1

They’d been searching for nearly thirty days. Hope was all but extinguished…
They’d had so little to go on. Communication problems had meant that it was nearly five hours before they were sure there even was a problem…
When Marta hadn’t returned or checked in they’d despatched aircraft one, piloted by Han and Sal, to search the area… The boys had found the rova seemingly abandoned, further investigation revealed that much of the survival equipment was missing. There was no evidence that any maintenance work had been attempted on the ground station, or indeed that Marta had even tried to scale the tor on which the ground station stood… All the tools and test equipment were still neatly stowed in the vehicle….
The shock was palpable… Marta had been so reliable, one of the rocks on which the expedition rested… But then people started remembering, how she’d defied orders to break into the forbidden zone…how withdrawn she had appeared recently…
As they were lacking hard information, speculation filled the gap… An accident was discounted, as a thorough search of the area failed to reveal any trace of an injured explorer, or a body…! An attack by a pseudo-crustacean was suggested, but there was only one in the area, and it had stayed in the vicinity of the nearest pod grove some ten kliks away… But then it occurred to Mission AI that the missing girl could have gone to meet it, and people remembered how keen she had been to make face-to-face contact with the alien life form, and how disappointed she had been when Nurse Six Gee had denied her permission…
Efforts then switched to the vicinity of the grove… The pseudo-crustacean known to Marta as ‘Oswald’ was still in the vicinity, but exhibited no observable changes in behaviour… Not that crusties did much anyway…they each patrolled their territories, and periodically disappeared into their pod groves, sometimes for several days at a time, but that was about it…! So little was known about their habits. The ghoulish possibility that the creature had killed and eaten the missing girl was considered, but short of killing and dissecting the animal, there was no way of proving this… Mission AI briefly considered this course of action, but the Mission protocols ruled it out…
Another worrying aspect was the complete absence of any tracking signal… The possibility that the girl could have switched this off herself was discounted, she wouldn’t have known how… Which left malfunction, destruction of the device…or relocation to an area where the signal could not be detected as the possibilities… Priya had then suggested that they search the pod grove, but the size of the area and their limited resources severely restricted what they could achieve… Han had suggested that they monitor any communications emanating from the grove… This also proved a bust. As far as they could tell, neither ‘Oswald’, nor its pod grove were sending out any signals at all. Priya did observe that this lack of communication might in itself be significant, but she was ignored, and Mission AI was on the point of calling it a day,
“They’re going to call off the search after this sweep…” Sal’s tone was fatalistic,
“But they can’t…!” cried Priya, “…it’s Marta, for chod’s sake…!” for the girl the idea of giving up on her best friend was inconceivable,
“If they order us back…well, I for one am going to refuse to obey…” Priya glared at Sal defiantly,
“I’m not happy, either…but that would mean defying Mission AI…they could make it very uncomfortable for us…”
“I don’t care…I’m not going back until we find her…!” Priya was implacable…
They’d spent the afternoon in aircraft two criss-crossing the canopy of the pod grove in the vague hope that they would find something, anything, out of the ordinary…a small clue that would lead them to their friend,
“Maybe, Han, Jorja and Rai have had more luck…!”
The others constituted the ground search party. They had attempted to search as much as possible of the perimeter of the grove…with the occasional sortie into its interior where there was an obvious point of entry… But the size of the task was daunting… Even using the rova to cover more ground, and then leapfrogging by using the other ’plane and the rova in tandem, so they could search three locations simultaneously, had failed to reveal any trace of the missing girl,
“Either something’s happened to her…or she doesn’t want to be found…!” said Sal.
The look on Priya’s face told him immediately that she did not accept either theory,
“Look. it’ll be dark soon…we’ll have to go back…!”
“Well, I’m staying…” said Priya coldly, “…you can do what you want…”
Sal knew he would have to give in, because he knew perfectly well that she would stay, even if it meant staying by herself…
But Priya had decided a bit of diplomacy was needed…she didn’t want a major row,
“Look Sal, if we go back now, they won’t let us out again…! We can at least keep searching here until our supplies run out…” she looked him squarely in the face,
“We owe her that…!”
“OK, OK! We’ll camp… We need to get the others to agree, and then come up with some sort of story for Mission AI…
Sal started to radio the other team…Priya tried not to listen but she could tell he was meeting resistance, mainly from Rai and Jorja,
‘Jorja would be happier if Marta didn’t come back…’ the thought sprang unbidden into her mind before she could suppress it, and she hated herself for it…Jorja was her friend too, but she knew it was probably true…
Something was blinking on the display, blinking quite insistently,
“Sal…”
“Not now…I think I’ve almost persuaded them…” The boy stopped, he was looking at the display,
“What does that mean…?” asked Priya,
“Guys….GUYS…!” Sal was now yelling into his mic, “Guys, I’ve got a signal…I think we’ve found her…!”
Priya could hear the cheering at the other end……she found she was crying…..
“Where is she, for Christ sake…?” it was Han on the radio,
“Signal indicates she’s about five klicks north-west of the grove, heading out into the desert…”
“Why didn’t we spot this before…?” Priya was trying to make herself heard above the din everyone was now making,
“…because there wasn’t a signal before…!” replied Sal. He spoke tersely into his mic,
“Han, we’re closest, and we’re in the air…we’ll head straight for the signal, join us asap… Out…”
Sal banked the aircraft into a fast turn and headed north-west at best possible speed,
“She’s moving…which is a good sign…”
“Where the hell is she going…and why…?”
Sal shrugged, what could he say…

2

They soon saw the lone figure, diminished by the immensity of the landscape… Out here was true desert. Different geology meant that the terrain north of the pod grove lacked subsurface water… A few cactus-like variants on the basic pod design survived by collecting dew, but even these gave out a klik and a half north of the grove… Nothing but red shale lay before the tiny figure…stretching out to the horizon…
Sal circled Marta, they could see now it was definitely her,
‘…but who else could it be…?’ thought Priya…
The girl showed no sign that she was even aware of the presence of the aircraft… certainly, she didn’t acknowledge it,
“Why doesn’t she wave…or look up, even…?” said Priya,
“I don’t like this at all…she must be in a bad way…” replied Sal.
They landed a few hundred metres in front of, and to the left, of their friend and cautiously approached on foot…
Seeing her close up intensified their concern. Marta paid them absolutely no mind, deviating not a centimetre from her chosen path… She was thin, and filthy…her long hair a nest of rats tails, her clothes disheveled and heavily soiled… Scariest of all were her eyes…Priya had heard of the phrase, ‘a thousand yard stare,’ but had never witnessed it until now… It was like the girl’s gaze was fixed on a horizon only she could see…a horizon of the mind…
Priya could also see a large rent in her tunic where it covered her belly. She turned to Sal,
“Is that what I think it is…?” she was pointing at an ugly red mark on Marta’s stomach revealed periodically as she trudged ever onward,
“It looks like the wound Rai had, when we retrieved him from the Equatorial pod grove…”
“I think that explains where she’s been all this time…”
“We’re going to have to stop her… Somehow…!”
“Best wait until the others have landed…” cautioned Priya…
The other ’plane landed in a cloud of dust, and disgorged Rai and Jorja,
“Han’s bringing the rova…” said Rai, by way of explanation, “…what’s up with her…?”
“Why isn’t she acknowledging us…?” added Jorja,
“She’s been like this since we found her…” said Sal. Marta was continuing to trudge on her chosen course, heading north-west,
“And for who knows how long before…!” added Priya,
“Have you tried talking to her…? HEY MARTA…! WAKE UP…!” yelled Rai.
The sudden noise was quite shocking in the silent desert, but had no effect on Marta…whose eyes remained fixed on her own far horizon,
“OK, so that didn’t work…” said Rai,
“Why don’t we try…getting in her way…!” suggested Jorja,
“We tried that…she just steps ‘round us…” said Priya.
Jorja tried anyway…Marta didn’t even break step, merely deviating from her course slightly until the younger girl was no longer in front of her, and then turning resolutely back north-west,
“Hey, this is fun…!” said Jorja who was stepping front of the girl, waiting until she’d turned, and stepping in front of her again. Priya had had enough,
“Jorja…! This is not a game…this is our friend who’s in trouble and needs our help…!”
“Sorry…!” said Jorja in a small voice,
“The question is… How do we stop her…?” said Sal,
“We could try wrestling her to the ground…” suggested Rai,
“I don’t like the sound of that…” countered Sal, “…we might hurt her…and in any case, we can’t just sit on her for the next few hours…we’d have to tie her up…or something…!”
”Yes, we can’t put her in the ’plane the way she is…” said Priya, “…she would probably try and jump out…”
“Has anyone tried to contact the Dome…?” interrupted Jorja, “…we really need Mission AI’s help…”
“We’ve tried, but there’s no signal…” said Sal, “…even at altitude…”
Priya turned to Jorja,
“Have you got anything in your medical kit that could knock her out…a sedative, or something…!”
“Nothing that would make her unconscious, if that’s what you mean…!”
Marta then ended the debate by abruptly collapsing…
She lay absolutely still, her limbs twisted at odd angles, like a discarded rag doll,
“Oh my God… Help her…” shouted Priya…
Jorja seemed to remember belatedly that she was the expedition doctor…a steely professionalism replaced her previous offhand manner…she crouched over their fallen friend and checked for vital signs,
“She’s got a pulse…it’s weak, but regular…pupils are dilated… She’s in shock…” Jorja checked in her mouth, “…by the looks of her she’s severely dehydrated…”.
“Rai, get my bag from the ’plane…” the boy scurried off… “Sal, could you get the stretcher…I think it’s on your aircraft… Priya, bring the survival stuff…there’ll be reflective blankets…”
Rai had returned with the medical bag,
“I’m going to put her on a drip, and we can keep her warm…but we have to get her back to the Dome, asap…!”
“I’ll fly her back…” said Sal,
“I’ll go with you…!” added Priya immediately.
For a moment Jorja looked like she was going to protest, understandably so as she was the expedition doctor and really it should be her who accompanied the sick girl back. But Priya stared her out, and the other girl shrugged, merely saying,
“I’ll run through what you have to do…”
“We’ll follow in the other flyer…” said Rai, “…we’ll be close enough to help if you run into trouble…”
Han had now arrived and had taken in the situation in his usual phlegmatic manner. He still had a slight limp from the accident which had precipitated the chain of events which had brought them here. Now he was helping Rai and they were in the process of getting the stretcher pod from the hold of aircraft two,
“Do you remember how we rig this thing…?” asked Rai,
“I think so…!” said Han, “…it attaches to the left hand side of the ’plane, using these brackets…”
Everyone was glad to be doing something. Priya and Sal had managed to lift their friend onto the portable stretcher, while Jorja held the drip,
“How’s it going with that pod…?” called Jorja,
“I think we’ve sussed it…!”
“You better have sorted it properly…” said Jorja, “…we don’t want it coming loose at three thousand metres…!” She looked at Han,
“…I mean, you are sort of responsible for all this…!”
The sudden embarrassed silence reminded them of the gravity of the situation.
Minutes later they’d succeeded in placing Marta on her stretcher in the transparent gondola… Han and Rai had checked and rechecked the securing fastenings, until everyone was completely satisfied,
“Priya…! You’re going to have to hold the drip on the journey back…! The line…” Jorja pointed to the door, “…goes through this slot here….so it doesn’t get squashed when the door closes… Are we ready…?”
“Are we getting telemetry from Marta’s interface…?” asked Sal,
“Yes, I’ve managed to hack it…you should be getting her vital signs…now!” replied Han,
“Yes, I’ve got them…” said Sal,
“If she goes into arrest, you must land…her only hope then will be CPR…!” said Jorja, before closing the canopy…
From her seat in the aircraft, Priya could see that everyone was in shock…it was just dawning on them that one of them could actually die…
Sal was giving the thumbs up to Han and Rai,
“Here goes nothing…..”
The flight back was far from uneventful…
Sal had radioed ahead as soon as they were within range, he spoke briefly to Mission AI,
“They’re going to meet us outside the Dome with the crash team…” he confirmed to Priya,
“How soon ’til we get there…?”
“About fifteen minutes… Why…?”
“Marta’s core temperature is dropping rapidly…”
This is what they’d been afraid of… Even wrapped in as many survival blankets as they could fit around her, she was still in the gondola which was outside the aircraft cabin, and therefore not heated…
“Her pulse is becoming fainter…we’re going to lose her…!”
“Hang on…” said Sal, “…I’m going to override the engine safety protocols…”
A shrill alarm, together with a robotic voice warning them that the engines were now revving beyond design tolerances, informed Priya that he had done so…Sal shut it off…
Their aircraft leapt forward, leaving the other flyer in its wake…the engines were now shrieking in protest,
“Hopefully it’ll hold together long enough…”
The last five minutes were unbearable…they couldn’t hear themselves think over the noise of the engines…displays began going off like fireworks all over the board… Priya could feel the heat coming from the motors,
“I see the Dome…” cried Sal, his voice barely audible over the din,
‘Thank Christ… Thank Shiva…thank all the gods in the heavens….’ said Priya to herself. She’d been silently praying for the last few minutes,
“Port engine is failing…” yelled Sal, a long plume of smoke now trailed behind their craft,
“I’m going to have to bring her down short of the Dome… Hang on…this is going to be rough…”
The ground seemed to rush towards them,
“I’m trying to hold the nose up…”
Priya covered her eyes as they crashed through the canopy of a small pod grove…they hit the ground with a crack…and bounced,
“Switching to reverse thrust…” cried Sal….
Whatever he said next was drowned by their second impact…the roar and scrape of their landing filled Priya’s ears, a huge cloud of dust had enveloped them…they were slewing ‘round and starting to tip…
“HANG ON…”

---

After the bedlam of the landing…the silence was eerie. Priya had no idea how long she’d been sitting there,
“Wake up… WAKE UP…!” she was nudging Sal frantically, “…we’ve got to get her free….” Sal groaned but was clearly unconscious…
Amazingly they’d finished the right way up… Priya struggled out of her straps and hit the door release… She checked her ’face, Marta still had a pulse…but it was barely perceptible……As the girl climbed out of the cockpit she noticed, without interest, the trail of destruction their craft had left,
…how far short are we…?
Her interface responded, telling her they were two kliks short,
“Mission AI…we are down…repeat, we are down…two kliks short… What is your ETA…?”
We’ll be there in ten minutes… What is your situation…? it was Nurse Gee,
“I’m fine… Sal is unconscious but in no immediate danger… I’m going to attempt CPR on Marta…!”
Priya didn’t wait for the reply, she had to get Marta out of the stretcher… The gondola had somehow survived the crash intact, but there followed an agony of fumbling as she struggled with the catches…then the cover swung open… Marta’s face was grey… Priya bent her ear to her friend’s mouth…she could no longer hear her breathing,
“God…! Which way ‘round is it…?” she asked herself frantically,
“Right… Think…! You know this… ABC… airway, breathing, circulation…”
She had unwadded the unconscious girl from the survival blankets surrounding her… Now she tipped her head back, and gave her a breath…
In some part of her brain she registered the sound of the other ’plane… The pilot was circling, trying to find somewhere to land…but the terrain was too rough…
More fumbling as she found the girl’s sternum,
‘…now ten…and give her another breath…’ she started the heart massage…
She then repeated the cycle while monitoring Marta’s vital signs via her interface,
“Come on, Marta…you can do this… COME ON…!”
Priya forced herself to relax,
‘OK, let’s see if you can breathe alone…’
“She’s got a pulse… SHE’S GOT A PULSE…!”
Priya didn’t realise she was shouting…she bent her head to her friend’s mouth again…her interface told her the girl was breathing, but she didn’t believe it until she felt Marta’s breath on her cheek…
Nurse Gee found Priya bent over her friend talking to her…encouraging her,
“It’s alright, dear…! We can take it from here…”
Priya allowed herself to be led away from her friend…over to Sal, who was conscious and being bandaged by a solicitous nursemaid,
“Are you OK…?” she asked,
“I’ve been better… How’s Marta…?”
“Alive…”

3

Marta was swimming beside the coral reef, the water was warm, and comforting… Above her the silver sea sparkled and danced…the profusion of life here was amazing…brightly coloured clownfish disported themselves in shafts of light sent down from the silver sea, the multi-coloured corals pulsed all around her… Marta tried to reach up towards the light, towards the silver sea…but the warmth of the water dissuaded her from making the effort…below, the dark abyss waited…

The snake was lying curled up on a rock…before an impossible sky…it reared up as if responding to the tune of an invisible snake charmer…perfectly modulated Standard came out of its fanged mouth,
“Time is an illusion, my dear…!”
‘Why are all non-humans so patronising…?’ thought the girl,
“Your perception of an orderly, linear progression…from past, via the present, to future…from birth to death…is essentially the subjective construction your poor mammalian brain puts on the real state of affairs…which your limited little mind cannot cope with…”
Marta ‘knew’ that she was conversing with the pod…although how she knew this was unclear to her,
“So, how do you know the true state of affairs…? What makes you so special…?” ‘That’s better, show some spirit…’ she told herself,
The serpent remained utterly still for a disconcertingly long time…it’s forked tongue then flickered twice, in and out of its mouth,
“My kind have the benefit of a truer perspective…we have always been here…unlike your brief, ephemeral little lives…we wait, we watch…we know there is no end to time…and no beginning…all time exists…all time can be seen…you only have to know how to perceive it…”
“But how can you bear it…? Knowing all that has happened…will happen…all at once…!”
“…the vegetable mind is more…adaptable…” replied the snake before closing its eyes and lowering its head once more……….
She was closer to the shining sea, now…the water felt colder, fresher…more invigorating… If she concentrated she could see the dark shadows cast upon the bright water…indicative of another undreamt of world above… If she listened very hard, she could hear the sounds the shadows made……

Marta lay across the heavens… If she stretched out her hand she could enfold star systems…the icy fingers of interstellar space were upon her skin…but she felt warm inside… Her eyes were now as keen as the eyes of eagles…she could see clear across the universe… But the more she looked…the more it looked…wrong…! Those far-off points of light…were just that, points of light…like glitter strewn across the heavens… The fabric of space seemed to twist and fold in upon itself…the dark patches grew until they swallowed up the light…and Ouroboros encircled her once more… …

Marta now knew that the warm waters, the reef, the coral, the fish, were all part of an illusion…that the real world lay beyond the maya of the shining sea… The dark shadows were beginning to resolve themselves into solid shapes…the sounds were becoming words…albeit, words in some obscure, forgotten language… She felt that if she tried, she could push her hand right through the shining waters…and into the world that lay beyond…! All she had to do was try……

Marta was on a train…a very slow moving train, that inched across a flat, sultry landscape…she pressed her face up against the glass, trying to become one with the world outside…peasants worked the land, cutting cane, loading wagons, driving mules…she waved at them…they did not wave back… Her feet did not quite reach the floor of the carriage, so she amused herself by drumming her heels on the hard wood of her seat… Eventually the train pulled into a dusty little halt…a grand lady alighted, dressed very formally in black…no-one else either got on or off… The grand dame made her way along the carriage, squeezing past the sleeping farmers and stepping delicately over their trussed hens and chickens…
She stopped in front of Marta,
“Is this seat taken…?”
Marta longed to say that it was…that her mother was just in the next compartment and would be back soon…but she knew this was a lie…
The woman seated herself, arranging her long skirt carefully about her on the wooden bench,
“I have a present for you…” said the woman without preamble,
“My mother says I’m not to take presents from strangers…”
“But, your mother is not here now, is she…?”
The logic was unanswerable.
“What sort of present…?” asked the girl, unable to contain her curiosity,
“The most precious gift there is…” replied the dark lady, “…would you like to see it…?”
Marta smiled and nodded her head cautiously…
The lady reached into her blouse… Marta looked around fearfully, surely someone would notice…but the farmers and their wives showed no sign that anything was amiss, continuing with their conversations about the price of grain…
Marta watched with appalled fascination as the lady pulled something from her bosom…something thin and white, that dripped blood,
“My gift to you, Marta ! Use it wisely…”

At some unspecified point the veil was lifted… Marta blinked and found herself back in the world… Nurse Gee was waiting at the foot of her bed,
“Here we are again, Marta…” the familiar twinkle was back in the nursemaid’s eye……

4

“How are you feeling…?” said a familiar voice…
Marta opened her eyes, Priya and Jorja stood before her,
“Not too bad, all things considered…!” she said carefully, “…my stomach hurts, ‘though…”
“You’re going to have a heck of a scar…” put in Jorja, “…if Rai’s anything to go by…!”
The girl looked slightly embarrassed…as if she’d let too much slip,
“Do you remember anything…?” asked Priya,
“Not a thing…!” said Marta, “…I do have really vivid dreams, though…!” the girl looked pensive, “…not that I remember much, when I awake…!”
She looked quizzically at the pair of them…Priya caught on quickest,
“The boys are all out on Mission…” said Priya,
“Yes, they’re being rough, tough boys together…!” added Jorja,
‘You should be a double act…!’ observed Marta, but she kept this thought to herself,
“The boys are going to come along and see you later…” clarified Priya…
There was an awkward pause, with no-one knowing quite what to say…Marta broke it,
“I wanted to thank you…Nurse Gee told me what you did…what all of you did…! I know I’ll never be able to repay you…”
The girls looked slightly embarrassed,
“We just did…what we had to do…! What you would have done for any of us…! If the situation had been reversed…!” said Priya,
‘But, I put you all in danger…’ thought Marta, ‘…with my selfish desire to be right all the time…’ she kept this thought to herself, as well…
They switched to safer topics after that, but she was still slightly relieved when they said their goodbyes…
She was being slightly disingenuous when she said she remembered nothing…she remembered everything, right up to the point when she lain down beside the sleeping crusty… Everything after that, though, was a complete blank…
But, she couldn’t escape the feeling that it was all there, just out of reach… She was also being disingenuous when she said she couldn’t remember her dreams, certain things were starting to stick…things she’d rather not think about…
In the event, only Jorge came that evening,
“How are you…?” there was something in the basket attached to his chair, something tied with ribbons,”…I brought you this…”
It was a small yellow miniature rose, in a pot… Marta immediately thought back to that first visit after her rescue from the foxhole, ‘How many years ago, now…?’
“Thank you, so much…it’s very thoughtful…” this felt very awkward,
“I missed you…” said Jorge, there was a look of pleading in those brown eyes, “I thought I’d lost you for ever…”
Marta didn’t know what to say at this point, but she knew she felt terrible,
“Is there… Is there something wrong…?”
Marta hesitated, how could she possibly tell him…about her dreams, about how he appeared in her dreams…
Eventually she just couldn’t bear the pain in those eyes,
“There’s something I have to tell you, Jorge…something about my dreams…”
“About your dreams…?” confusion had briefly replaced the pain,
“Yes, please don’t be angry with me…”
“Why should I be angry…?”
“It’s just that in my dreams…you…you don’t appear as you are…as you are in real life…”
“How do I appear…?”
“Well, in my dreams…your legs…you don’t have to use the chair…your legs… work…”
Marta could feel herself blushing…she felt acutely embarrassed, wishing she had never opened her mouth…and she hadn’t even mentioned that ‘dream Jorge’ could also see…
But then her lover did the most unexpected thing, he laughed,
“What’s so funny…..?”
“Hey, I think you’ve been eavesdropping on my dreams…” he said between giggles…
Marta looked blankly at him,
“In my dreams, Marta…I also have legs that work…” he was now looking at her intently, “…don’t you see…! It’s another connexion between us…we share the same dreams…”
He had reached out and taken her hand…the small gesture seemed to annihilate the distance that had grown between them…
Marta smiled, really smiled, for the first time in goodness knows how long,
“Please kiss me, Jorge…I’m not up for much else, yet…but I need to be kissed…”

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Chapter 20. The young person’s guide to time >>