The Index -|-

Kpleeb stood on the hillside next to Xir. The wind ruffled his shaggy, brown mane.

He shivered. [Has winter come already? Since when?]

With an unconscious shrug, he thought back to the past few months.

[I guess I have been busy. Getting really close to invincible now. Just need to find Zara before I find the Xi.]

“Zara, alive. No worry,” grunted Xir quietly. He always seemed to know when Kpleeb was lost in memory.

“I know she is. We will find her.” He gestured at the distant ridge and looked at Xir. “Do you think we’re ready?”

Xir lifted his chin slightly. “The Builder bring much destruction.” He paused as if trying to think of a new phrase. “More destruction than I believed. Xinti and Ganix not fight this… these.”

Kpleeb was annoyed at being called the Builder, but he ignored the comment as he had done many times before. He was more surprised and a bit skeptical of Xir’s description of his weapons. Ganix warriors almost never talked in comparisons, and this openness about the power of the weapons might indicate some internal nervousness about them. On the other hand, though the Ganix, primarily used hand-to-hand combat, they were almost unbeatable. Their speed, ruthlessness, and commitment made them a tough and worthy foe, and he would gladly side with them in any battle.

“It’s true,” said Kpleeb quietly. “These weapons are highly destructive, murderous even.”

Xir gave him the side-eye.

“Murderous.” Kpleeb repeated. He knew that some of his big words were a shock to the simple language of the Ganix. “You mustn’t count the Ganix out. Not every weapon is suitable for every fight.” He pointed to Xir’s lightning spear. It was one of Zara’s favorite weapons. “These lightning spears are better for close-quarters. They can stab as well as shock from a reasonable distance. The Ganix are excellent warriors. The best, in fact. You know my concern, Xir. The Xi are many. One day, we may fight them in person, not only while they are flying their lutu.”

Xir lifted his chin in agreement. “Wise caveman, Kpleeb.”

“Remember that time Xor accidentally struck Xiw with a lightning bolt?” Kpleeb broke into a grin.

“Riding yak,” said Xir.

“True. Probably the first and last time Xiw ever rode a yak.” Kpleeb chuckled again. “He flew so far!”

Xir gave him the side-eye again, and Kpleeb felt a twinge of uncertainty. The Ganix never joked, which is to be expected of a people that avoided displays of emotion. They did not poke fun at each other either.

[Time to change the subject.]

“Well, these big weapons, they are primarily to attack the flying lutu and perhaps other devices that the Xi will bring. We don’t know what their big weapons can do, or how they work.” He sighed. “Anyway… let’s try this upgrade.” Kpleeb nodded at Xir. “Ready?”

Without waiting for an answer, Kpleeb waved at a Ganix warrior that sat on a low pedestal at the edge of the tree-line.

In a moment, there was a strange whine as if a snake were being stretched to the very limits of its skin. It grew in pitch rapidly, and then went silent.

The far ridge burst from its core. Rocks, earth, and trees were annihilated into a veritable hailstorm of powdery residue that bloomed upward into the atmosphere. After a few short minutes, the morning sun was darkened, and Kpleeb peered anxiously at the remote hill. He could not see anything beyond the valley.

“I think we should go see what that ridge looks like, Xir.” Kpleeb started off down toward the valley in a moderate trot.

###

It was a while before Kpleeb and Xir made it to the cloud that blanketed the far ridge. The air was sooty and dark. It exuded an odd smell that he could not remember ever having experienced. As they started up the slope out of the valley and toward the top of the ridge, they began to cough violently. So thick was the air that their throats became coated and breathing was painful.

After only a short moment, Kpleeb made a choice. He turned and grasped Xir’s shoulder. “We- have to turn back!” Without waiting for a response, he jogged back toward the center of the valley and the creek that meandered through it. As they doubled back, the other Ganix that had shadowed their flanks turned to follow.

Soon, they arrived and plunged their faces into the water. It was cool and wet, and Kpleeb thought it felt fantastic, but he saw that the top of the stream was coated in a shiny black layer. With his hands on his knees, he coughed and coughed. Next to him, Xir and the Ganix warriors were slapping each other on the back and spitting large hunks of dark and slimy gruel from their throats and noses.

It was another few minutes before they felt like they had mostly recovered from breathing the air.

“This stuff tastes terrible,” muttered Kpleeb. A tickle in his throat made him cough again, and he looked back toward the hidden ridge. “We’ll have to wait for it to pass. Surely it will clear up eventually.”

He looked upstream. All of the water he could see was coated. He looked downstream and saw the same.

[Can the fish breath? Can the Ganix drink this water without becoming sick?] The more he thought about it, the more he realized that they should wait before examining the destroyed ridge.

“There is no point mucking around in this foul environment. Let us return to the village,” Kpleeb said after a few moments. “We have families to take care of, and this blasted air will take some time to dissipate.”

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?]

The Index -|-

The whir came again. It was faint, barely a whisper. A hint of pain to come. Slowly the sound accumulated an oversupply of decibels, enough to almost fill the room but without being all encompassing.

Zara squeezed her little hands into fists and steeled herself while noting a difference. [This one has a metallic ring to it. A lighter metal. Well balanced.]

The previous whir had a clear tone that rang with an infinitely high-pitched perfection. She remembered and wondered if that tool had been made entirely of crystal. It was unlikely. To her surprise, the Xi technology largely consisted of common elements. The way things were fashioned seemed to be straightforward. Zara had spent days thinking about the supposed breadth of the Xi empire, and how their technology was understated, it must be very reliable.

[The Xi tech is so elementary.] She grinned to herself. [What a thought. Zara the cavegirl thinking this technology was simple!] She began to chuckle quietly. Her Da was a mere caveman. Her Mama had been a simple, mountain cavegirl. Zara’s lineage was exceedingly poor and dirty. If not for the Xi, none of her family would have been raised out of the dust, and she would not be here. She might instead have been rolling a ten-sided stone next to her Da’s childhood river. [Maybe I wouldn’t even be born at all…]

The whir increased by two decibels, and she knew it was almost time.

[I will not cry. I will not beg.]

The Xi surrounded her table. There were seven of them. Gaunt, pure white faces and steely blue eyes stared impassively at her, and she could see that to her she was nothing but a lab rat that could, and should, be sacrificed for their scientific or cultural betterment.

Zara’s eye twitched, and she tried to jerk her head away from the whining tool that approached from the top of her head. Her neck muscles strained, and she broke into a sweat, but there was no movement permitted.

With a grunt of effort, she tried to kick her feet and flail her arms.

With a shock, a vibrating shard struck her scalp like lightning. A sharp and concentrated sting penetrated her head. Tears flowed unbidden and uncontrollable. Her back arched within the bounds of her bindings, and her throat belched a piercing shriek and continued on and on. Her skin crawled with itching and burned like the surface of the sun.

“pppppPLEAse! Noooooo! NO! NO! stop!!!” She repeated her incessantly begging at the top of her lungs. Her eyes swelled with tears. Finally, after what seemed like a day, her brain succumbed to the torture.

The peace of unconsciousness covered her.

A time passed. There were whispers in the air that swirled in a faint light.

When Zara awoke, there was silence. Her eyes seemed welded shut, but she persisted to slowly open and close and pry them open. Strings and globs of something blocked her sight. She could not move her hands to brush the cobwebs away, but there was still some sight.

The room, her prison was empty again.

She closed her eyes and examined herself. Her body ached, but it was general and not seemingly related to wounds. [From the tension?] What hurt most was her head. There was a warmth on her scalp, but there was no sharp pain. [If they wounded me or broke through the bone into my brain, wouldn’t there be a wound?]

With a sigh, she reached out to examine the aji, and was astounded at what she found. Qon was there, a fat, golden thread that intertwined with the other various colors. She reached out with her senses and touched it. Qon was pliable to her gentle nudge, and she smiled.

A faint rustling echoed in the room, and Zara opened her eyes. There was a single Xi facing the red-tiered device. The Xi rapidly pressed, swiveled, and toggled various protrusions. Pinpoints of light flickered all over its surface. In the space above the device, a cloud of images and information flowed in a circular pattern.

“What is your name?” Zara croaked with her raw throat.

The Xi whirled toward her instantly. Its eyes shone momentarily with what Zara could only describe as surprise. It approached slowly with neck-slits fluttering rapidly and examined her bonds from more than an arm’s length away. After a few seconds, its eyes met hers.

“Viinox.” Its response was very quiet, just above a whisper. The Xi then turned back toward the red-tiered device.

Zara watched as the cloud above the device blinked red and then began to re-form when the Xi resumed its interactions.

“Are you Ja?” Zara asked. She had learned about the three Xi genders from Kiipo. The Ja were utilitarians.

The Xi twitched visibly, and a part of the data cloud above the device blinked red for a moment.

Just then, another Xi appeared in the room. Zara could not see if it came through an opening in the wall or if it had just materialized. This Xi one approached Viinox, and again, the data cloud hesitated and flickered red in several areas. There were no words, but Zara noticed that Viinox was a head shorter and seemed to cower in the other Xi’s presence.

[I never noticed the height difference before.]

After a long, silent moment, Zara spoke again, this time with fear. This Xi was dominant, and she remembered how it had harmed her.

“What’s your name?” She stared at the taller Xi.

The tall Xi smoothly swiveled and approached her. There was no sound of footsteps and no obvious gait. “I am Xi,” it said with a hiss. Its cold eyes gave no quarter. “You will sleep now.”

Zara woke again. When she opened her eyes, her vision was very clear, and there was no crusty eye-goo. Her head was no longer warm. In fact, she felt amazingly well. The room was not empty. Two Xi stood shoulder to shoulder at the red-tiered device.

[How long have I been asleep?]

Zara could sense no passage of time, so she watched the Xi. She analyzed their behavior, their interactions. They were odd and silent, but they clearly worked together, their heads bobbing and eyes focusing on the same bits of light. She already knew that they communicated via some other method, she just did not know how.

[I wonder how far can their silent communication reach?]

Time passed slowly, and though Zara could not see the sun nor measure the days, she knew it was many of the days on Phaedro. As she watched her captors, she picked up patterns of light and aji that flowed to and from the red-tiered device. She came to recognize the chief Xi, the one who would not be named.

The one she feared was arrogant and cruel. It was more powerful. Zara thought that perhaps it was the power of a chief, ceremonial and based on respect and past achievements. It was difficult to know. There were times when it glowered over Viinox or one of the other Xi that attended her. It seemed to revel in making others squirm.

Zara saw many important and useful things. She saw the cracks in the structure of the Xi relations. She saw the pity in Viinox’s eyes when it spoke to her in a whisper each time it entered or left the chamber. She saw the patterns of light on the red-tiered device that seemed to coincide with her thoughts and movements. She saw others that gave her glimpses of the space beyond the chamber.

Most importantly, slowly she came to realize that something was wrong with the Qon in this place.

The Index -|-

“What do you want, Xir?”

Kpleeb knew that he was being grumpy. He rubbed his eyes and looked up from his workbench. He tried not to scowl, but knew that he was not entirely successful.

Xir stood there on the balls of his feet, at ease but still reminiscent of a tundra-lion ready to pounce.

“Jial say, you eat.” Xir did not flinch or seem awkward at all that a cavewoman had dared to instruct Kpleeb as to what he must do.

Kpleeb leaned back and stared at Xir for a moment while he thought. [These cavewomen should respect me… or at least who I was to Thoka.] He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

“I am the husband of the Pale One. Doesn’t that afford me some leeway? I have to find Zara!” The ache in his chest bloomed again as it always did when he remembered how he had failed his little girl.

Xir lifted his chin slightly. “If Jial not care, Jial let die without food.”

Kpleeb blinked and then slowly cracked his knuckles and stood. “I am just a caveman,” he grumbled. “Are the cavewomen in charge of the Ganix?” He eyed Xir for a long moment. ” Never mind. I don’t need an answer. I will eat, only to make her leave me alone.”

Xir did not speak, but Kpleeb thought that he saw a twinkle in his eye.

[Poppycock! The Ganix eye never twinkles and the Ganix mouth never smiles.]

“Lead the way,” Kpleeb said with a sour grunt.

A few moments later, Xir and Kpleeb darkened the door of Jial’s hut, and the smell of roast rat wafted lightly onto Kpleeb’s nosebuds. Though Kpleeb was frustrated, he was mature enough to know that a phrase loaded with sweet-berries would ease Jial’s mind, so he did what he had to do.

“Ahh, Jial, thank you. That smells amazing!” In truth, it did smell amazing.

Jial looked at him while continuing to rotate the turnspit that hung over the small stone fireplace. On the shelf inside the heat tube, was a stone pot of something bubbling. Kpleeb was proud that he had invented the indoor fireplace, and he smiled widely at Jial.

“Hungry now?”

Kpleeb nodded without shame. “I was hungry before; I just didn’t know it. Thank you for reminding me.”

“You eat, maybe bring back Zara.” Jial’s face was stoic, but her eyes told a different story. She had been Zara’s nurse and keeper. “I feed. You build.”

The depth of the tribe’s love for Zara was easy to forget in the midst of their emotionless culture. Nevertheless, Kpleeb was sobered by the fierce look in Jial’s eyes, and he felt as if she could rip his head out through his armpit if she wanted to. She was that strong. He remembered that Jial had tended Zara faithfully and had been like a second mother to her. Though it had not come to mind before, he imagined that her pain at the loss of Zara was as real as his own.

Kpleeb motioned to Xir to sit, and then he nodded at Jial. “I am building what I can. I will get her back, even if I die doing it.”

Jial handed Xir a sizzling rat on a small stick while Kpleeb sank into a cross-legged position on the floor. When she handed Kpleeb a rat, he took it and paused to let the fat stop bubbling.

“As you know, Xir, I have made some amazing weapons.” Kpleeb said. “I have more in mind. The big problem I have not been able to solve yet is… flying.” He looked at Xir, who had been by his side since Zara had disappeared.

Xir slowly tore meat from the small bones.

“Wouldn’t you like to fly, Xir?”

Xir tilted his head but continued chewing. After a few long moments, he lifted his chin. “Yes.”

Kpleeb waited for more, but Xir just ate silently and alternated his gaze between his roasted rat-on-a-stick, the open door, and Kpleeb.

Eventually, Kpleeb nodded. “Well, okay. Good to know. I will figure it out.”

So far, Kpleeb had spent most of his research time focusing on flight. There were many ways to fly, at least so he had thought. The birds flew, some of them awkwardly, some of them gracefully. A few were jerky and sporadic. He thought that there was something to the shape of their wings that made the air push them upward when they should have fallen to the ground. He was perplexed by the Xi lutu though. The ships flew without at all appearing to be shaped like a bird’s wing.

Thoka had described the lutu’s technology when they first saw it in person, and she had compared it to Zara’s floating carriage. It hovered above the ground using the invisible forces. Kpleeb could not see the forces, nor could he control them, yet he knew they were there. The lutu was imbued with that power, and he could not discover how to reproduce it.

The lutu flew. They could rise straight up when they wanted to. Sometimes they also swooped like a bird of prey reaching out to snatch a pika from the tundra. There was no calculation Kpleeb could make that related the two types of movements. He had studied the underside of the lutu and saw the tri-clusters of bumps that Thoka had pointed out to him. She had even said that she believed the lutu could fly higher than the sky. Kiipo had proven Thoka right.

[The Xi are above the sky. They are in the expanse between the orbs. I have to reach them there, where they live. If I cannot, they will always escape]

Kpleeb sighed and gnawed the last bit of meat from his rat-stick. He set the stick on the stone next to the fireplace and rose. “Thank you, Jial.” He nodded at her and smiled generously. “I will continue to work. We must find Zara.”

Jial looked at him sincerely. “How?”

“I do not know for sure. She may have been taken away to a secret place. She may have been taken away in a lutu.” Kpleeb pointed upward. “The Xi are able to fly between orbs.”

Jial looked skeptical but did not speak.

“I can only say for certain that the distance is great, and we must fly in order to find Zara.”

“Weapons needed,” said Xir. He set down his rat-stick.

“You know that I built many weapons. There will be more, but what good are those if we cannot fly?”

“Xi come back.” Xir looked at him with a certainty in his eyes.

“Perhaps. It could be.” Kpleeb shrugged and waved for Xir to follow him.

Together, Kpleeb and Xir walked out of Jial’s hut and past the yellow stone wall that protected the village. They crossed the meadows and reached the tree line where the foothills of the mountain began to slope upward in ever increasing altitudes.

After a short time, they reached the clearing near the entrance of Kpleeb’s cave. There, Kpleeb stopped and turned to face the down slope. With his hand he motioned toward the ridge on their right.

“We will kill many Xi with my weapons… They are nothing without access to the enemy.”

The far ridge was burned and shredded. Its ground was pocked with deep craters. Enormous shards of stone bedrock stuck upward from the soil. The remains of a few blackened trees, devoid of any greenery, clawed at the sky like a dead and dried out carcass. There was no smoke. That had died out days ago. A slight breeze picked up, and when it reached the ridge, it stirred a puff of grey dust that swirled gently over the wreckage of the land.

Xir gazed at the familiar sight and nodded with all of his typical solemnity.

Kpleeb turned and walked toward the cave. “I have to get back to work.”