Pandora's Star

  ‘No, certainly not. There isn’t. I had lots of gay friends.’

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘That’s what you’re supposed to say.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’

  ‘Well, that cleared that up, then.’

  ‘It did.’ Oh terrific.

  They hurried back up the remainder of the escarpment to the tents in silence. Everyone was inside now, and thick black oil fumes were squirting out of carefully designed vents in the top as the evening meal got under way.

  ‘Ozzie,’ Sara said in a weary tone just before they went into their tent.

  ‘Yo.’

  ‘Tomorrow, when the Silfen hunt the icewhales, don’t get curious, okay. No matter how exciting or repellent, or fascinating you think it is, stay back, stay right out of their way.’

  ‘I hear you.’

  ‘I hope so. I know why you’re here, I’ve seen it in people before. You think you’re on some kind of mission, and you think that makes you invulnerable. Hell, maybe it does, but take it from me, tomorrow is not a good time to test it out, okay. I understand your crazy ideas about the Silfen, and how existential they are, but tomorrow it doesn’t get more real and physical than this.’

  ‘I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ve got the kid and the alien to worry about.’

  *

  They were woken as the first magenta glimmer of dawn appeared. Despite being crammed into the tent with ten other people, Ozzie had slipped into a deep dreamless sleep as soon as he zipped up his sleeping bag. It was the first night since he arrived that he hadn’t had to endure the ubiquitous red light. He and Orion ate their packaged breakfasts, warding off the edgy, resentful comments from the others who were having their standard Ice Citadel meal of mashed crystal tree fruit and fried icewhale rashers. They filled their flasks with boiled water; they mixed in the added-energy juice powder in two, and to the other two they added soup concentrate. While the rest hurried outside to catch the Silfen begin their hunt, Ozzie and Orion packed their rucksacks for what they hoped was the last time on this world.

  It had snowed overnight, the wisps of cirrus condensing into tiny hard flakes that drifted down to dust every surface. Ozzie and Orion brushed it off the outer sheet of fur they’d arranged over Tochee’s sledge. They dragged it back, with Ozzie partly dreading what they’d find. A stiff corpse? But the heat brick had worked. Tochee waved at them from behind the crystal windscreen, apparently unperturbed by its night spent alone.

  The pair of them stood beside the sledge, slightly apart from everyone else milling round the tents. It was a good position from which to watch the hunt play out over the land below. Ozzie also realized why the Korrok-hi had driven the covered sledges up the escarpment yesterday evening. Up here they were well out of harm’s way.

  Today’s hunt was going to range over the expanse of gullies and spinney-crowned hummocks that stretched back from the crater floor. The mounted Silfen had split into two groups. The first was making its way along the range of crags that plunged out across the crater, heading for the tip. While the second was cantering around the rim away from them. Those on foot were splitting into small parties, and fanning out through the spinneys and boulder fields.

  Ozzie watched with considerable interest as individual riders dropped away from the group moving along the base of the crags, to stand a lonely sentry duty just above the uneven shoreline. After forty minutes, the last rider reached the apex and halted. Facing him, a mile away on the crater rim, the other group was spaced out in a corresponding formation.

  Somewhere a horn was sounded, its clear note ringing through the frigid air.

  ‘Cover your eyes,’ Sara shouted in warning.

  Ozzie and Orion exchanged a look. No one had mentioned this before. Ozzie quickly stepped in front of the sledge’s windscreen. When he glanced back at the crater, he zoomed in on the furthermost rider out at the end of the crags. The Silfen was perched on his mount, arm back in a classic spear-thrower position. Ozzie just had time to order his retinal insert filters on line. The Silfen threw his spear. Even on full zoom, Ozzie was hard pushed to see the silver splinter as it sliced through the air at an impossible speed. When he checked, he could see the Silfen on the crater rim opposite had thrown his spear as well.

  ‘What—’

  At the top of their arcs, the spears ignited, stretching out to become lightning bolts. Incandescent white light flashed across the crater, casting the waiting Silfen riders into stark relief. Red sunlight was momentarily banished in the silent starburst splendour.

  The twin ribbons of energy dived down into the lake of ice granules. Two blue-white circles of phosphorescence erupted where they vanished below the surface, expanding until they were hundreds of yards across, then slowly dying away.

  ‘What was that?’ Orion cried.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ozzie replied truthfully. He was mildly surprised that the surface of ice granules hadn’t shot up like a depth-charge explosion, but it remained perfectly calm. A plangent boom rolled in across the landscape, reverberating off the crags and hummocks.

  The second mounted Silfen on each wing stood up in their saddles, and flung their spears. White light scorched down again. It wasn’t until the fourth set of spears had been launched that Ozzie saw movement out in the crater. A low, smooth arrowhead wave rose up between the twin pools of light and the shoreline, surging along for almost fifty yards before sinking down again.

  A chorus of joyful chanting rose from the Silfen waiting for the beasts to be driven ashore, their cadence mingling with the thunderclap of the fourth set of spears.

  ‘It’s working,’ Ozzie mumbled inside his balaclava.

  More bow waves were visible out in the crater now, all of them heading in towards the rim as the terrifying spears of light continued to fall behind: goading. The two closest to the shore were permanent, rushing forwards ever-faster. Ozzie held his breath, eager to see an icewhale at long last.

  The first one burst out of the ice granules a hundred yards from the shoreline; a huge grey shaggy mountain of fur sliding up into the air with the ease and grace of a dolphin sporting at sea. It was like a polar bear grown to dinosaur size, but with a row of arm-length tusks curving out wickedly from each side of its muzzle. The legs, of which there was a whole series running along its underbelly, were more like fur-clad fins.

  ‘It’s huge!’ Orion squeaked.

  ‘Yeah, man, pretty damn big.’

  The icewhale surged back into the ice granules, splashing up great gouts of the dry powder. Spears detonated into pure light behind it, converting the billowing cloud of particles into a seething mass of whirling rainbows. Its head rocked about in fury at this deliberate provocation, but it kept up its dash for the crater rim. Four more waves were close behind it.

  Individual Silfen on foot were racing forward, their smaller, black spears held above their heads. They had shed their big heavy coats to sprint towards their prey, dark motes skipping grimly over the bleak land. Overhead, the sky careered haplessly from red to white, spinning shadows round and round with giddy discord as the volley of twinned lightning bolts seared their way along steep curves. Ozzie had seen old documentary videos of soldiers storming ashore in wartime, and the charge of the Silfen was almost identical to that. A breathtaking insanity that made him want to scream encouragement.

  The first icewhale reached the rim, and just kept on going at the same speed. Ozzie couldn’t believe anything that huge could move so fast. Its head was still scything from side to side, tusks snapping in berserk rage. Silfen fanned out around it. Several spears were thrown. These didn’t burst into a monochromatic blaze, but held true. They had little effect when they struck the flanks of the icewhale, its matted fur was so thick that most hit and rebounded to clatter on the ground. Those that did manage to stick their tips into whatever flesh was underneath didn’t penetrate far. They simply enraged the creature further. Its body bucked and twisted, contorting to allow its legs to scrabble at the slim poles like a
dog scratching at fleas. Those Silfen who had thrown their spears started to retreat, several of them were pulling their bows round ready to shoot arrows. Ozzie had seen no sign of eyes anywhere amid the icewhale’s fur, but it seemed to know where its tormentors were. It lunged forward, giant muzzle snapping. Three tusks sliced straight through a Silfen. Jets of ebony blood squirted from the killer punctures. Then the muzzle sprang open again, ripping the body apart. Legs spun off one way, while the torso flopped to the ground. The icewhale thundered over it, and charged at another Silfen who was falling backwards even as he tried to notch an arrow.

  Orion screamed in horror.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Ozzie shouted. He hugged the boy, turning him away from the carnage. ‘I promise you he’s all right. They don’t die. Do you understand? The Silfen don’t die. They have an afterlife, a real heaven.’

  The boy was shaking violently inside his embrace. ‘It ate him!’ he wailed. ‘It ate him!’

  ‘No it didn’t. It can’t. They’re too hot. It would burn its mouth away if it tried to do that.’

  ‘But he’s dead.’

  ‘No! I told you. The Silfen go to their own heaven. I’m not bullshitting you, man. That’s the way they are.’

  Orion clung to him, his head pressed hard against Ozzie’s chest. ‘Will the monsters come for us? Please, Ozzie, I don’t want to die. I won’t go to heaven, I know I won’t.’

  ‘Hey,’ Ozzie squeezed reassuringly. ‘Yes you would. It’s me that’s headed down into the heat. Why do you think I keep having to get rejuvenated? The big bad dude with the pitchfork and an attitude is all that’s waiting for me.’

  There was no answer; no smart or sarcastic comeback. Ozzie hugged the boy again, and took a quick look down at the hunt. The last of the aggravating spears from the riders had been flung, leaving the red sun victorious in the battle to light the sky. There were four icewhales on the land now, one of them even bigger than the first to emerge. Each of them was encircled by fast-moving Silfen on foot; spears and arrows were fired inwards, black flecks shimmering through the air. Most still bounced off the tough lank fur, though the numbers sticking were increasing. Over a dozen Silfen were dead already, torn apart or mashed into the unyielding ground. Blood ran thick from their ruined bodies, steaming feverishly and boiling the snow before the pools and runnels started to freeze.

  ‘Come on,’ Ozzie urged. ‘Let’s get inside and take a major break from this bummer.’ Any residual excitement he’d had at the prospect of witnessing the hunt had long since washed away beneath the guilt of bringing the boy here. He half-carried him towards the nearest tent.

  ‘They won’t come up here, will they?’ Orion asked in a pitiful voice.

  ‘No. I promise.’

  Sara caught sight of them stumbling towards the tent together, and hurried over. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘No he’s fucking not,’ Ozzie barked at her. ‘You might have told me.’

  ‘It’s a hunt. What did you expect?’

  Ozzie’s anger spluttered out. She was right. What had I expected it to be like? Just another TSI spectacular?

  Sara tugged at the lacing which held the flaps on the outermost layer. Ozzie sneaked another look down below, making sure his body blocked Orion’s view. The sight was growing more surreal. The Silfen death count had risen to over twenty. Three of the elfin folk had managed to climb onto the back of an icewhale, hanging onto its fur and riding it like the wildest bronco in the galaxy. As he watched, one of them was swatted by the icewhale’s foot, tumbling a long way through the air before crashing onto rock. The surviving two were trying to thrust their spears down into the ruff of fur behind its neck, and having a hard time of it.

  A second icewhale was ploughing straight through a spinney of crystal trees. It was like an unstoppable bulldozer, bursting the trunks apart into dangerous sparkling shrapnel clouds as it hit them head on. The sound was already reverberating over the escarpment, a city of glass caught in an earthquake. Silfen were having trouble dodging trees and spinning shards as they ran alongside, trying to take a shot.

  As for the third icewhale . . . Ozzie’s brow crumpled into a frown. Five dead Silfen marked its path from the crater. The fight it had given them was tremendous, and now it was weakening, slowing. It had never been so vulnerable. Yet instead of pressing home their advantage, the blood-crazed elfin folk were giving it a wide berth. Its back and flanks were pierced by over a dozen arrows and spears, its head wavered giddily from side to side. Obviously in distress, the icewhale came to an exhausted halt. As it did so, the Silfen began to form two loose lines, creating an avenue that led back to the crater. They held their spears aloft in salute. The icewhale turned sluggishly, and began its long laboured trek back to the crater and the safety of the ice granules.

  ‘In you go,’ Sara said. She’d opened the tent up. Ozzie pushed Orion through the gap, and followed him quickly. Sara came in with them. Orion sat numbly on one of the cots. Ozzie took off his balaclava mask, letting his hair spring out. He produced a thermos out of his coat’s big pocket. ‘I want you to drink some of this. It’s hot, it’ll do you good.’

  The boy made a half-hearted attempt to pull his hood off. Sara helped him. Then Ozzie almost forced the juice down his throat. He’d never seen the boy look so upset before. Tears were clogging his young distressed eyes.

  ‘Pretty bad, wasn’t it?’

  Orion just nodded mutely.

  ‘That one they’re letting get away,’ Ozzie said. ‘What’s that all about?’

  ‘The icewhales have a reserve energy store,’ Sara said. ‘It’s roughly their equivalent of adrenaline hitting the human bloodstream. They use it to get themselves between craters, or fight for territory. Catch their food too, for all I know. But they take a long time to fill that reserve, and they can burn it off real fast. Once it’s run out, they’re basically screwed. The Silfen don’t see any sport in hunting something that just sits there while they shoot it full of arrows, so they make sure it gets back to the crater.’

  ‘They’re crazy,’ Ozzie said. ‘The whole thing is just fucking stupid.’

  ‘You’re the one who thinks they only live at this level to experience, remember.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He plonked himself down on the cot next to Orion. ‘I remember.’

  Sara studied the pair of them for a moment. ‘I’ve got to get back out there. I’ll let you know when the hunt’s over. It won’t be long.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Orion didn’t say a word, just sat there with the thermos held in his hands.

  ‘It won’t happen again,’ Ozzie said to the boy eventually. ‘Wherever we wind up, it won’t be the same as this shitforsaken dump.’

  There was a long moment, then Orion suddenly exploded into motion. He clawed at the front of his fur coat, pulling it open, then he went for his sweater’s collar. ‘I hate them,’ he yelled. ‘I hate them, Ozzie, they’re not what everyone said. They’re not my friends. How can I be friends with people who do that?’ He pulled out the pendant, and tugged hard, breaking the chain. ‘They’re not my friends.’ The shimmering pendant was flung across the tent. ‘What have they done with my parents?’

  ‘Hey, man, they didn’t do nothing to your parents. I promise you that.’

  ‘How? How can you promise? You don’t know.’

  ‘They’re not evil. I know what’s happening out there doesn’t look nice, but they don’t deliberately hurt people. Your mom and dad will be walking the paths quite happily. Remember what Sara said: they never showed up here. You ask me, this planet is a dead end as far as the paths are concerned. The Silfen don’t bother with it much.’

  Orion shook his head, and hunched up. ‘They’re so cruel.’

  ‘These ones are, yeah. All living things seem to be at some stage in their evolution. We just picked a bad stage to see them at today, is all.’

  ‘Oh.’ The boy sniffed, and took a drink of the juice. ‘Do you think this stage is before they visit Silvergalde or
after?’

  ‘Hey, good question. I don’t know, I’d have to think about it.’

  ‘I think it’s before. You have to know what’s awful in the world before you can appreciate what’s good.’

  ‘Shit. How old are you?’

  ‘Don’t know really, not out here where the paths mess with time like Sara said.’

  ‘Well that was totally profound for a fourteen-year-old.’

  ‘I’m fifteen! Probably sixteen now.’

  ‘Okay, ninety per cent profound.’ Ozzie walked over to the pendant. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to take this with me.’

  Orion grunted with perfect teenage sullenness. ‘Don’t care.’

  ‘Good. You never know, it might just guide us to some of the nicer Silfen.’ The pendant was still alight and undamaged; he slipped it into his trouser pocket where it was less likely to fall out. ‘You okay now? We should wrap up again and get back out there.’

  ‘I’m okay, I suppose.’

  When they emerged from the tent, Tochee had pressed a small strip of parchment up against his sledge windscreen. It read: What is wrong.

  Ozzie wasn’t about to go through the whole writing procedure outside. He made a few simple arm gestures, ending with a thumbs up. Orion was nudged to do the same. Tochee waved at them, and withdrew the parchment.

  ‘They’ve killed them, look,’ Orion said miserably.

  Below the escarpment, three icewhales lay dead on the rocky ground, their fur tacky with dark blood from many wounds. Over thirty Silfen bodies shared their fate. The survivors were gathered round the massive beasts they’d brought down. Ozzie zoomed in on the nearest for a close-up. Two of the Silfen were hacking their way into the icewhale with long scimitar blades; they’d already peeled back a wide triangular section of the outer skin, and were now cutting deep into the body cavity. Gooey fluid and bulbous ribbons of offal spilled out around their feet. He saw them pull out an organ that was half the size of an adult human. The remaining Silfen gathered round. One by one they cut out a section and with great ceremony started to eat.