The Undulating Whorl (Caveman Chronicles)

The Index -|-

The Qon seemed to bend to Zara’s will, to affect the world around it… but she found that it always had an excuse. It never let her escape. Just at the pivotal moment, that moment when she stood on the very brink of success, Qon would slip through her fingers. In those moments it became like a bright shadow, intangible and useless. Her frustration grew with each attempt.

With a growing suspicion, she began to test the extreme boundaries of Qon. Soon there was only one conclusion she could arrive at. Qon was falsified in her chamber.

[How can it be? Qon is there, and it feels right, except that it fails where it never has before. It it limited? Have the Xi somehow neutered the force?]

From experience, she knew that the other aji were limited and controlled by the Xi. All of their technology veritably coursed with its flows, and it was obvious that the aji obeyed the guardrails that constrained it. Qon however, had never been integrated into Xi tech, at least not that she had ever seen. It had always been the golden flower of the aji. Qon was incredibly powerful, and Kiipo had called her Ixant when she had used it. The Xi clearly knew about it, but that knowledge was of a suspicious type and carrying a certain air of disbelief.

Zara sighed and watched Viinox and another Xi named Oiitr as they stared at the twinkling lights that moved above the red-tiered device. Their work appeared tedious from her point of view, and she silently praised them for diligently being able to keep at it for so long.

After an extended period of observation, she decided to use her awake time in a productive manner.

“Viinox,” Zara said quietly, already knowing the answer. “Why do the light patterns on your red-tiered device echo what I say, think, and do?”

The two Xi paused and turned toward each other slowly. Oiitr’s eyes flicked toward Zara for a moment. It was clear to Zara that they were communicating. After a few seconds, the Xi turned and approached the table that she was strapped to.

“The Xi must understand you.”

It was a simple answer that provided the bare minimum and gave nothing away, but Zara knew that Viinox had some kind of a concern for her.

“You can see all of my thoughts?”

Viinox lifted it’s chin slightly in affirmation.

Zara knew better and had already proven otherwise. She had probed with many thoughts and observed not only the data but the reactions from the Xi. Never had the Xi become alarmed or reacted to her probes. The master Xi, the one she called Mangas due to his ghoulish countenance and attitude, had never appeared to notice anything she had thought or done and had never questioned her. The Xi were not very outwardly expressive, but she had learned to recognize and read their behavior. She had been quite explicitly threatening in her mind. She had also been quite sweet to Viinox, but it had never responded to anything. What she knew was that the Xi could only measure her moods, stress levels, and other biological nuances.

[Let them think that I believe them.]

“Why do you attempt to keep Qon from me?”

Viinox tilted its head slightly and blinked.

“It is a very realistic and clever facade, I’ll admit,” said Zara with a smile. “I miss interacting with Qon, but there appears to be nothing I can do about it.” She sighed. “I suppose you’re just preventing your pet Ixant from escaping. After all, Mangas certainly would disintegrate its own mother if I got away.”

Oiitr twittered quietly and moved toward the red-tiered device. Viinox stared at her with its bright blue eyes.

After a moment of what seemed like hesitation, Viinox spoke. “Who is Mangas?”

“Mister serious who does nothing and acts mean toward you and the others. The bossy Xi who does nothing.”

Viinox blinked again.

“And, yes. I know that you believe me to be Ixant, and I know what Ixant is. Kiipo explained it to me. I can see and manipulate Qon. The majority of Xi cannot. I guess the Xi must have imprisoned and interrogated many Ixant in the past in order to build a model that can successfully falsify it.”

“I- The Xi are not so cruel,” Viinox said. “Ixant fourteen was highly esteemed and appreciably improved our understanding.”

“Fourteen, huh? What was its name?”

Viinox did not reply for a long moment. “I do not know.”

“A nameless servant, esteemed, yet sacrificed to the Xi cause.” Zara grimaced. “My fate is likely the same. Maybe you will remember that my name is Zara, and that I am not a willing participant in your abuse.”

Viinox swiveled and returned slowly to stand at the red-tiered device next to Oiitr.

After a long few moments, Zara spoke again. “I’m sorry, Viinox. I know it’s not your fault.”

Viinox did not respond.

Zara closed her eyes and relaxed.

[Maybe its right. If another Ixant worked with the Xi, then it would explain why this false Qon is so convincing. There must be a way to find the real Qon. I wonder what Ixant number has been assigned to me?]

Stilling her mind, Zara disassociated from the numerous questions that tried to distract her. She opened her senses and saw the aji that was presented in all of its colorful detail. Qon was there with the other “invisible” forces.

[The aji were invisible to Da. I wonder if he is oka- focus, Zara.]

She disassociated her thoughts from the aji that were presented. They were, after all, false.

The background was featureless like a long and barren slope after a fresh snow. There were no corners, no colors, no brightness or darkness. Zara’s eyes were closed, but she closed them again carefully. Ignoring the sense of visual, she ‘felt’ the blank canvas, methodically starting from her feet, which were not there. Hovering over (in?) a space of nothingness, there was nothing to measure a search. As best she could, she felt into the distance around her. There was nothing and nothing moved.

Time slowly passed in an unknown quantity. [Or is it rapid? Does it matter? What have I found?]

Eventually, she gave up. There was nothing to ‘feel’ in an empty space.

[What is without me, in the distance, at arm’s length? How can the Xi hide from senses that are beyond the norm? What is Qon that it should be located? What is there but not here?]

With a start, Zara came to another thought. [Here and there is nowhere if Qon is everywhere. How do I find what is everywhere and nowhere at the same time? Something that is nowhen as well?]

“Qon,” Zara uttered silently. Her breath swirled invisibly in the empty space. [With what imaginary breath?]

“Qon,” Zara repeated. Her exhalation of energy broke over an unseen whorl that rested within her sphere of… [Here?]

The whorl pulsed and oscillated, and Zara clumsily caressed it with her senses. Though invisible in most ways, in every sensible way, it existed. It was.

Zara reached out, if her expended energy could even be described as that. Nothing she experienced was familiar to her. She had become become very acquainted with the sense of Qon as she grew up. Her Mama had believed that Zara saw and interacted with Qon even as a fetus that grew inside her womb. But this felt nothing like Qon. She could not ‘see’ it or, truthfully, even feel it. This was foreign.

[Perhaps my lack of needing kept me from seeing other aspects of Qon? Perhaps this is just a figment of my desperation.]

“Qon?”

The eddy quivered ever so slightly. It rippled and swashed in an uneven and disturbing pattern. When it stopped, Zara remained unquerying.

[What does it mean? It IS here. But what is it?]