced Geoffrey funny. It felt like the only word Emily heard with her ears. Everything else came directly into her brain, even though she saw Saai's mouth move. Emily must have looked surprised.
"There is a technology within the gates that allows us to understand all words. It filters into us as understanding though we have no knowledge of the language. In time, I have learned some of their language. This only works with the gatekeepers and people like us." Geoffrey said as an explanation.
“People like us?” Emily asked.
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” Geoffrey asked.
Emily waited for an explanation she knew wouldn’t come. He was waiting for her to figure something out. She thought about the vision in the tunnel. She knew it was his memory. Was he like her? Is this why he kept his distance? Is this why he was collecting women who had killed through sex? Was he searching for someone like him? It was too absurd. Emily was nothing like Geoffrey. She got hurt, and she bled. Emily was sure she could die. Geoffrey was aware of this, which is why he was so protective of her. She could get hurt. He couldn’t.
TJ56823
Journal 1
Tristan stumbled out of the tunnel and landed hard onto the ground. He looked around the walls. He was in a fish tank. Damn. This was not what he wanted or what he was expecting. What the hell was he supposed to do in a fish tank? He had been trampled and almost eaten. This was not a happy place. It was pure misery. Everything hurt. He couldn’t believe he had fallen so far in his grand plans.
A hand was extended in his direction. Well, it was a sort of hand with webbed fingers and a white see-through skin that felt slimy. He had the sensation when he grabbed onto the extended hand that he would rip the skin right off. Instead, Tristan was pulled to his feet as if he had been made of cotton. It was uncomfortable. When he stood up, he realized that at his six feet, he was a little shorter than the person standing in front of him.
Tristan extended his hand again, “Tristan, nice to meet you.”
The person extended his hand towards Tristan and garbled something that sounded like underwater bubbles. It was going to be a very long trip. Paris felt like a lifetime before. Tristan decided that it was time to give up pretenses. He had to say something. Tristan would die returning to Geoffrey’s house, and he had no clue how to return to Earth. After the incident with the flying thing, he really just wanted to return home. Everything else had to wait.
“I am looking for Geoffrey and Emily,” Tristan said slowly and kind of loudly.
The person smiled. Tristan was sure it was a smile. It had no teeth, but oddly beautiful lips. He tried not to be repulsed with what he was seeing. The thing nodded and walked off. Tristan followed, hiding his desperation. He was so seriously freaked out that he couldn't quite wrap his head around this place. After what seemed like they followed an underwater maze of tunnels, they arrived in a small room. There was food on the table. It looked rather disgusting to him, but he wasn't going to get picky. He was excited to see a bathroom and some clean clothes.
The thing smiled again and walked out. As the being did, the doors closed, and the tunnels connecting the room disappeared. Tristan was locked in a fish tank deep in an ocean. This was not what he had in mind at all. He was exhausted, though. He made use of the bathroom and washed all the grime off and then put on the robe. It was so soft it felt like water gently touching his skin. He could make a fortune selling this cloth if he could figure out how to reproduce it. Maybe he could make friends.
EB26392
Journal 1
Emily stepped into a beautiful room. Saai smiled and stepped. She saw a couch and went to sit, closing her eyes for a moment, feeling utterly worn. She felt Geoffrey sit next to her. He touched her face gently, and she leaned against him.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
She opened her eyes. “I think so. It is all so perfect, and it was just intense in
the cave. I am lost right now and need a little time.”
He took her in his arms and held her.
“I promise that what’s coming for you is so much better than anything that’s been before.” He said.
She kissed his lips. He kissed her back gently and then pulled away from her.
"It is not the time for this," he said and stood up. "I need to go talk to Manaii. I'll be back in a little bit."
Emily tried not to feel hurt, but it stung. He had blatantly rejected her. She knew what would happen if she took it further, but Geoffrey couldn't get hurt. If he couldn't get hurt, then she could be with him. Geoffrey had stalked her. He didn't speak to her about much of anything. He was ancient. Literally. Ancient. He was odd. Really, really bizarre. He liked making himself bleed, which was really weird. He spoke to her in a condescending tone, as if he knew everything about her past, her present, and her future. That was utterly annoying. If it had been any other time in her life, she wouldn't have given him the time of day.
She missed human contact and being in love. He could be someone that could provide some of that. He was not perfect. There were flaws. He was a lot of imperfect. But he was someone. That had to count for something, right? Many women thought that was enough. Maybe it was enough for her too. He was handsome. Of course, all of these ideas were totally dumb, because he had just rejected her. He ran out. Maybe it was age. They did say that men lost function after a certain age, and he'd been around for thousands of years. He could be embarrassed.
She realized she had sat on the couch, staring at nothing for too long. Emily was in the middle of the most spectacular adventure of her life, and instead of enjoying it, she was trying to figure out a quirky old man. Enough. She stood up and explored the room. The closet was filled with clothes like Saai's, and there was a bathroom. She stepped into the shower, feeling she had found heaven. When she stepped out, she wrapped herself in a towel and decided she would never wear anything else again. It was so soft. The cloth was meant for skin like theirs that could get damaged easily.
She felt self-conscious, surrounded by water and glass, and stepped shyly back into the bathroom and changed into the robe. The robe was even better than the towel. The gentle caress of the cloth against her skin was giving her uncomfortable thoughts. It was like a caress against her skin. She stepped out of the bathroom as Saai, Manaii and Geoffrey returned. Geoffrey saw her and smiled. Emily felt herself blush profoundly embarrassed at her own thoughts. She remembered they communicated through thought and was about to get back into the bathroom. Saai went up to her and rearranged some things on the robe to make it fall better.
“It looks beautiful on you,” she said.
“The cloth is something else,” Emily answered.
"We create it in the same way we create the walls. Everything is organically created from the natural materials of our world." Saai said.
Saai pushed Emily gently towards Manaii for his opinion. He smiled.
“It fits perfectly,” he said.
“Thank you!” Emily answered. She looked towards Geoffrey. “Aren’t you going to change?”
“Maybe a little later,” he answered. “Did you eat something?”
“Not yet,” she answered.
"Let's get something to eat, and then I'll show you more about this place. It is one of my favorite planets." Geoffrey said.
They ate and left to walk through the town. Geoffrey was right. She could understand Saai and Manaii perfectly, but she couldn't understand a word anyone else was saying. It sounded like bubbles coming out of the back of their throat. She tried to imitate it. Geoffrey was doing a pretty good job of it. Emily felt like she was choking when she tried it. Geoffrey, Manaii, and Saai laughed at her attempts. Soon, Manaii and Emily were making jokes as she attempted his language, and he tried hers. He spoke some.
“How long have you known each other?” Emily asked.
Manaii replied, "A couple hundred years in your calendar. We function differently. We have a little longer life than humans. As gatekeepers, we have an even longer life than most of our kind. Even so, being a gatekeeper moves within families and then sometimes between couples as well, if you are lucky. Geoffrey was a dear friend of my parents and grandparents. He has known me since I was a child. He will know my son when the time comes as well."
“I didn’t know there were gatekeepers. Are there gatekeepers in my world too?” She asked.
Geoffrey answered, “Yes. There were. About twenty years ago, there was a brutal attack against them. I am not sure if there are any left. I separated myself from that group a while back, after losing a dear friend.”
“Aren’t you a gatekeeper?” Emily asked.
Geoffrey smiled, "No. I am not a gatekeeper. I can open all the gates, but I am different. I am a genetic accident. They happen only once or twice every few thousand years. Many planets get one if they are lucky. I see myself as an accident. An unwanted byproduct of genetic experiments. I like referring to myself as a bastard."
“I don’t understand,” Emily answered.
“This is why I am taking you tomorrow to AA001. I feel it would be good for you to understand.” Geoffrey answered.
“What is a bastard?” Manaii asked.
“A child whose father does not recognize him as his son,” Geoffrey answered.
Saai laughed, “It is fitting. We don’t have bastards in our world. If we are lucky, we have one or two children in our three-hundred-year span. Children are precious. They are carefully cultivated. No father would ever reject his child.”
Emily wanted to add something, but nothing felt quite right. How would she explain to these people that bastards happen in her world all the time? Children get thrown out of their parents' home for any reason. She had been adopted at birth, so she had no recollection of her birth family. Her adoptive parents had died when she was very young. Even then, the moment her first boyfriend had died, her relationship with her grandmother, her only relative, had ended. She had survived because that is what she did. She didn't know what it was like to have that sense of absolute welcome.
“We have a bastard here too,” Saai said. “I will take you to her later today. She will want to see you. Geoffrey knows her well.”
“I would like that,” Emily replied.
Emily saw that Geoffrey was watching her. She returned his stare haughtily, so he looked away.
TJ56823
Journal 1
The little room was claustrophobic, and Tristan felt like a goldfish. The tunnels looked like glorified hamster cages. He stared at the water until his eyes watered. All he saw blue in every direction. He had banged at the doors hoping someone would find him. He couldn't see anything. There weren't even tunnels nearby. He was in a floating cube in the middle of the ocean. At some point in the afternoon, he saw what he thought was a whale, but it ended up looking more like some ancient fish with way too many teeth. He then wondered if the walls would hold, but the fish had no interest in Tristan.
The light was changing when the tunnel appeared again. It was not the same fish dude he'd seen before. This person was smaller and more delicate, a female. She garbled in her bubble tongue. Then she signaled for him to follow her. He followed her down the endless tunnels again. Tristan took more time to look at the construction of the tunnels. They were part of the water, but separate from it.
The woman touched a part of the wall, and the new tunnel immediately appeared, creating a dry space for him to walk. There was no water in the corridors. The floor was not wet, and the ground was dry. It was completely airtight. Yet, it didn't feel dry. It felt as if he was in a cooler sauna. There was humidity in the spaces. With a little rest and food, he no longer felt undone. His body still held the bruises and scratches of his adventure, but he was ready for more.
He saw an opportunity in this world. If he could take a little of the cloth, he could sell it for thousands of dollars. If he could figure out how the tunnels were made, he would be set, in billions of dollars
, for the rest of his life. This was a land ready to be exploited, and he was prepared to do it. Of course, he would first have to figure out how to speak their language. It sounded impossible to learn. He was not sure his mouth would make the right sounds.
As he walked behind this new thing, he saw across the water in a distant tunnel, the unmistakable shapes of Geoffrey and Emily. He was not ready to face them. He took the initiative and walked away from the thing. As he saw a clear space ahead of him, he ran. There were hundreds of the creatures walking through the tunnels. They stopped and stared as he ran past. They moved out of the way as if he was on fire.
Tristan found himself in what looked like factories. He could not understand what they were making. Thousands of the things worked in unison. Were they making the cloth? It took him a bit to realize that the people he was seeing were not in an enclosure. They were underwater, and they were making something. He stopped to study the translucent material coming out of machines. He was enthralled by the process. Suddenly he was flying. Someone had lifted him into the air and threw him hard on the ground. Everything went black.
Dance of Life: The Belief Chronicles: Book One (Chronicles of a Planet's End) Page 10
