I was trying to get to the kitchen sink to drink from the tap, but between me and the sink was a impenetrable wall of hot air. I tried to fight my way through but it was too hot, and it kept blowing me backwards. I could feel the blood in my veins boiling.
I awoke fighting in the same unbearable heat as my dream. I gained my vision painfully, and deciphered the blurs and colours. Someone was patching a hole in the roof above us; he saw I was awake and pointed to a bottle next to me.
"That's your water." He said in a distant echo, returning to the task at hand.
Water! I searched in slow motion. My head was a cinder-block.
Time stopped when I heard the heavenly laughter of sloshing water at my side. Every part of my molten metal brain begged, screaming at my body to move an inch toward the sound; if merely being closer to it would heal my suffering.
After an eternity of frustration, I had clawed my way to the waters edge. I tried to drink as a giant wave of euphoria broke violently upon me. Emerging from the spinning turmoil of its wake, I gained my composure and finished the contents. Every part of me went limp and useless. I sank into the dark depths to drown in relief.
I awoke again from another nightmare driven by thirst, but this time all around me was cool and dark. It was quiet, but for the light chatter of muffled voices some distance away. I orientated myself and cried with frustration when it was confirmed I was still lying on the sand in the shelter. Throwing my fists at the ground I found my water bottle, taunted my thirst with the few drips that remained and shined my cellphone around the shelter to seek out the source. Amongst backpacks and empty water bottles I discovered someone lying with their back to me.
"Turn. Off. The light." The back said sternly, heart in his throat.
"Sorry," I said, fumbling with the cellphone, "Do you know where I can get some water?"
The figure heaved a sigh and sat up shining his own cellphone light at me.
"Who is that?" He asked, squinting.
"112," I answered, "I'm sorry, I'll go find 63.."
"No," he stopped me, "63's down at the clearing."
I awoke fighting in the same unbearable heat as my dream. I gained my vision painfully, and deciphered the blurs and colours. Someone was patching a hole in the roof above us; he saw I was awake and pointed to a bottle next to me.
"That's your water." He said in a distant echo, returning to the task at hand.
Water! I searched in slow motion. My head was a cinder-block.
Time stopped when I heard the heavenly laughter of sloshing water at my side. Every part of my molten metal brain begged, screaming at my body to move an inch toward the sound; if merely being closer to it would heal my suffering.
After an eternity of frustration, I had clawed my way to the waters edge. I tried to drink as a giant wave of euphoria broke violently upon me. Emerging from the spinning turmoil of its wake, I gained my composure and finished the contents. Every part of me went limp and useless. I sank into the dark depths to drown in relief.
I awoke again from another nightmare driven by thirst, but this time all around me was cool and dark. It was quiet, but for the light chatter of muffled voices some distance away. I orientated myself and cried with frustration when it was confirmed I was still lying on the sand in the shelter. Throwing my fists at the ground I found my water bottle, taunted my thirst with the few drips that remained and shined my cellphone around the shelter to seek out the source. Amongst backpacks and empty water bottles I discovered someone lying with their back to me.
"Turn. Off. The light." The back said sternly, heart in his throat.
"Sorry," I said, fumbling with the cellphone, "Do you know where I can get some water?"
The figure heaved a sigh and sat up shining his own cellphone light at me.
"Who is that?" He asked, squinting.
"112," I answered, "I'm sorry, I'll go find 63.."
"No," he stopped me, "63's down at the clearing."
He sighed and got up to search for something.
"Here," He announced, putting his cellphone in his mouth to free up both hands.
As he approached me I could see he had been crying.
"Food. Milk." He labeled each, as he handed me two tin-cans.
"I'm not sure where you're at as far as your water ration goes, but the milk should do you over 'til 63 gets back.. And you should have some fruit somewhere. Where's your backpack?" He asked, sniffing and wiping his eyes.
"I don't.." I began, as I shined my cellphone around the area I was sleeping.
"There it is," he pointed.
It was half buried in the sand. True to his word, there was half an apple and an orange rolling around in it.
"Mark your pack with something." He said, inspecting the pack for any markings. "There'd be hell to pay if you mistakenly ate somebody else's fruit."
"Right, sure." I agreed as he tossed the bag at my feet.
I set down my food and studied the contents of my backpack in the light of my cellphone.
In the front pocket of the pack I found a bunch of old receipts and other rubbish, a blue ballpoint pen and a half a yellow colouring-in pencil.
"I got yellow too." He said. "Some come with blue or green on the odd occasion apparently.."
I started going through the receipts as if they might tell me something.
"You should save your battery." He said walking back to where he had been lying. "I'm just struggling a bit with the whole I just stabbed myself and watched myself die last night-thing," he added.
I realised then that it was the terrified double, 103; the terrified double that went to the clearing with 67 the night before. He survived his first fight.
"So I'm just gonna try and sleep my guilt away if you don't mind.." He said lying down slowly as not to aggravate an injury, physical or mental.
"Sure, sorry," I replied quietly, juggling the cans of food, my bottle and my cellphone out of the shelter.
Stirred by 103's state, I suppressed my memories of the clearing with a clench of my jaw, and escaped out into another world. Out into another world entirely.
This world was made of pearl and silver! It was heaven in the clouds. Soft white hills nestled in a blissful white glow.
My eyes adjusted to the light and I saw the dunes were completely bathed in moonlight. I gazed into the crisp landscape with overwhelming clarity. The light from the moons were coming from several directions; everything seem to glow as if from its own internal light-source.
I stepped out a few meters to count the moons and sipped my milk. I closed my eyes in deep appreciation of the liquid moonlight washing down my sandy throat.
"112?" Someone called out.
"Yeah?" I replied with a flash of guilt.
I turned to see two doubles approaching from the other side of the shelter.
"I'm 100 and this is 101, we talked last night, remember?" One of them asked. "We were just going to come get you.."
"You can come eat with us if you want." The other added friendly, noticing I had found my food.
Around the other side of the shelter three others sat.
"It's just us new-arrivals tonight." Said 101. "67's supervising 63 down at the clearing and 75 is out mapping.."
"That's 96 there, you met him last night too." Added 100. "He thinks hes our baby sitter."
"I have merely been here the longest, that's all, I'm the oldest and wisest." retorted 96 in overhearing 100's deliberately loud comment, "and I could teach you a few things young man, like how to remember your lighter for one thing, so, listen up."
"Here we go again with the lighter!" Laughed 100.
I considered lunacy to be a possible explanation for their lively behavior.
In attempts to ignore 100's remarks, 96 introduced me to the two relatively clean-faced doubles he sat with, as 108 and 109. He said was telling them what he knew of the mapping progress so far. Which, as 100 soon pointed out, was more an over-hyped recollection of his first and only mapping experience nine nights ago.
After a number of interjections from 100, the discussion moved to 109; where I learned that he did not have to win his place in this order with a fight; for him there was no fight to the death with a masked figure in the clearing..
"The night before he was to fight, 69 didn't return from mapping, so there was a vacancy.." Explained 96.
"What happened to him do you think?" I asked, vividly imagining the alien creature that might have have eaten him.
"Who knows.." He shrugged. "Maybe he just got lost."
"Or maybe he just cooked himself." Suggested 101 bluntly.
There was a moan of frustration from 96.
"You mean he killed himself?" I asked 101.
"Well, lets not jump to conclusions.." 96 mediated.
"Maybe 69 was the smart one is all I'm saying!" 101 interrupted abruptly. "Who's to say hes not at home right now trying to figure out who ate his groceries, ya know what I mean?"
"Please, can we not have this discussion again?" Pleaded 96 rubbing his temples.
"I'm just saying.." 101 insisted. "I'm just saying, we don't know."
"Well, how about, come sunrise, you do us all a favour and take a stroll out of the shelter and give it a shot?" Joked 100 from the sideline. "And when you get back home, you be sure to send me a txt to tell us it's safe to follow."
101 opened his mouth to continue his point.
"Otherwise, shut-up about the suicide stuff alright?" Added 100 quickly to shut-down 101's protests. "I can say with absolute certainty that talking about killing ourselves in the sunshine, is by far, the least productive thing we could be talking about.."
"Hear, hear!" Agreed 96.
"Well, aside from 96's lame story about the one time he went mapping." 100 added quickly.
96 laughed, though, it seemed he was more relieved to be free from the topic of suicide.
It was contagious and I laughed with them, mostly out of delirium.
Reality soon brought me back to the moonlit dunes. I could see it rushing back into doubles 108 and 109 too; like me, unlike the slightly older three, talking and laughing with ourselves would not yet distract from the fear and confusion quite as effectively.
The laughter was soon replaced by the sound of someone approaching.
It was 103.
He sat down and looked around at us with red and puffy eyes, sunken and slouching, as if a physical burden weighed him down.
"Don't let me spoil you fun.." He said, sounding betrayed.
He looked terrible. I would go as far as to say I knew how he felt; I had seen it in the mirror before.
He reached into his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes.
"Spoils of war." He said, tearing the pack open and sharing them out amongst us.
There was enough for all but him.
"I don't want one." He told us, though he took a long drag of 96's before passing it on for us to light from.
"Are you OK?" Asked 96.
Someone had to ask, even though the answer was obvious.
"No." He answered. "I feel as dead inside as the double I killed."
Someone passed him a cigarette and he took another long drag.
"I thought of something though." He remembered, straightening a little.
He stood and looked back at the shelter.
"I think this should be covered in sand." He added, after another long drag before passing it back.
96 stood up and looked at the shelter also, imitating 103's pose unintentionally, smoking and thinking.
"I guess that's not such a bad idea.. It'll definitely make it less of an oven in there." He decided. "But will it hold up under the weight? What if it collapses? It wouldn't be the first time remember."
"Yeah, but 63 said nothing about it collapsing under the weight of sand. He just said it collapsed." Chimed in 101, standing as well.
"But, either way," said 100, following suit, "we should wait for the others to get back.."
"Of course." Agreed 103. "I was looking at the structure of the framework before, while you were all laughing like idiots, I think it could handle it easily."
He put some of his weight on the structure.
"Honestly, I don't know how it could have collapsed in the first place, even if it was covered in sand. It'd take a hurricane to push this over." He added.
I thought of the implications of the shelter collapsing on top of me while I slept.
"When did it collapse?" I asked. "What happened?"
108 and 109 looked from me to those standing as though they were about to ask the same thing.
"Everyone was killed except 63.." Answered 96. "He had to start the order again from scratch."
"He was hurt pretty bad too." Added 101. "If you look close, you can still see the burns on his face and arms."
I hadn't seen 63 in the light. I hadn't noticed the burns.
"He had only been on the planet for two days." Continued 101. "Imagine that, two days. If he didn't believe this was real then, he sure as hell knew for certain after that."
Two days, I thought. I tried to imagine the responsibility thrust upon me. After all, I had only been on the planet for two days myself.
"What did he do?" I asked 101. "How did he know what to do?"
"Well, he would have been given the fundamentals of the order on his first night I guess, same as us.."
"And there was a lot they wrote down on the inside of cereal boxes for him to go from." Added 96.
103 was still looking to the shelter.
"Is there anything in those writings about covering the shelter with sand?" He asked.
"I don't know," answered 96, "lets just wait for the others to get back and go from there."
101 and 100 toyed with the idea about looking for them, but 96 put his foot down.
"They'll be back soon," he argued, fearing anything should go wrong on his watch, "just be patient, alright? We can ask 63 to see them when he gets back."
It was finally agreed we would wait. 96 continued with the story of his first time mapping between bouts of playful harassment by 100 and 101; 103 threw hand-fulls of sand at the shelter and I stared into the moonlit dunes in a trance.
63 and 67 were the first to return. I remember 67 was upset. He stormed straight into the shelter without even a glance in our direction.
63 seemed not too bothered.
"Well, I'm still here." He said, dumping the bags of groceries on the sand and sitting down with us.
He lit a victory cigarette and asked 96 if 75 was back from mapping yet.
"No, 75's not back, but, we have an idea we want to put forward." Replied 96 reluctantly.
"Oh yeah?" Said 63, suprised. "Lets hear it."
96 looked to 103 with a nudge.
"Well, it's your idea." He said.
"It's no big deal," 103 began casually, "I was just thinking how much cooler it would be inside during the day, if the shelter was covered in sand, that's all."
63 looked at the shelter, considering the idea.
"I never thought of that.." He said to himself.
With a laugh he looked at 103 puzzled, who was now almost smiling with pride.
"But, do you think it'd be safe?" Asked 96, "I mean, what if it collapses under the weight?"
"No, I think it's more than strong enough." Replied 63, brushing off 96's concern quickly.
"But, what about the.." 96 tried to finish.
"We should start now, while there's still time, before the sun rises." 63 cut him off, standing up quickly.
It was clear he was done with questions.
He thought for a moment, scratching his beard and finishing his cigarette. In the moonlight I noticed the burn-scars that reddened and gave a distinct shine to his face.
"If we surround the shelter an equal distance apart, we can ensure the sand is equally distributed over the surface." He decided. "We start at the base and work our way up. No more than a light covering first, maybe an inch or two. We'll go from there."
He disappeared into the shelter and, after a minute or two, returned with a scuffing and reluctant 67.
There was very little wind, which saw us covering most of the shelter before 75 returned from mapping.
"Now that's more like it!" He yelled, announcing his return.
"Who's bright idea was this?"
"Mine." Answered 103, raising his hand.
"Way to go 103!" He said, patting him on the back. "I can't believe we didn't think of it earlier!"
He looked around to find 63.
"I'm suprised you agreed to this, 63." He told him. "What with the collapse and all. Fingers crossed, yeah?"
63 shot him a blazing look and continued flinging sand without a response.
"112, right?" 75 asked, as he joined in between me and 96. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing OK." I replied after a moment of consideration. "This moonlight helps.. I'm slowing getting there. Just at one unreal step at a time, you know?"
"Good. Good." He said, throwing sand, looking into nowhere.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"No green men, if that's what you mean. No, nothing really, just drew up a mountain ridge." He answered unenthusiastically pointing out at the horizon.
"It looks like the dunes go on forever. Does it end?" I asked.
He reaching into his backpack to find a folded cereal box.
"They end about an hours walk west. And about three hours walk north." He explained as he unfolded the cereal box revealing the map of the area. "You come upon rocky terrain before you know it. Plenty to explore, if you like rocks."
He took out his phone and showed me some pictures taken with the camera's night-vision function; rock formations, with more rock formations and mountains in the background. The poor quality made it difficult to make out any real detail, and, compensated by dark and grainy effects, inspired the imagination as to the nature of the creatures that lay in the shadows. "Has anyone found anything yet? Anything at all?" I asked, mostly concerned about creatures rather than a way home.
"No." He said flatly, returning the map to his pack.
"This may take a while." He assured me. "We're making good ground, but we're limited by how far away we can walk from the shelter if we want to get back before sunrise.. We've been slowly building up a cashe of food and water; we found a small cave we can spend the day in so we can explore on from there for a few nights."
He frowned, in the direction of 63.
"By 'we' I mean 63 of course; he'll most likely assume the role." He told me under his breath.
We had completely covered the shelter with about three inches of sand, just as the sky was beginning to show hints of blue.
The stars were disappearing, the glow of the moons and aurora seemed to fade with them as the vengeful glow of the sun consumed the horizon. Exhausted by the rising temperature, we retreated into the blackened out shelter.
I ate my dust garnished apple with ecstasy as water was being divided.
On either side of me, sat 96 and 100. 100 was talking with 101 about the necessity of a good nights sleep while 96 sat staring at the roof of the shelter.
"I think it'll hold." He told me. "I don't know how they built this. Its really quite impressive when you look at it. I don't think I could have done a better job."
We both came to the same laughable conclusion that we did build it, in a way, and stared perplexed at the creation while the others were settling down.
The weave of the shelter played tricks with my mind as I tried to follow the sequence of bends by the light of my cellphone.
63 came over to find us staring upwards.
"112," he said, breaking us from the perplexities of our conclusion, "these are yours."
He handed me a plastic bag of items.
"These were 82's belongings, and some of your cereal box for you to write on.. And his blade. Just keep it in your pack." 63 told me.
He looked at 96 who was back to staring at the structure above.
"Don't worry about the shelter.." He told him, "It's not going to collapse again, trust me."
"Oh no, I agree.." said 96 reassuringly, "we were just marveling at the fact that we built this, if you get my meaning. Its impressive isn't it?"
"Yes. Yes it is." He replied, to conclude our talk, he made to stand and leave.
"What brought it down?" I asked quickly.
I had to wonder, it looked so robust. It would have taken something big.. something alien was the only explanation in my mind.
"I don't know." He answered shaking his head, looking suddenly very agitated.
"Its my turn to go out mapping tonight.. Where to this time?" Asked 96, sensing the need for a change of topic.
"Same place you went to last time. You'll just move a bit further along of that western ridge looking for a pass through. I'll run you through it with the map before the sun sets, OK?"
"Sure, OK." 96 replied excitedly.
63 then left with nod. 96 lay down and stared into his thoughts.
"Wouldn't it be great to come across a spaceship?" He sighed.
"Just as long as there was no one in it." I replied, imagining my alien again; bigger this time; big enough to break through the shelter.
I lay down and closed my eyes. There was still some light coming in through the tin-seal at the entrance, but the sand seemed to be working in blocking out the rest. I wondered if the wind would blow it off throughout the long day.
I slept. I dreamed I was home.
"Here," He announced, putting his cellphone in his mouth to free up both hands.
As he approached me I could see he had been crying.
"Food. Milk." He labeled each, as he handed me two tin-cans.
"I'm not sure where you're at as far as your water ration goes, but the milk should do you over 'til 63 gets back.. And you should have some fruit somewhere. Where's your backpack?" He asked, sniffing and wiping his eyes.
"I don't.." I began, as I shined my cellphone around the area I was sleeping.
"There it is," he pointed.
It was half buried in the sand. True to his word, there was half an apple and an orange rolling around in it.
"Mark your pack with something." He said, inspecting the pack for any markings. "There'd be hell to pay if you mistakenly ate somebody else's fruit."
"Right, sure." I agreed as he tossed the bag at my feet.
I set down my food and studied the contents of my backpack in the light of my cellphone.
In the front pocket of the pack I found a bunch of old receipts and other rubbish, a blue ballpoint pen and a half a yellow colouring-in pencil.
"I got yellow too." He said. "Some come with blue or green on the odd occasion apparently.."
I started going through the receipts as if they might tell me something.
"You should save your battery." He said walking back to where he had been lying. "I'm just struggling a bit with the whole I just stabbed myself and watched myself die last night-thing," he added.
I realised then that it was the terrified double, 103; the terrified double that went to the clearing with 67 the night before. He survived his first fight.
"So I'm just gonna try and sleep my guilt away if you don't mind.." He said lying down slowly as not to aggravate an injury, physical or mental.
"Sure, sorry," I replied quietly, juggling the cans of food, my bottle and my cellphone out of the shelter.
Stirred by 103's state, I suppressed my memories of the clearing with a clench of my jaw, and escaped out into another world. Out into another world entirely.
This world was made of pearl and silver! It was heaven in the clouds. Soft white hills nestled in a blissful white glow.
My eyes adjusted to the light and I saw the dunes were completely bathed in moonlight. I gazed into the crisp landscape with overwhelming clarity. The light from the moons were coming from several directions; everything seem to glow as if from its own internal light-source.
I stepped out a few meters to count the moons and sipped my milk. I closed my eyes in deep appreciation of the liquid moonlight washing down my sandy throat.
"112?" Someone called out.
"Yeah?" I replied with a flash of guilt.
I turned to see two doubles approaching from the other side of the shelter.
"I'm 100 and this is 101, we talked last night, remember?" One of them asked. "We were just going to come get you.."
"You can come eat with us if you want." The other added friendly, noticing I had found my food.
Around the other side of the shelter three others sat.
"It's just us new-arrivals tonight." Said 101. "67's supervising 63 down at the clearing and 75 is out mapping.."
"That's 96 there, you met him last night too." Added 100. "He thinks hes our baby sitter."
"I have merely been here the longest, that's all, I'm the oldest and wisest." retorted 96 in overhearing 100's deliberately loud comment, "and I could teach you a few things young man, like how to remember your lighter for one thing, so, listen up."
"Here we go again with the lighter!" Laughed 100.
I considered lunacy to be a possible explanation for their lively behavior.
In attempts to ignore 100's remarks, 96 introduced me to the two relatively clean-faced doubles he sat with, as 108 and 109. He said was telling them what he knew of the mapping progress so far. Which, as 100 soon pointed out, was more an over-hyped recollection of his first and only mapping experience nine nights ago.
After a number of interjections from 100, the discussion moved to 109; where I learned that he did not have to win his place in this order with a fight; for him there was no fight to the death with a masked figure in the clearing..
"The night before he was to fight, 69 didn't return from mapping, so there was a vacancy.." Explained 96.
"What happened to him do you think?" I asked, vividly imagining the alien creature that might have have eaten him.
"Who knows.." He shrugged. "Maybe he just got lost."
"Or maybe he just cooked himself." Suggested 101 bluntly.
There was a moan of frustration from 96.
"You mean he killed himself?" I asked 101.
"Well, lets not jump to conclusions.." 96 mediated.
"Maybe 69 was the smart one is all I'm saying!" 101 interrupted abruptly. "Who's to say hes not at home right now trying to figure out who ate his groceries, ya know what I mean?"
"Please, can we not have this discussion again?" Pleaded 96 rubbing his temples.
"I'm just saying.." 101 insisted. "I'm just saying, we don't know."
"Well, how about, come sunrise, you do us all a favour and take a stroll out of the shelter and give it a shot?" Joked 100 from the sideline. "And when you get back home, you be sure to send me a txt to tell us it's safe to follow."
101 opened his mouth to continue his point.
"Otherwise, shut-up about the suicide stuff alright?" Added 100 quickly to shut-down 101's protests. "I can say with absolute certainty that talking about killing ourselves in the sunshine, is by far, the least productive thing we could be talking about.."
"Hear, hear!" Agreed 96.
"Well, aside from 96's lame story about the one time he went mapping." 100 added quickly.
96 laughed, though, it seemed he was more relieved to be free from the topic of suicide.
It was contagious and I laughed with them, mostly out of delirium.
Reality soon brought me back to the moonlit dunes. I could see it rushing back into doubles 108 and 109 too; like me, unlike the slightly older three, talking and laughing with ourselves would not yet distract from the fear and confusion quite as effectively.
The laughter was soon replaced by the sound of someone approaching.
It was 103.
He sat down and looked around at us with red and puffy eyes, sunken and slouching, as if a physical burden weighed him down.
"Don't let me spoil you fun.." He said, sounding betrayed.
He looked terrible. I would go as far as to say I knew how he felt; I had seen it in the mirror before.
He reached into his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes.
"Spoils of war." He said, tearing the pack open and sharing them out amongst us.
There was enough for all but him.
"I don't want one." He told us, though he took a long drag of 96's before passing it on for us to light from.
"Are you OK?" Asked 96.
Someone had to ask, even though the answer was obvious.
"No." He answered. "I feel as dead inside as the double I killed."
Someone passed him a cigarette and he took another long drag.
"I thought of something though." He remembered, straightening a little.
He stood and looked back at the shelter.
"I think this should be covered in sand." He added, after another long drag before passing it back.
96 stood up and looked at the shelter also, imitating 103's pose unintentionally, smoking and thinking.
"I guess that's not such a bad idea.. It'll definitely make it less of an oven in there." He decided. "But will it hold up under the weight? What if it collapses? It wouldn't be the first time remember."
"Yeah, but 63 said nothing about it collapsing under the weight of sand. He just said it collapsed." Chimed in 101, standing as well.
"But, either way," said 100, following suit, "we should wait for the others to get back.."
"Of course." Agreed 103. "I was looking at the structure of the framework before, while you were all laughing like idiots, I think it could handle it easily."
He put some of his weight on the structure.
"Honestly, I don't know how it could have collapsed in the first place, even if it was covered in sand. It'd take a hurricane to push this over." He added.
I thought of the implications of the shelter collapsing on top of me while I slept.
"When did it collapse?" I asked. "What happened?"
108 and 109 looked from me to those standing as though they were about to ask the same thing.
"Everyone was killed except 63.." Answered 96. "He had to start the order again from scratch."
"He was hurt pretty bad too." Added 101. "If you look close, you can still see the burns on his face and arms."
I hadn't seen 63 in the light. I hadn't noticed the burns.
"He had only been on the planet for two days." Continued 101. "Imagine that, two days. If he didn't believe this was real then, he sure as hell knew for certain after that."
Two days, I thought. I tried to imagine the responsibility thrust upon me. After all, I had only been on the planet for two days myself.
"What did he do?" I asked 101. "How did he know what to do?"
"Well, he would have been given the fundamentals of the order on his first night I guess, same as us.."
"And there was a lot they wrote down on the inside of cereal boxes for him to go from." Added 96.
103 was still looking to the shelter.
"Is there anything in those writings about covering the shelter with sand?" He asked.
"I don't know," answered 96, "lets just wait for the others to get back and go from there."
101 and 100 toyed with the idea about looking for them, but 96 put his foot down.
"They'll be back soon," he argued, fearing anything should go wrong on his watch, "just be patient, alright? We can ask 63 to see them when he gets back."
It was finally agreed we would wait. 96 continued with the story of his first time mapping between bouts of playful harassment by 100 and 101; 103 threw hand-fulls of sand at the shelter and I stared into the moonlit dunes in a trance.
63 and 67 were the first to return. I remember 67 was upset. He stormed straight into the shelter without even a glance in our direction.
63 seemed not too bothered.
"Well, I'm still here." He said, dumping the bags of groceries on the sand and sitting down with us.
He lit a victory cigarette and asked 96 if 75 was back from mapping yet.
"No, 75's not back, but, we have an idea we want to put forward." Replied 96 reluctantly.
"Oh yeah?" Said 63, suprised. "Lets hear it."
96 looked to 103 with a nudge.
"Well, it's your idea." He said.
"It's no big deal," 103 began casually, "I was just thinking how much cooler it would be inside during the day, if the shelter was covered in sand, that's all."
63 looked at the shelter, considering the idea.
"I never thought of that.." He said to himself.
With a laugh he looked at 103 puzzled, who was now almost smiling with pride.
"But, do you think it'd be safe?" Asked 96, "I mean, what if it collapses under the weight?"
"No, I think it's more than strong enough." Replied 63, brushing off 96's concern quickly.
"But, what about the.." 96 tried to finish.
"We should start now, while there's still time, before the sun rises." 63 cut him off, standing up quickly.
It was clear he was done with questions.
He thought for a moment, scratching his beard and finishing his cigarette. In the moonlight I noticed the burn-scars that reddened and gave a distinct shine to his face.
"If we surround the shelter an equal distance apart, we can ensure the sand is equally distributed over the surface." He decided. "We start at the base and work our way up. No more than a light covering first, maybe an inch or two. We'll go from there."
He disappeared into the shelter and, after a minute or two, returned with a scuffing and reluctant 67.
There was very little wind, which saw us covering most of the shelter before 75 returned from mapping.
"Now that's more like it!" He yelled, announcing his return.
"Who's bright idea was this?"
"Mine." Answered 103, raising his hand.
"Way to go 103!" He said, patting him on the back. "I can't believe we didn't think of it earlier!"
He looked around to find 63.
"I'm suprised you agreed to this, 63." He told him. "What with the collapse and all. Fingers crossed, yeah?"
63 shot him a blazing look and continued flinging sand without a response.
"112, right?" 75 asked, as he joined in between me and 96. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing OK." I replied after a moment of consideration. "This moonlight helps.. I'm slowing getting there. Just at one unreal step at a time, you know?"
"Good. Good." He said, throwing sand, looking into nowhere.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"No green men, if that's what you mean. No, nothing really, just drew up a mountain ridge." He answered unenthusiastically pointing out at the horizon.
"It looks like the dunes go on forever. Does it end?" I asked.
He reaching into his backpack to find a folded cereal box.
"They end about an hours walk west. And about three hours walk north." He explained as he unfolded the cereal box revealing the map of the area. "You come upon rocky terrain before you know it. Plenty to explore, if you like rocks."
He took out his phone and showed me some pictures taken with the camera's night-vision function; rock formations, with more rock formations and mountains in the background. The poor quality made it difficult to make out any real detail, and, compensated by dark and grainy effects, inspired the imagination as to the nature of the creatures that lay in the shadows. "Has anyone found anything yet? Anything at all?" I asked, mostly concerned about creatures rather than a way home.
"No." He said flatly, returning the map to his pack.
"This may take a while." He assured me. "We're making good ground, but we're limited by how far away we can walk from the shelter if we want to get back before sunrise.. We've been slowly building up a cashe of food and water; we found a small cave we can spend the day in so we can explore on from there for a few nights."
He frowned, in the direction of 63.
"By 'we' I mean 63 of course; he'll most likely assume the role." He told me under his breath.
We had completely covered the shelter with about three inches of sand, just as the sky was beginning to show hints of blue.
The stars were disappearing, the glow of the moons and aurora seemed to fade with them as the vengeful glow of the sun consumed the horizon. Exhausted by the rising temperature, we retreated into the blackened out shelter.
I ate my dust garnished apple with ecstasy as water was being divided.
On either side of me, sat 96 and 100. 100 was talking with 101 about the necessity of a good nights sleep while 96 sat staring at the roof of the shelter.
"I think it'll hold." He told me. "I don't know how they built this. Its really quite impressive when you look at it. I don't think I could have done a better job."
We both came to the same laughable conclusion that we did build it, in a way, and stared perplexed at the creation while the others were settling down.
The weave of the shelter played tricks with my mind as I tried to follow the sequence of bends by the light of my cellphone.
63 came over to find us staring upwards.
"112," he said, breaking us from the perplexities of our conclusion, "these are yours."
He handed me a plastic bag of items.
"These were 82's belongings, and some of your cereal box for you to write on.. And his blade. Just keep it in your pack." 63 told me.
He looked at 96 who was back to staring at the structure above.
"Don't worry about the shelter.." He told him, "It's not going to collapse again, trust me."
"Oh no, I agree.." said 96 reassuringly, "we were just marveling at the fact that we built this, if you get my meaning. Its impressive isn't it?"
"Yes. Yes it is." He replied, to conclude our talk, he made to stand and leave.
"What brought it down?" I asked quickly.
I had to wonder, it looked so robust. It would have taken something big.. something alien was the only explanation in my mind.
"I don't know." He answered shaking his head, looking suddenly very agitated.
"Its my turn to go out mapping tonight.. Where to this time?" Asked 96, sensing the need for a change of topic.
"Same place you went to last time. You'll just move a bit further along of that western ridge looking for a pass through. I'll run you through it with the map before the sun sets, OK?"
"Sure, OK." 96 replied excitedly.
63 then left with nod. 96 lay down and stared into his thoughts.
"Wouldn't it be great to come across a spaceship?" He sighed.
"Just as long as there was no one in it." I replied, imagining my alien again; bigger this time; big enough to break through the shelter.
I lay down and closed my eyes. There was still some light coming in through the tin-seal at the entrance, but the sand seemed to be working in blocking out the rest. I wondered if the wind would blow it off throughout the long day.
I slept. I dreamed I was home.
No comments:
Post a Comment