Under a Starless Sky

Chapter 32

They gathered the nonperishables to walk back to his cave. Irksome came in, picked up a one of the

remaining gunny sacks, and started to walk with them. The three females walking with him emulated

him. Candace laughed. It was awkward for them carrying bags, and they set it down, adjusted, picked it

up. TL commented on the eagerness to help and suggested a harness, which was now available in his

bag, via site to site replicator- as opposed to his magic. Shen instructed them to put them down, using

hand gesture. They complied. Irksome made a noise and a hand gesture. TL removed the harness

from his bag. He explained, coming closer. Irksome submitted, lowering himself to the ground.

Candace immediately understood, and hooked up sacks so that the weight was balance.

On command, Irksome stood, carrying most of the load. The other three knelt, also wanting to carry.

When the last had nothing to carry, it protested something fierce, throwing so much of a tantrum they

redistributed the weight so that they were all carrying.

“They’re like children,” Candace said. “In their understanding and wanting…”

“That’s how I see it,” Shen said.

“Yet, they are like adults in their skill at hunting…”

“Children are much more devious, manipulative, and cunning about getting their needs met, and they

can be equally deadly, sometimes out of need, sometimes out of mischievousness,” Shen said.

“There is that,” Candace said. She was sullen. “I have killed creatures when there was no need. I was

just…”

“Human,” Shen said.

Candace let tears flow. “I am sorry, Shen.”

“It is what it is. I hold no grievance.”

“That’s not true…”

“I let it go in measures,” Shen said. “Come, let’s get you home.”

With help of the Irks, instead of going to his cave, they made their way straight to West Midelay. They

had walked some distance when she realized something. She brought them to a stop. She planted her

staff hard in the dirt and let go. It was dark.

“Your divining of heart light has improved,” Candace said.

“It has,” Shen said. He didn’t offer to explain that his present sight was due to the tech in his uniform.

“I was not aware that Irks could see in the dark,” Candace said.

The Irks had stopped with them. Irksome lifted a leg and lowered its head and scratched. One of the

females had a sudden coughing fit, it sounded like a smokers cough, COPD, like it might die. It was

productive. It spat out a great blob of tar. It retched, shook its head, and recovered.

“That’s disgusting,” Candace said.

“The fresher it is the more potent,” Shen offered. He was puzzled by their keeping up, as all the

evidence he had was they don’t travel at night. He wondered if it was their youth or they were going by

sound and smell, maybe even feel. He wondered if their face feathers telegraphed information the

same way cat whiskers did.

“It will be morning soon. Shall we continue?” Shen asked.

Candace took up her staff and they continued. It was the perfect breaking of day as they arrived. The

emerged from the shadows to be recognized by the sun, and by the light of the guard simultaneously.

There were already boys out playing, running, fighting. All morning came to a halt at the sight of Irk.

Someone sounded an alarm. Shen told the Irks to hold with hand gesture. Even untrained, they

complied with his gesture. Candace stepped forwards motioning for calm. The morning guard slowly

approached Candace, their eyes on the Irks.

“I see your return,” Flame said, her eyes still on the Irks.

“I don’t think you see me at all,” Candace said.

Shen disconnected the supplies, removing the harnesses which disappeared as soon as he put them

away in his bag. They truly didn’t fit in his bag, but no one was paying attention to him or this detail.

Irksome touched its forehead to his.

“Return to the cave. Go. I will be alright,” Shen said.

Irksome chirped and backed off. It looked at the others, made a motion with its foot as if it wanted to

claw the earth, maybe tap a tree. It roared, turned and departed back into the forest. The females

lingered, backing slowly. Irksome’s call came, and they turned and departed. For such large animals,

they moved with incredible grace, like ballet dancers, feet lightly finding roots and gently pushing

against the earth.

“If it weren’t for consensus, I would not believe my eyes,” Flame said. She turned to Candace. Her eyes

went wide at the staff. “Welcome back, Master of Staffs.”

Candace was suddenly swarmed by her sisters. Shen retreated and disappeared back into the forest.

He was not there when Candace realized he was absent. Shen retreated back to the forest, apparently

unnoticed.

Shen made his way back towards his cave. He and TL talked as they traveled. She asked why he

didn’t linger and he simply avoided the question. As they walked, he gave her his memories of his cave

layout and asked if they could improve it, modernize it. “For sure, I want a door. Something Irks can’t

break through, and I can lock.”

“Modification is easy. How grand do you want it?”

“Simple. Creature comfort. No castles. I do want a room big enough to house a portal,” Shen said.

TL presented a picture in his head: a Minecraft room with a portal on an altar so Pigmen that emerged

would fall and be easier to catch. Shen laughed.

“The salt mines can make great homes. You should consider making a resort, you can offer the natural

healing of the mountain,” TL said.

“Yeah, nice long term project. Table it,” Shen said. “How shall we survey?”

“Hold your Torch,” TL said.

Shen removed the Torch and held it in front of him.

“Jump,” TL said.

Shen jumped. He was suddenly surrounded by a field of energy. He was caught up in a bubble of light.

He was weightless in the orb, but held a sense of direction that was not limited to sighted orientation. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

The ‘light’ bubble was as thin as a soap bubble.

“I have done this before!” Shen said. “With magic.”

“Of course you have, Glenda,” TL said.

“Ha ha,” Shen said.

“Magic, tech, it’s all the same, really,” TL said. “It is all an extension of consciousness. May I pilot?”

“Your plane,” Shen said.

TL piloted straight to the cave. She could have followed his convoluted path, but why when not only

could she extrapolate position of the cave based on his inner map, but also they could fly in a straight

line, passing through trees and earth as if the world was nothing more than a hologram. The bubble

was essentially a warp bubble, and it was out of phase with the physical world just enough that it was

unaffected in obvious ways by the surrounding mass. In the warp bubble, he was also unaffected by

any sudden changes in direction or alterations in velocity. Right hand turns at speed in excess of the

sound barrier were as easy as grabbing a lamp post and spinning him about.

The bubble illuminated information, projected inward. Irksome and friends were identified. The

population of irks was greater than he had imagined. He would eventually gather enough intelligence to

understand the complexity of their system. Babies left the nest, and were wild creatures from their first

steps. On the death of the adult male, females dispersed. Eventually a single adult female gathered a

following of male and female adolescents. Males would eventually fall back to the periphery, avoiding

other males. Even that distance would become unacceptable after a while, and they would fight for

territory. Males tended to wander far from their original nesting site. Females tended to live in an areas

near the original nesting sight, usually maintaining a relationship with a maternal or sister parent; they

imparted knowledge about hunting in their area to the young. The hunting and diets of Irks varied per

region. Young males, local or not, were frequently challenged and ran off, sometimes killed if the adult

female assumed familiar relationship. A male that survived challenges and persisted in territorial claims

eventually was tolerated and allowed nesting rights. The females would then begin orbiting males until

maturity resulted in nesting, eggs, and babies. Very few males survived the hatching event. Those that

lingered, or were considered weak were eaten. Some ran away and successfully claimed another area.

Most wanted to hold their original nest, they tended to linger; these would have to survive the

challenges of the adult matriarchs in the area. Males were bigger and stronger than the females at all

ages, but they were no match for a pack of sisters-Irks. Male Irks that were not killed or run off, perhaps

because there were insufficient members of sister Irks to take him down due to attrition, or because it

was exceptionally smart or skilled at fighting, would end up mating with family. The female in heat

accepted any male partner. Males accommodated out of a compulsion. Two males would fight each

other to the death to be able to accommodate, but again, mostly, the weaker ran away- and the victor

was too occupied to care.

TL began categorizing other animals, insects, and plants- Torch and Suit AI were known as watchers;

they enjoyed collecting data and compiling information into useful categories. This was not TL’s primary

focus, but life was so abundantly available they were unavoidably ‘virtually’ counted due to the

affluence of life- and the scope of her inventory of the environment grew in leaps and bounds. Some of

the gold deposits in the mountain were so rich, one might have thought pure gold was planted by

intelligence. At cave opening, TL shot them up into the air. Earth and mountains dwindled. From a new

perspective, he again saw the stretch of Sleeper Tree and the canopy was indistinguishable from a

field of wheat with a plethora of life that was vastly denser than ground level. There were differences

with his real eyes and astral eyes, but the differences were negligible to him. A skeptic might point out

all the misses- he only needed one solid hit to know he saw some truth. He wondered if the giant flying

whales he had seen in astral were Tree Tulpas or avatars. He saw no evidence of them with his

physical eyes. There was a lake crested in the highest mountain. He suspected Midelay was under

that. The fall on the other side led to a series of step lakes. The last fall was a drop comparable to

Angel Falls, which formed a lake and finally the river that went to ocean. That was the river that

provided fresh water to Easterly. As they came down on the far side, near the lakes, he coveted one of

the spots thinking that would make an ideal home, high enough that he could see the terrain, own a

private lake, water fall bath. And Waterfall curtain to inner sanctum. TL took them down and through

the mountain. The passage was quick and dark and they came out the other side.

TL rendered a virtual map. “There is a cavern near here. It’s deep. There is life there. I am intrigued.

Are you open to traveling there?”

“Sure, take us!” Shen said.