The Index -|-

There was a time when Zara slept. It was unlike her normal sleeps. It was fitful and angsty. She stirred frequently, but only partially, before slipping again beneath the covers of dusk. Her dreams were odd and vivid, containing flashes of light, the smell of aji and taste of bitter cormorant feather dipped in yak’s blood.

But when she awoke…

The roof of the cave above her was high, very smooth, slightly shiny, and blue-toned. Strands of aji pulsed quickly in all directions behind the surface. It was too much for her senses, and she closed her eyes.

Her ears heard nothing except a faint whisper of the wind, but it was not a strong wind. It was a distant breeze one might encounter around the far corner.

She opened her eyes again and turned her head. There was a hard surface under her. She saw that it was a table and the she was bound to it. Thin straps looped over her wrists and ankles. She tested them one by one and noted that they were soft and yet very much ungiving. She could feel that she was clothed in some kind of barely stretchy fabric. She raised her head slightly to see what the cloth looked like, but her head was allowed only limited movement due to some kind of restraint that was attached to her head.

[Well… I am still a captive.]

The room had sloped walls, and the walls blended with the ceiling very similarly to a cave, but the ceiling was dotted with bright points of light.

[Did they make this room like this in order to make me feel more comfortable? Maybe, but why? If there are as many of them as Kiipo said, that would make no sense.]

On one of the room’s walls there was a thin, red device, that loosely resembled Uuiit’s red-tired device. Much of the aji that flowed through the walls terminated at the red device. There appeared to be no entrance, and no other features.

[Okay, so I am in a featureless room with a Xi machine. I’m strapped to a table. I can feel my clothing and the table. Now what?] She sighed and closed her eyes.

“You ended many of us on Phaedro.”

With a surprised jump, Zara’s eyes opened. On all sides of the table where she rested were Xi. They stood, seven of them, staring at her with their piercing blue eyes. Their necks were shrouded from the ears downward in a silvery mesh that draped lightly below their thin shoulders.

“I was attacked, so I responded.” She looked at each of them with what she hoped was a glare of defiance. “If you want to challenge me, I will do it again, and you will lose more.”

The Xi at the foot of her table made an odd twittering sound through barely moving lips. Its eyes squinted, and Zara could only assume that this reaction was laughter.

“We did not lose any Xi with your attack. Be assured that we have collected the riaat, and they have merely shifted to the next realm.”

“Riaat?” Zara asked.

The same Xi twittered. “This ‘dust’ as you call it. Kiipo is not dead. Uuiit is not dead. We are not like your squishy species.” It paused for a moment before continuing. “Nevertheless, you have your uses, and we will extract the value owed to us.”

“Where am I, and who are you?”

With a wave of its hand, the wall behind Xi at the end of the table began to glow. Zara could see a dark space with a blue and green glowing orb in the midst of it.

“You are with us on the Hsstak, and that,” it said with a slight lift-and-turn of its chin, “is Phaedro. You will never see it again.” The wall instantly ceased its display. “As for who we are, giving this information serves no purpose, and so you will never know.”

Zara looked at the Xi standing around her and tried to memorize their faces, but they were all identical in every way. Even their clothing was the same.

One of the Xi adjusted its head slightly and looked toward the one at the end of the table. There was no sound, but Zara could tell that there was communication, and she wondered how it worked. After a moment, the Xi who spoke for the group continued.

“This one suggests that we simply end your squishy life immediately. It insists that you are dangerous, but I am more than capable of containing your chaotic nature.”

“I-” began Zara before pausing. “I am not chaotic. I am not dangerous.”

The primary Xi twittered again.

“I am just a little girl. You must know this. I only killed Kiipo because it wanted to kill me.” She tried to look scared and had to admit to herself that it was easy. She really was scared.

The Xi lifted its chin. “We will determine exactly what and how dangerous you are. You have no chance of living.”

Zara closed her eyes and swallowed uneasily. After a moment, she began to cry silently.

Her eyes opened and through her watery view, she saw the Xi huddled together at the end of her table. They did not speak.

Then, one of them saw her watching them. It lifted a hood in its thin fingers and draped it over Zara’s head.

Immediately, Zara began to feel lightheaded, and within a few seconds, she lost consciousness.