story.txt (4504B)
1 MAYDAY! 2 3 MAYDAY! 4 5 Hailing all units in sector in sector A721... 6 7 Error: no units found. 8 9 Reattempting hail... 10 11 Error: no units found. 12 13 Reattempting hail... 14 15 System failure. 16 17 System failure. 18 19 Sysť̀em fāilur3. 20 21 Syßť̀m fāiii1i1iilur3. 22 23 24 ... 25 26 27 Orange. Ruddy orange. And light. Lots of it. 28 29 And a throbbing, all across your body. Pounding against you from all 30 sides. 31 32 Your still in the ship. What's left of it? There's pieces missing, 33 maybe. And a fire. To your left. But the heat from the fire is coming 34 from every direction. You try and stand. 35 36 37 ... 38 39 40 Your eyes crack open again. Crack very literally in this case. Your 41 eyelids are scabbing. Your lips are split all across the surface. You 42 flick your tongue out to wet them, but it just drags across the open 43 cuts. 44 45 You jostle slightly in the stretcher. 46 47 48 ... 49 50 51 Its darker than it was before. For a second you're not sure you've 52 opened your eyes at all, but the gruff man carefully pouring drops of 53 water down your throat convinces you otherwise. 54 55 You jolt up. Or try to, anyway. You manage a feeble wiggle. Still, its 56 enough to jostle the tube from the man's waterskin, which falls out from 57 between your dry lips and onto the mat below you. The tube closes before 58 a drop can escape. 59 60 "Who are you?" 61 62 The man tilts his head. Two long, twisted strands of hair on either side 63 of his head move with him. 64 65 "Tamir Ben Yosef Ben Ari Ben Tal Ben Ravid Ben El" 66 67 The man's voice is guttural and deep. His accent is thick, and his words 68 almost unintelligible. 69 70 "You are from space." 71 72 It's not a question. You're not sure how to respond. 73 74 "That makes you one of the deserters." 75 76 The man grunts and turns away. You pass out again before you can think 77 more about "deserter." 78 79 80 ... 81 82 83 You're unclear how much time is passing between your delirious bursts of 84 conciousness. The black, stiff scab that had formed along the burns down 85 your left arm have almost healed. You woke once to your companion 86 applying a yellow-brown salve over the area. 87 88 Tamir. That is his name. You've learned very little from your 89 interactions. His forehead is thick with wrinkles, from squinting into 90 the sun. His beard is thick and tangled. 91 92 He's human. You think. 93 94 95 ... 96 97 98 "The Siloam Channel," the "e" almost an "a" when he says it, "spans from 99 the furthest coast of the Southern Continent to the northernmost edges 100 shores of the Eastern Continent. It crosses directly through Jerusalem 101 at its center." 102 103 "Is that where we're going?" you manage. You've finally got him talking, 104 and you don't want to risk him stopping now. The days of silence, with 105 nothing but the crunch of the desert to keep you company, are too much 106 to bear. 107 108 Tamir grunts in affirmation, and continues walking. 109 110 111 ... 112 113 114 Silence. All in the name of water. Diamonds, gold, are nothing against 115 water in the desert. 116 117 118 ... 119 120 121 You sleep in the middle of the day, and the middle of the night. 122 Avoiding the extremes. Dawn and dusk are your familiars, and the sun and 123 moon your enemy. 124 125 Tamir has been very clear what will happen if you find yourself outside 126 at midday or midnight. 127 128 "Death. Very painful. In the day, you will dry out. Like a fig. Or the 129 chickpea crisp that are so good at Oori Boori's. At midnight, you will 130 freeze. To freeze on the Siloam is not a good death." 131 132 133 ... 134 135 136 "Tamir. Where am I?" You're shivering under the blanket. Tamir refused 137 to light a fire tonight. He says its work, and he cannot. 138 139 "The Siloam Channel. It did not exist when your kind were still here." 140 141 There it is again. "Your kind?" 142 143 "The defectors. The nations. It has been two thousand years, so I would 144 not expect you to remember. We do not forget so easily." 145 146 Two thousand years. 147 148 You're on Earth. 149 150 151 ... 152 153 154 "What happened to the planet?" 155 156 You're trudging through the Channel. It's dusk. You can feel the cold 157 setting in. 158 159 "You destroyed it, before you abandoned it. We remained, to pick up the 160 pieces." 161 162 You've encountered no other life on your journey along the Siloam. 163 164 "We? Where are the others?" 165 166 "The Poles. Or as near as they can be. Not many travel to the center. 167 Few brave the Siloam. Perhaps once, to see the their home." 168 169 170 ... 171 172 173 At by the fire, Tamir continues. 174 175 "When your people left, you literally scorched the earth." 176 177 You nod silently, and continue listening. 178 179 180 "There was nothing left. We had to rebuild. The suit your wearing, which 181 I have given you. It recycles your water. My blue goggles. I would be 182 blind a hundred times over without them. This channel, which spans 183 the entire world. Dug by hand. This is dedication."