The Blue People of Cloud Planet (19 page)

Meanwhile the huge black door slowly and silently rose from the ground to seal the dwelling from the hostile elements outside.

‘Look at their feet and lower legs! – They’re deep blue – but I suppose that’s hardly surprising considering it’s at best 5 degrees out there, no wonder they’ve scurried back into the pools to warm up.’ said Scott.

‘But why the incessant beat of those drums?’ Olivia wondered and saw,

>> they have to find their way back >>

Olivia looked at Seren, astonished - she had read her mind!

First Temptation

As they travelled through the next two dwellings they discovered they were dedicated to farming and equally populated. Right on time the drum boomed, the blue females assembled and the wonderful, precision parade unfolded before their eyes. At the latter dwelling ten males appeared, two of whom had red triangles on their chest and later attracted the largest groups of females. Again each group including the male were uniquely identifiable by the octagon design tattooed on their chests. They watched the births with joy and shared the exhilaration as rare males were held aloft. Sadly they witnessed many deaths each day. Only once had the number of births exceeded the deaths – if this was happening all over Cloud Planet it didn’t bode well for the future of the Blue People.

Both Olivia and Scott were coping better with the night journeys and in his frequent contacts with Zec-1, Scott learned that the black mass was still following them overnight – a major concern.

Their days in the sweltering heat and humidity were divided between watching the activities of the Blue People, bathing in the pools and frequent visits underground to cool off. Scott was getting concerned that their supply of fresh water was dwindling so he reserved it all for Olivia.

It was an adventure exploring new features of each dwelling. They examined the drums and found that they were covered with a huge leaf that appeared to have been bonded over the edges - it was very taught and painted red.

‘Do you think they shrink the leaf onto this top using hot water?’ Scott wondered and saw in his mind,

>> yes > and liquid from the leaves is used at the edges >>

Scott was startled and turned to see Seren looking at him. Wow! He thought, does she look stunning. And then he worried that she had read this too but nothing reappeared in his mind.

When they were at the next ‘farming’ dwelling the drumming started and they then followed three blue females underground. They traversed along clay ramps to the very front of the structure below the huge door. They observed that the door was on 3 metre square supports set in huge clay pits overflowing with water near the top. The females descended into the gloomy lower depths where in unison they knocked out the black plugs allowing water to gush out. The door slowly lowered.

‘It’s an amazing feat of engineering,’ Scott marvelled, ‘that door must weigh tonnes and everywhere I look there are straight lines, triangles, squares, octagons – not a design curve in sight – remarkable.’

As they moved back towards the screw lift, Olivia said she would remain under one of the ceiling light shafts as the noon sun was too hot for her.

Scott ascended the lift into the bright sunshine and sat watching the farming octagon as it formed to the boom of the drummers. He did not notice Seren exit the large pool and she sat only a couple of metres to his right. He sensed her presence and looked at her – inside he was in turmoil – she was so beautiful. Her hair shone in the sunlight, her blue eyes stared ahead and then she turned towards him. As he took in her lovely face, she seductively lowered her eyelids. His eyes followed the line of the triangular ‘necklace’ which directed his gaze down to her perfect breasts. He drew in his breath and continued down to her navel, her flat stomach and the tantalising triangular flap pointing between her thighs. Her eyelids fluttered and he saw,

>> do you like me >>

And he wanted to shout ‘yes!’, ‘yes!’.

Then, Seren stood up and cast him a most lascivious smile which rocked him to the core. She turned and he watched, mesmerised, as she moved away and dove into the large pool.

He looked around guiltily, fearing that Olivia would return, and then rushed to the nearest pool to hide his ardour.

But Seren had noticed and gave him a knowing smile and flash of her eyes. Where the fate of her people was concerned, she would employ all her powers and attributes and stop at nothing to achieve her ends.

Later that afternoon, Olivia disappeared underground again leaving Scott to watch the rituals of the dozens of groups of Blue People. Seren spent most of the time bathing, sitting and inclining her head. She sat a few metres from Scott on the sun drenched ledge overlooking the large open space below.

Scott looked at Seren and was afraid that he would lose control of his emotions, but her face looked concerned and she said,

>> what is the matter with your female >>

And Scott was very disturbed as he looked up and saw Olivia’s white face as she stepped from the screw lift.

The ‘Home’ of Seren

Olivia had first felt griping pains at the second ‘farming’ dwelling, but had kept it to herself and taken some medicine to settle her stomach. Then, that previous afternoon, she had thrown up underground and returned white as a sheet to be met by a concerned Scott. She assured him that it was no more than an upset stomach but he had insisted that she take extra rations of their dwindling fresh water supply.

The astronauts had already travelled 350 kilometres since leaving the lander in the dwelling at the edge of the forest. They had passed through four small and three larger ‘farming’ dwellings and they were now about half way to the next one in the utter blackness of the tunnel.

Scott woke up suddenly and wondered what had disturbed him. In the absolute blackness something was wrong because the boat was rocking!

‘Where’s Olivia!’ He panicked and frantically scrambled in front of him.

But only leaves rustled.

Then he heard – a retch! – In the darkness from the back of the boat. Had that woken him? He fumbled for the flashlight when he heard a scream so piercing it shot into the depths of the tunnel and then reverberated back over his head echoing wildly. The screaming went on and on as the boat rocked and icy cold water splashed in. Scott managed to snap on the light.

The scene was surreal. The red walls of the tunnel passed overhead whilst Seren slept between two of her attendants. And at the stern of the boat.....

Olivia! -  screaming! -  shaking! -  retching! -  pitching forward!

‘Olivia!’ Scott yelled and he leapt over the prone Blue People, slipping on the leaves, and grabbed her legs which caused the boat to pitch dangerously. Olivia toppled over the stern of the boat but he held on frantically and managed to drag her shuddering body to the middle of the craft.

‘It’s alright, it’s alright!’ he reassured her and clung on as she shook uncontrollably against his chest, ‘I’m here, I’ve got you, and you’re safe.’

Scott paused, his heart hammering in his chest, and thought that if he had been a few seconds later Olivia would have pitched into the icy waters. But if he had not woken up!

‘Oh my God!  Oh my God! I nearly lost you!’ he realised with horror. Then he kept the flashlight on until she finally fell asleep, but Scott couldn’t dare sleep because he was afraid he might let go of her again.

And all through this, Seren and her entourage slept soundly as the drama had unfolded in the black tunnel under the red clay of Cloud Planet.

The long hours in the utter incessant darkness passed in slow motion with only the occasional scrape of the boat on the sides of the tunnel to disturb the eerie silence. Finally the bottom of the boat ground on the dock and it stopped suddenly. Now all that Scott could hear was the roar of flowing water.

He consulted his palmtop and Zec-1 informed him that, during the previous nights, the black mass had divided into three. One was stationary between ROL-1 and LifeSeeker-1, another was following the astronauts through the tunnels with unerring accuracy and the third was moving randomly.

‘What do you make of that, Zec-1?’ Scott texted.

‘One inference, which I consider logical, is that AJ has sent out ROL-2 to try to outflank the black mass – but without success.’

‘Have you any further success with analysis of this menace?’

‘No, and I can only deduce that it is preventing us from determining its composition. I can see it but nothing more.’

Scott’s concerns were now mounting. Later, when the window of light fell on the boat, Olivia woke up. She seemed oblivious of the nights’ drama and said that she felt better. Scott decided to let matters lie for the moment and they followed Seren and her attendants up the gloomy ramp.

Scott and Olivia reached the screw lift with its usual queue of Blue People and were surprised when they were directed beyond it to a second lift.  However, this was only the start of a day of surprises.

‘Scott!’ Olivia grasped his arm and pointed, all thoughts of her bad stomach immediately forgotten, ‘The queue! The queue! – they’re all blond-haired like Seren!’

The shuffling leaf clad file of Seren lookalikes parted to allow Seren, her attendants and the two astronauts to ascend the screw lift. They were so absorbed by this new revelation that, when they stepped off the lift, they were oblivious to the fact that the sun was not shining!

‘What the!!’ was all Scott and Olivia could muster as they stopped on a raised plinth and shivered with the cold. Meanwhile the Seren clones shuffled forward, cast off their leaves and entered their first pool.

‘Where are we?’ Olivia cried, confused, ‘What are all those beams of light?’

There was no sun but the space was illuminated by dozens of rays of light which poured towards them from the far end. Scott was bemused and could not take in his surroundings. He stared upwards and around him and the penny dropped.

‘Olivia,’ he whispered in astonishment, ‘we’ve come up inside a huge solid structure, why, it’s got eight sides and must be 100 metres across. It’s the same size as the first dwellings we visited – only this is closed in. Look, the far two walls facing the sun are studded with diamonds – that’s what’s causing these wonderful light beams.’

Olivia slowly rotated to try to take in these new surroundings. 

‘Olivia! It’s surely 50, maybe, 60 metres high and what’s that octagonal strip of light right at the top?’

Olivia looked up, transfixed, ‘These two walls behind us are also studded with crystals and they must let light in later but I can’t make out the side walls because they’re not visible in the gloom.’

 ‘The internal design of this closed octagonal pyramid is nearly identical to the farming dwellings. I see the familiar arrangement of four triangular pools, except that the fourth one is much bigger than the cooking structure. The recognisable channel runs from the centre and disappears under the front wall. However, the space where the arrays of wooden shafts are stored is quite different and will become obvious as I progress my narrative. ’

They shivered with cold as they watched dozens and dozens of these beautiful blond females with piercing blue eyes warming up as they moved from pool to pool. Scott was speechless and then he looked around for Seren but could not pick her out among all these identical figures until a head turned in the third pool.  Her eyes focused on Scott.

>> welcome to my home > welcome to my people and our revered workers >>

The two astronauts warmed quickly as they were eager to explore further. For ease of recognition, they decided that they would refer to the Seren lookalikes as the ‘Serenites’ to distinguish them from the blue workers.  Whilst the Serenites were feeding, Olivia and Scott were distracted by the sight of a door, about 2 metres high and four wide that had opened in the front wall. As they walked down the ramp and into the open space dominated by a raised triangular platform, the sun poured in and drew them through the opening. They were surprised as they walked into the blazing sunshine of an even bigger dwelling and gasped at the enormousness of the light sheath.

‘I include a 3D diagram here to help explain the concept of a 100 metre pyramid dwelling sitting inside a 200 metre dwelling. The design is identical to the farming structures except here there are two assemblies of black shafts in the open space. In terms of population, there are about 500 blue workers in the outer structure and 200 Serenites in the pyramid.’

Single pyramid dwelling

They walked forward a short way and looked back,

‘What a stunning structure!’ Olivia enthused. Externally, the octagonal pyramid of red clay bricks soared up towards the light sheath. It was flat at the top with a large black structure sticking out.

‘What’s that at the top?’ Scott wondered. Then the heat and thirst forced them back into the cool of the pyramid. They walked around the huge raised platform just as Seren appeared at the top of the ramp. She was surrounded everywhere by hundreds of her people. She raised hers arms upwards in greeting and all the Serenites followed her gesture.

The power of the telepathic message coming from these people was so forceful that Olivia and Scott clamped their heads as they saw, over and over,

>> welcome > welcome > welcome > welcome >>

They raised their arms in reply and the beautiful Serenites smiled in response. Then Olivia saw the group of 10 Serenite males and stared open mouthed.

Scott followed her gaze. These males were as equally magnificent as their female counterparts. They had similar blond shining hair, stunningly handsome faces and the same amazing blue eyes. They were broad shouldered with muscular bodies and strong legs and wore red triangular flaps at their waists.

‘Oh my!’  she admired, ‘They’re beautiful.’

And she looked knowingly at Scott and said,

‘Something for me to stare at - at last!’

Scott shrugged his shoulders and tried to reply in a matter of fact way,

‘Have you noticed these males have similar squares, tattoos and octagon shapes on their bodies? And nearly all the triangles on their chests are black!’

‘And another thing,’ Olivia said, ‘all the Serenite females are wearing one of those strange triangular necklaces similar to Seren’s.’

And they are all as stunning and perfectly formed as Seren, thought Scott to himself, but with slight subtle differences in features and form. What a world!