Under a Starless Sky novel Chapter 42

Shen stepped back, jumped, and was caught up in a warp bubble. TL waved ‘bye’ and he dropped through the floor. While traveling he modified his clothes to resemble his ship’s uniform. ‘You sure?’ “I already don’t fit in. I might as well be me. Maybe I’ll start a comic con fad.” ‘You are Arkworld.’ “Haha.” ‘You’ll be at home at the ghost dance. We should call it the Comic-con Ball.’ “No, we shouldn’t.”

He wore boots, black trousers, metallic gold shirt that was two toned, micro sequin, and a jacket. He arrived back at the Matsu cavern. The bubble popped off and he landed on the beach.

“Hello, Matsu. With your permission, I would like to tarry. I would like to try and link portals so that I may travel to visit from time to time.” Shen said this out loud. No response. “I am going to assume a no response means you’re indifferent or okay with this.” No response. “Okay, then. TL, let’s do this.”

Shen approached the temple. The two women kneeling at the base seemed to be looking at him.

“This place still makes me horny,” Shen said.

“You’re horny all the time,” TL said.

“There is that,” Shen said. “Sorry, ladies. I was projecting. May I enter your temple?”

“That wasn’t suggestive at all,” TL said, chuckling.

Shen rolled his eyes. “How else should I ask?” Shen asked.

“You request was reasonable. You may enter my temple,” TL said.

“Matsu, I would like to establish a link with one of your portals. Will you assist?”

No response.

“Do you or any of these caryatids speak at all?” Shen asked.

“I do,” TL said.

Shen jumped. He was so focused on the statue, and too much in her cleavage, that he didn’t see TL until she was touching him. She was wearing a matching uniform, clearly reflecting homage to the Original Series. The skirt was reminiscent of a bygone era, and a splash of tie-dye in a subtle textured pattern helped connect the two themes.

“OMG, please don’t do that,” he said. He collected himself. “You look great in a uniform, by the way.”

“These boots were made for walking,” TL said, pirouetting to show off her outfit.

“I need a cold shower.”

“That’s one option.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” TL said. “Come on, I have an idea.”

They climbed the stairs together and approached the gate. At the top, between gates, TL began assuming yoga poses. She started on her knees, took on the pose of the caryatid at the base of the stairs, then next caryatid, and so on, up and around, ending with the one-Legged Wheel Pose: Eka pada Chakrasana. The gate didn’t respond. She stood up, disappointed. “I really thought would work.”

“It worked for me,” Shen said.

“Cheeky boy,” Loxy said, patting his face. She tried naming the poses to see if that unlocked anything.

“Star Trek,” Shen said.

“How is that applicable?” TL asked.

“Original series, ‘The Paradise Syndrome.’ Preserver technology, an ancient monolith and guardian of a Native American colony was activated by Kirk’s communicator call signature,” Shen said.

Shen called forth an original communicator and flipped open the device. It chirped. Nothing.

“Nice try,” TL said.

He did it again, “Kirk to Enterprise.”

“You wish that worked,” TL said.

“Yeah,” Shen said. “Maybe it’s music.”

“Music is a big thing,” TL said. “DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO.”

“Maybe tonal and words,” Shen said.

“That would make an impossible password,” TL said.

“Yeah, it needs to be simple,” Shen said. “Maybe the Ancient Order of Sisters keep a combination code.” Shen said. In in solfege, he sang, “Re, Mi, Do, Do, So…” the five tones from Close Encounters.

A holographic interface describing a circle appeared, flush with the East gate. Five of twelve patterns illuminated. After a moment they dropped off one by one and the interface faded.

“Fuck me!” TL said.

“Okay,” Shen said.

“Eh?” TL said. He was looking at the space where interface was fading.

“Yeah, okay. Later?”

“Really?” TL asked.

Shen looked at her. “What?”

“We’re finally going to be intimate?” TL asked.

“If you want,” Shen said.

“Hell yeah I want,” TL said.

“Okay,” Shen said. “But let’s make this work first.”

“Can’t this wait?” TL asked.

“You want to have sex now and here?” Shen asked.

“Yes,” TL said.

“What’s the rush?”

“You might change your mind. We get distracted by drama. Something,” TL said.

“Short of going home, we have lots of time,” Shen said.

“Oh, you don’t want to fuck me in the presence of goats?” TL said.

“There eyes are kind of creepy,” Shen said.

“Goats that stare at men is kind of creepy,” TL said.

“More so than men who stare at goats?” Shen asked.

TL smiled at him.

“What?”

“Loxy was right,” TL said.

“About what?”

“The best way to cure sexual issues is over indulgence,” TL said. “Have you noticed your frequency and number of partners has declined since being activated?”

“Activated?”

“You activated Loxy. Loxy activated you. You cannot invoke tulpas without fundamentally changing who you are,” TL said.

“Interesting theory,” Shen said. “Maybe I have matured and just want to be with Loxy.”

TL laughed. He stared at her crossly.

“Explain your overwhelming interest in whether or not I get laid,” Shen asked.

“A flaw of the personality interface Uniform empathy program. You get horny, I get horny,” TL said. “Wait wait wait. You’re sudden rush was because you activated tech?!”

“I was already horny, but yeah, the tonal light response resulted in opening the reward center of my brain…”

“You are such a guy!” TL said.

“Yeah. Video games turn me on, go figure. Skyrim mods are fucking awesome. Anyway, I am really surprised that work. It’s so random it doesn’t make sense I’d nail it,” Shen said.

“Umph,” TL said. “You humans just don’t get how magical you really are.”

“You have to believe, we are magic, nothing can stand in our way,’” Shen sang.

“So, the gate builders are not Olivia Newton John fans,” TL said. “Do the tones again.”

Shen gave the tones again. The tones triggered a holographic interface, and the five notes lit up five spaces. TL added five more, the tonal response the aliens offered. B flat, C, A flat, A flat, E flat. Five more spaces lit up. The display lasted longer, allowing TL to read more of the graphics. She clapped her hand, jumped, and kissed Shen.

“I think I got it,” TL said.

“By George,” Shen said. She looked at him. “Song from ‘May Fair Lady?’”

“Oh, aren’t you back to the old you,” TL said, taking his hand and pulling him away from the gate. Back at Shangri La, TL took stones and placed them in the key indentions. On being placed, they brightened. Ten were lit. She picked the 11th, placed it. It brightened. She picked a twelfth and placed it. It brightened. They all went dark. She sighed but before she could return them to the charging pedestal, they flashed out of sequence. The symbols on her own gate began to light up in sequence as the dialing sequence was accepted. The interface near Shen and TL came alive and the appropriate rune spaces sparked.

“Wormhole established!” TL said.

There was a loud pop and a movement of air. The membrane that connected the two remote places snapped like a large sheet of cellophane catching wind, bowed out and back like a drum membrane, and then eased. It continued to oscillate like a drum membrane, and made the queerest, subtle noise. It had a palpable feel to it. Nearby goats kicked up their feet and ran away. The membrane was tight and thinner than a soap bubble. Shen squeezed TL’s hand.

“Shall we?” Shen asked.

“No!” TL said, pulling him back. “Probe first. I’m sending Yo-yo trough to you.”

Yo-yo stepped through the gate from Shangri La and arrived at the temple. There was an electric discharge and he was vaporized to the core orb that manifested him. It was an attack of lightening that illuminated his inner structure before his holographic body failed and faded, almost comical like a cartoon character hit by lightning. The ball’s light went out. The ball form fell to the ground. Shen had stepped forwards as if he might help, and single arc of energy disabled his uniform. TL reached for the ball but Shen blocked.

“My tech is down. You’re still here?”

“I am solid. Signal strength from base is solid,” she said.

“What happened?” Shen asked.

TL pulled free and picked up the orb, studying it. “An electromagnetic burst. He’s dead. Your suit is disabled. It would be easier to make you a new one than repair it.”

“I thought the tech was shielded from EM bursts,” Shen said.

“I took short cuts,” TL said.

Matsu arrived at the temple. “Organics may pass through my gate. Not tech.”

“You could have told us,” Shen said.

“We didn’t expect you to come this far this fast,” Matsu said.

“Fast! I have been here nearly 15 years,” Shen said.

“You may use this gate. You may connect with other gates. You may not take tech through my gate,” Matsu said.

“The people here are blocking me from using magic,” Shen said. “You are blocking me from using tech?”

“You are not blocked,” Matsu said.

“Feels like it. The game is rigged against me. Why?”

“I cannot divulge to you what you already know,” Matsu said.

“I am tired of hearing that.”

“It is what it is,” Matsu said.

“What would have happened had I walked through that gate wearing tech?” Shen demanded.

“Your Uniform would have been disabled, just as you experience it now,” Matsu said. “You would not have been harmed.”

“I can travel anywhere I want by tech, and that’s okay, but if I bring it through a gate…”

“My gate, my rules. You were given leniency in my domain, and may continue to utilize tech here, but not through my gate,” Matsu said. “There are places you can go where you can employ tech. There are places you cannot get to with tech. There are places you can go where it will be instantly disabled and you will be stranded until you’re on the path. If you attempt to go to Sinter wearing tech, you will die.”

Shen took a step towards her. “Please, Matsu. I don’t understand things. Are you a goddess? Are you an AI administrator? If you can’t answer questions, is there someone more amenable to dialoguing with me?”

“You don’t want a dialogue, you want an absolute,” Matsu said.

“Fair enough. Yes. I want to go home,” Shen said.

“We know,” Matsu said. “I can tarry long enough to answer another question or two, if they are not too involved.”

“May we take goats?” TL asked.

“Seriously?” Shen asked.

“I like these goats. And we could trade them,” TL said.

“The Tamorians will eat them,” Shen said.

“Jon, this is not a goat haven. It’s a farm. They’re being consumed,” TL said.

Shen became suddenly serious. He saw no change in the population of goats, but then, he hadn’t been counting of memorizing coat patterns. If there were differences, he didn’t discern it with eyes. He believed TL, though. “Who or what are eating the goats?”

“The people,” Matsu said.

“What people?” Shen said.

“In time, you might meet them,” Matsu said. “And yes, you may take goats. Some. Take a breeding pair. Anything else.”

“A list of gate addresses would be nice,” TL said.

Matsu looked up into the light of the trees. “Give us time to adapt.”

“Adapt?” Shen said. “You mean, find a way to put me back on path.”

“Yes,” Matsu said.

“Fuck. I have felt like I have been railroaded since day one, and people wonder why I am angry?” Shen demanded. “What am I? A goat to be corralled and consumed?”

“You are the love of our life,” Matsu said. She blurred out, leaving a rainbow streak that shot up into the trees.

“This is love?” Shen asked the cavern sky.

Shen found TL looking at him.

“What?”

“Help me catch some goats,” TL said.

“You want to be Bo Peep, you get the goats,” Shen said.

“Please don’t be like that,” TL said. She manifested a staff with a hook. “This will be fun.”