| |
A while later we came to a place where the canopy of trees overhead broke up. Alyssa stopped us under one and pointed upwards. ‘See, the Sun.’
Pitr and I both looked up and gasped. Far above was a thin strip of intense light, blue white and glaring. It hurt to look at it, and I averted my eyes after a few seconds. Pitr didn’t. Alyssa tugged at his arm. ‘Stop it. You can hurt your eyes if you stare for too long.’
Pitr lowered his eyes and locked eyes with me. ‘Look again,’ he said. ‘About two thirds of the way along.’
I squinted upwards again, my eyes starting to water, then I saw what he had wanted me to notice. There was a darker spot, and a tiny but definite kink in the line. I swallowed and my knees felt unsteady as I realised that I had almost fallen from that dizzy height. Alyssa looked at us both in confusion.
‘You know the kink in the sun,’ I said. She nodded. ‘I almost fell from there.’
‘You lie.’ Her face went flat and angry. I shook my head.
‘Nope. Truth. Through the middle of your ‘Sun’ are two tubes that used to send people all around this place. The terminal, where you met us. If you follow the trail from there, you can get to the break.’
She didn’t look convinced, but I didn’t really care. We moved on, and kept going late into the evening. That was when we got the next revelation.
We’d picked another place where there were no trees above to stop for the night. Alyssa showed us how to find plant stuff to make a more comfortable bed. Whilst it wasn’t as good as the shaping foam, it was better than hard earth. Then she made us promise not to look upwards until she told us to. We played along. There was nothing better to do. It got darker and darker then finally Alyssa told us to shut our eyes, lie on our back and wait until she counted to three.
I opened my eyes and caught my breath. Every time I thought nothing else could impress me, something came along and slapped me on the back of the head. The intense light of the Sun had faded from the strip above, and had somehow turned around. Arcing above us was another world, kilometres away, with more forest, and rivers, and tiny patchwork patterns at the far end away from where we had come in. For a moment, I felt like I was about to fall and I tried to hold myself to the ground by digging my fingers into the dirt. I heard Pitr make a little noise, and then Alyssa started to giggle.
‘You two really aren’t from around here, are you.’
Pitr and I made rude noises and settled down to sleep.
The next morning, Alyssa seemed withdrawn. Whenever I looked at her she seemed to be looking at the floor, or chewing on her bottom lip and she was dragging behind, letting Pitr walk with me which seemed to make him happier. I let her work whatever was troubling her out for herself. After all, she had invited herself on the trip. After a couple of hours, though, it started to annoy me.
‘What’s bothering you?’ I asked over my shoulder.
‘Nothing,’ she replied, sounding distant and defensive. I didn’t buy it for a second.
‘Having second thoughts about coming,’ I suggested.
‘No!’ she snapped back instantly.
I didn’t have to hide my smile as I was facing away from her. I could imagine the angry look on her face. ‘So what’s bothering you? You haven’t said a word all morning.’
‘Well ... ’
She sounded very unsure, and this time I got the impression it was genuine. I stopped and turned to face her. Pitr did the same, but I saw the expression on his face was less concern and more ‘what now?’. She seemed to get even more nervous now we were looking at her. Her face was turned down and I could have sworn there was pink in her cheeks.
‘It’s just that ... I don’t think your magic light is taking you the right way.’
‘It isn’t ma - ’ started Pitr, sounding cross, but I talked over the top of him.
‘How do you know?’
‘If we keep on in this direction, we are going almost straight to where the Go-yen farm their animals.’
‘Isn’t that closest?’ I asked.
‘Yes, but there are lots of people there. My tribe know the area well. We watch for food animals that have escaped, and sometime we will even take animals from outlying fields if times are really hard, but there are people everywhere; guards and workers.’
‘So?’ said Pitr.
‘So I don’t know how you would get past them all.’
‘We can figure it out when we get - ’
I spoke over Pitr again. After all, Alyssa was the one who lived here. We had already seen that the drones were not infallible, and that their information wasn’t always accurate.
‘Do you have an idea?’
‘It won’t make your magic light angry?’
‘No,’ I replied, smiling.
‘There are three ways into Go-yen-tan.’
‘You told us that last night,’ said Pitr.
Alyssa ignored him.
‘One where they keep the food animals, and one where they grow plants for food. They are both busy, with many guards.’
‘And the third one?’ I asked.
Alyssa looked uncomfortable. ‘The third one is not guarded. It is near the old building where the machines live. The Go-yen don’t go there, and they don’t guard the third portal.’
‘Why not?’ asked Pitr.
‘Because it’s sealed. It’s supposed to be the gateway to the Halls of the Dead.’