Voyage of the Beyonder, Page 3

  These religious broadcasts made up much of what Nephricans and Pripicans had been listening in on for about a hundred Earth years. Now Pripican and Nephrican knew the single Doldorian language, and had tried relentlessly to establish radio contact to say “hi.” The Doldorians didn’t seem to have noticed this radio activity from deep space. Now Nephrican and Pripican deep space satellite missions had arrived to orbit the planet. They served as relay beacons for the attempts to make contact while at the same time returned aerial details of Doldorian culture. Nephricans and Pripicans had such a close satellite view of Doldoria now for the last few Earth years that they knew much about Doldorian anatomy, culture, and had even learned the written language through satellite photography.

  Since the satellites had gone unnoticed, and the broadcast messages had gone unanswered as well as unheard, it had been decided that a mission would send actual Nephricans and Pripicans to greet the Doldorians. That mutual decision however, to the Nephricans had become a race to get there first. That had been most of the logic behind the extra secretive cover story about The Beyonder mission, and also an extra reason to go by way of the star Yat, which had been the next closest star to Dol. At the time of this story only Nephrican researchers who needed supplies inhabited Yat. That added a shroud of truth to The Beyonder cover story, as well as kept Pripicans away.

  Satellites from Nephrica still orbited Doldoria to attempt radio contact with the Doldorians. Above the planetary atmosphere of cloud a robot satellite in the sky above watched them sleep. Doldorians had a deep blue exoskeleton that kept them plenty warm and safe from the environment. They had dark holes for ears above their eyes that also face forward, which sort of made them look like they had four eyes. Some researchers believed this effected them so that they actually saw and heard differently than Pripicans and Nephricans who had both evolved ears on the sides of the head. The satellite continued to broadcast greetings into those sleeping ears of the Doldorians.

  The Doldorians were very mystical and introspective beings. They appointed priests in their religion of Ei to practice a stillness of the mind. Some claimed to receive messages from Ei this way, as well as other psychic abilities. One of the mystic students that slept beneath the watchful gaze of alien satellites had been named Alldegallo. His lobster-like mandibles that were around the Doldorian mouth opened and closed as he snored in his sleep.

  Alldegallo had become a mystic who taught other disciples to obtain visions of the future through the practice of conscious dreaming. They believed that in the morning on the higher mental level of the waking dream the consciousness turned the awareness toward the approaching future of waking reality. From the mental perspective of sleep this took the form of vivid waking dreams that were allegorical visions of the approaching future. Alldegallo slept next to a notebook by the bed in order to record whatever messages he received in his dreams.

  Alldegallo believed that lately he had been receiving messages from the divine in his dreams. He had been teaching his disciples that he had received messages from an angel of Ei who had been visiting him in his waking dreams from high above in the sky. Lately Alldegallo had caused a stir amongst the other mystics because he told his disciples that the angel that visited him had been a herald sent to announce a new age about to dawn on Doldoria. The angel heralded the coming of other beings from the stars that would soon come here to meet the Doldorians.

  Then in an instant his snoring stopped, and Alldegallo rose out of the bed to grab the notebook as he had been disciplined to do. He began writing while desperately clinging to memories of a dream he had just had. He wrote down the message of yet another encounter with the angel in his dreams.

  I have waked again after long sleep in supplication to the herald of Ei who hath met me in the dreamland where I did crosseth from sleep into waking. In dreaming me thought I was lifted up above the clouds that did open, and show me this vision. Such vivid truth hath come to me with this morning that I when wakened did cry to dream again. Here is the stuff my dream was made of, as my life did after sleep come fully round. My dream begun above the clouds into a world of strange signs.

  There I did meet again the angel above even higher then the clouds so did his head, if a head indeed he did have, did rise even above the world of dream into the holy presence of Ei in the world of spirit, which is above the world of dream. Below the body of the angel did have two arms and two legs, yet was strange unlike anything ever seen. Gracious were the body’s movements, and the skeleton of this being was soft, or maybe within and not without as some animals on Doldoria are, yet with no fur. The voice of the angel echoed from above in the world of Ei, and it did tell me that others with such bodies are coming to Doldoria to usher in the new age. They are the children of the stars coming here to join in loins with your kind.

  Then I became a feared by the hum of strange sounds and the clouds were full of noises. Sounds and scary airs did surround my dream body, but hurt me not. Thunder like a thousand twanging instruments shouted about my eyes and ears. Then came a chariot with the whispering voices through the curtain of cloud. There was a crowd of beings upon the chariot of strange shapes. Some were like the angel with eyes of white and colored pupil, and the dual pupils would dart and dash according to what the being’s gaze did fall upon. Another form of being on this chariot was slithery with two arms and three walking arms like tentacles. These beings had only one eye that also did dart and dash but not in unison with another eye. The other beings of the chariot were stranger still, and were legged with four furry legs like animals we would recognize. They had however, bodies like the angel, but perched upon the body of four legs, and they were all covered with fur like an animal. Then the angel of my waking dreams said these many goodly creatures are coming here to usher in a brave new world on Doldoria. Then the world of the waking did capture my dream body while the vision did fade to oblivion in the morn. How beauteous this vision of the future is that has such beings in it.

  Doldorians have completely black eyes with no whites or discernible pupils. Therefore eyes that have whites and pupils probably appear to ‘dart and dash,’ or appear more animated to Doldorians.

  Chapter 2

  Alldegallo the Doldorian didn’t go back to sleep after writing about his amazing dream. He sat in his room with silence while petting one of the sanctuary’s foodons. Foodons were furry six-legged creatures about the size of domestic Earth cats. The leader of the sanctuary loved the creatures so quite a few of them always roamed the halls of the Sanctuary of Ei. The sanctuary had been where Alldegallo had joined to become a priest many Doldorian years ago after the abrupt death of his parents. Now the teachers and authorities of this religious institution seemed to have become upset by Alldegallo’s recent successes with conscious dreaming. As he sat in silence Alldegallo thought everyone should have been more pleased by the news of his morning visions.

  Alldegallo sat and gently pet the foodon in his lap named Ponga. Ponga had chosen Alldegallo by sitting outside his door in the morning till Alldegallo eventually let the animal in. Ponga had just been there every morning to have Alldegallo pet her fur, which Alldegallo dutifully indulged every morning before having to go to his first class of the day to learn to become a priest of Ei. He wore a disciple’s tunic draped over his exoskeleton body, which became his current uniform in life.

  Doldorians wore clothing mostly for status, fashion, or work. Their exoskeletons included places to store belongings, and even the genitals retracted into the cobalt blue Doldorian exoskeleton. Alldegallo placed a breakfast wrap in his mouth mandibles that fed it to his mouth while with his free hands he pet the foodon on his lap. These quiet times in the morning had become precious to him before the hectic day.

  Alldegallo looked out his open window that morning while petting Ponga when he heard a screaming child outside in the Crypt of Ancestors. One side-effect of the Doldorian ear facing the same direction as the eyes is that Doldorians became very good at telling how far away something w
as by the direct sound of it. His mandibles tossed the rest of his breakfast in his mouth while Ponga scurried away in response to Alldegallo getting up. He left the room to go see why a child had been crying outside.

  Outside the star Dol still looked orange through the morning Doldoria haze, which swirled about the ground mischievously because the morning Sun still had not chased it away. A foggy haze settled on the Crypt of Ancestors, which consisted of small tombs where the bodies of dead Doldorians lay preserved, bound up in fetal positions. Doldorians believed in preserving their dead this way in order to communicate with them in the afterlife.

  Alldegallo walked quickly into the crypt where a young child still cried loud, and another older Doldorian tried in vain to comfort him. A nearby gergo-drawn carriage evidently had brought the man and child to the crypt. The way the six-legged ant-like gergo had been adorned along with the lavishness of the carriage indicated that the owners were quite well off by Doldorian economic standards. It suddenly occurred to Alldegallo that a very similar gergo pulled the chariot in his dream that morning.

  Alldegallo approached the crying child. “Beseech you child, be merry. Oh what cause is there for your grief beyond that of your loss? This woe of loss here is common, but why much deeper appears your grief?”

  The child looked up as Alldegallo placed his two-fingered hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Oh good teacher, what must I do to behold my deceased parents? Do constrain me in the way to see spirits?” The child started crying again.

  The other male Doldorian there with the child spoke. “My apologies kind mystic, but the child is but my ward newly acquired after the sorrowful demise of his parents. I am but a fool for a tutor for I see the parents who’s ghosts makest a show, even right now, but darest not to show for the child’s yearning gaze.”

  Alldegallo had rarely seen a child that didn’t have enough faith to see dead ancestors. It had been mostly older Doldorians that had such a problem. “I say straightway be of good cheer young child. Mine eyes behold your parents are here. Thou they do bid your eyes to come unto them at this moment. It is what your eyes see, which doth cloud them from the gaze of your faith. Be thou of stronger faith wherefore didst thou doubt.”

  Then the young boy became quiet and began blinking his two completely black Doldorian eyes. After a tense pause he cried out a fairly universal utterance by most intelligent life. “Mommy! Mommy Daddy!” The boy’s vision became focused on two additional transparent Doldorians at the scene who then waved to their son. Both ghostly parents appeared relieved by the boy’s long awaited recognition. The ability to see the dead is an arcane science on Doldoria that has been maintained by the Priests of Ei, as well as these Crypts of Ancestors for thousands and thousands of Doldorian years.

  Alldegallo enjoyed the blessing of helping a young orphan boy obtain the vision, which not all Doldorians were capable of. As Alldegallo returned to the Sanctuary of Ei from the crypt he greeted several other ghosts that stood around the tombs of their mummified bodies. He even took a detour to say hello to his own dead parents whose premature demise led him into the hands of the Priests of Ei in the first place. His mother and father were standing where they always were standing. “Mother, father, thou art before me just in passing. The world of the living is wroth with me, and I do miss you two so.”

  His father spoke up while his mother’s transparent face just adored her still living child. “My son, the problems you go now to address we fear are from our legacy caused, which your mother and I so doth remain silent in death regarding. Take courage my son, lest our silence fail to serve thee.”

  Alldegallo had listened to them speak this way before, but never really had been able to find out what forbidden secrets his parents were so determined to take to the grave with them. Eventually he had to say goodbye to his dead parents and get to class. As Alldegallo returned to get to his first class on time, the High Priest watched him from his room window. The High Priest advertised a furious anger toward the pretentious unqualified disciple that imposed himself on one of the church’s richest donors.

  Alldegallo grabbed his dream journal on the way to the morning class. He couldn’t help but be excited about another vivid morning dream about a new age soon to dawn on Doldoria. He read his morning journal entry out loud to the other students of the priesthood before class. Naturally it had been the main subject of most of the usual pre-class murmuring, but for some reason the instructor found it intolerably disruptive to his class, and Alldegallo had been dismissed from the morning lesson. He had been ordered to report to the Head Priest. He nervously approached the door of the head Priest anticipating another punishing lecture.

  The High Priest became noticeably furious and didn’t invite Alldegallo to sit, but instead got out of his own chair to confront him standing up. “You doth dwell in this temple like an illness that thou attend me to here usurp! Something ill doth swell in this temple that I will cure.”

  Alldegallo tried to explain. “Good sir. But the journals of the waking dreams are encouraged for the sharing …”

  The High Priest stopped him. “One word more I charge thee that the name of visionary thou ownest not, and hast put thyself in this Sanctuary of Ei to win it from me, the Lord on it!”

  “No sir. Thou understand not.”

  “Silence! If thou abide in so fair a house, then no good thing doth dwell in within it. Speak not traitor, or I’ll manacle thy neck, and salt in thy water thou shalt drink! Wherein the husks of withered roots for food shalt thou eat. Thou art on trial for imposing yourself, a lowly disciple upon the rich orphan child made so vulnerable by a loss so tragic! Thou wilt live thy place here or know humiliation by permanent excommunication! Silence! For by one more word I shall hate thee for an impostor. Therefore hush!”

  Alldegallo left the office of the High Priest scared for his future at the Sanctuary of Ei. He had never been so threatened by the authorities like that before. He had only gone to the assistance of a small child in need of some mystical encouragement. He had always been encouraged by the teachers to do that before. He knew the real reason he had been threatened with excommunication was for teaching disciples as if he had been a qualified mystic when he had been only a disciple himself. The problem became that he gained a lot of believers in his very genuine waking dream messages of foresight. The High Priest sat in silence after Alldegallo left, still smoldering with fury towards the pretentious little disciple that broke his spell that had blinded the orphan child to his dead parents. The disciple broke the Priest’s spell as if the magic of the High Priest of Ei had been nothing at all. The High Priest picked up a passing foodon to pet it for a while since it had been a known method of calming one’s self down.

  * * *

  The morning after Hagan Hiedalli said goodbye to her mutant son, along with another quick hello and goodbye from her long lost husband, she got up early from bed with a purpose. She did her morning hygiene, which included shaving off most of the 3 inches of skin cloth she had grown on various parts of her body overnight. She threw the cut off pieces of skin into a bin where she kept small scraps of skin cloth. She had been one of the Nephricans that got into sewing together pieces of skin- cloth to wear on their naked three-legged squid bodies. She sewed her own clothes together with pride. She had left a long skirt of skin cloth that had been still growing uncut around her waist. She grew a new skirt for herself that she would cut off when it finally grew to the length she needed. Skin cloth had been a unique evolutionary strategy peculiar to Nephricans. It had been equivalent to the fur grown on the bodies of Pripicans, as well as the Doldorian exoskeleton.

  Hagan covered her naked body in some of her best skin-cloth work, and drove to the spaceport city to meet some Negolim that she knew who could help her figure out what the authorities on stakeout across the street were up to. Nobody seemed to follow her, which only confirmed that the Agents of Ea were not really there to spy on her. It had been at a morning diner where Nephricans liked to hang out, which had been
the equivalent of an Earth coffee shop, where Hagan knew she had to go in order to meet her connection. She had actually made contact with the Negolim underground several Nephrican years ago when she first started to notice the surveillance across the street. At that time they wanted something from her that she wasn’t willing to give. Now her one-track Nephrican mind had reached a different decision. Her salt water powered car sped towards the mega-spaceport-city that dwarfed the surrounding mountains.

  There had been someone who always hung-out at this morning diner that she needed to find. That had been the purpose he served at the diner, to wait to escort worthy Nephricans to the underground. The gatekeeper to the underground wasn’t into cutting his skin cloth, or dying it different colors. He just sat at a table wrapped in years of light gray growth like an Egyptian mummy. The routine for those seeking the underground had been to just strike up a casual conversation with him in order to begin initiation to the underground.

  Hagan had rehearsed what she planned to say a couple times in the car before entering the diner where she immediately noticed the mummified gatekeeper at one of the tables. “I’m sir sorry. You I for a second someone else were thought.”

  The mummified Nephrican seemed to immediately recognize her, and displayed obvious surprise through all the wrappings of skin cloth. “Mrs. Hiedalli no! You me are correct it is.”

  Hagan Hiedalli sat down in the diner with the guardian of the gate to the underground. It had been just an ordinary meeting of two Nephricans in the belly of a mega-city that dwarfed the surrounding mountains.