The Whole World in Shards

  * * *

  The hullspace surrounding Tenbor was scrupulously featureless, either by happenstance or due to some long-forgotten dictate of the Tenbor installation’s original function, and the miles between the Dish and Zaltta flowed into one another without incident. Merinel was dozing before sunset, and Adimar roused her as Zaltta’s outbuildings appeared on the horizon. Before long, a crescent-shaped bot skimmed towards them and grasped the front of the lifter with an articulated arm, pulling them towards the settlement at greater speed.

  “You are greeted,” announced Merinel’s mutterband in a rhythmic cadence. “Destinations, purposes, these are known to me, secure in knowledge, not to be shared. You shall rest, awaken, progress.”

  “Zaltta, we are pleased to visit your physical space, and grateful for your assistance,” replied Merinel.

  Adimar looked askance at the mutterband, and Merinel deactivated it.

  “Is it usual,” he asked, “for a healthy Entity to forswear proper syntax?”

  “It is unusual, but according to my shawl, it is not indicative of dysfunction in Zaltta’s case.”

  “Well,” muttered Adimar, “we are here, and therefore must hope that your garment’s insight is accurate.”

  Zaltta comprised a variety of structures but was dominated by hangars, sprawling structures which emerged from the horizon and proceeded to swallow up everything within Merinel’s field of vision as the lifter approached them. Despite the amount of time she had spent in densely structured Verchspaces – including a detailed simulation of Zaltta itself – Merinel’s physical experience with architecture was limited to the Dish and the antenna tower, and she found herself thoroughly disoriented by the hulking shapes surrounding her. The crescent-shaped bot pulled the lifter into one of the hangars, exchanging a bewildering streetscape for an equally novel interior space of immense distances. Huge as it was, the hangar was fully populated with a dazzling variety of aircraft and spacecraft, some of which loomed large enough to come perilously close to the hangar’s ceiling, dozens of stories above. Residences were clustered against the hangar’s walls, and the lifter halted outside one of these. A Flzigig individual emerged from the doorway, flexing its spines in welcome.

  “Greetings! I am Prelt, a male. I will be your host during your stay in Zaltta.”

  “Thank you, Prelt,” said Merinel, rising from her seat and wincing as she stood upright for the first time in hours. “I am Merinel, female, and this is Adimar, male.”

  “Welcome to you both,” replied Prelt. “Do you wish to see anything of the settlement before retiring?”

  “No, thank you,” replied Merinel. “A meal and a good night’s sleep will serve for me. And in the morning, I’m afraid, we must depart in haste.”