Chapter 5 | Ethan | Void

Ethan hugs himself as soon as they land on the spaceship, which appears to be enclosed in an almost transparent bubble. “It’s so cold,” Umida says, also hugging herself. He squints at the smoke that appears when she speaks. What even is that?

They are lead outside the spaceship to a large Krot. Its four legs are as tall as his, and its head is at the same level as his shoulder. It observes them from head to toe, moving its neck. “Come on,” it says, in a rough Ikari, guiding them. Ethan and others have to maintain a slow jog to match its walking speed to one of the buildings on the spaceship. It has a black exterior, just like the walls that surround the human districts.

“These were made for humans,” the large Krot says, “Exalted Bhilzal has provided all of you with all the basic amenities that you require. Please go inside and spend the night. The second phase of Numen will be conducted tomorrow. Since this is the first time humans are permitted in the Numen, the first phase is being delayed until later.”

Ethan tightens his grip over the bag. The first phase of Numen is always a theory test, and he is sure that he can ace it. But phases of Numen change all the time, depending upon the whim on the conducting Kix--no point brooding over it.

The inside of the building is at a much more bearable temperature, and he finds his shoulders relaxing. “This is for men,” the large Krot says, raising one of its paws to point at the only door on the ground floor, “And the upper floor is for women. There are washrooms, dustbins and water dispensers on each floor.” The inside of the building is illuminated by white lights on the ceiling, a sight that Ethan has never seen before.

It then leaves without a word, and Ethan and other men enter the ground floor room. The room is so large that it would take him a minute to walk from one end to another. There are about thirty beds inside it, and each bed has a desk and wooden chair right next to it. There are also floral bed sheets and blankets on the bed.

“No privacy here,” Ethan mumbles to himself, claiming the bed farthest away from the door. That should keep the noise low.

“This brings back old memories,” Eric comments as he also claims a bed three beds away from Ethan, “The boarding school I used to go to had similar dormitories.”

Ethan shrugs. Schools are a thing of the past now.

“I’ve never been on a spaceship before,” Radu says.

Ethan clicks his tongue. “Most people haven’t.”

“I’m going to take a walk,” Eric says, stretching his arms. “I want to see more of the ship. Does anybody want to join me?”

Two join him. Bambaata and Verve. A strange combination, those three. Eric is a middle-aged white man. Bambaata is brown, tall and plump. He looks older than Ethan. And finally, Verve is a young white man.

As they go outside the room, Ethan starts unpacking his things. There’s not much—books, clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a picture of his family—except him—he did not exist when cameras existed, and a picture of baby Della. Looking at Eric’s large bag, he feels overwhelmed. What all stuff could he have carried? Surely it wasn’t all clothes. He takes out his math book and resists a desire to take a look at Eric’s bag while he is away.

But he does not have to resist for long, as Eric returns within five minutes. “They aren’t letting us out.”

“Why would you think they would? They didn’t let us out of districts, and they won’t let us out of our dorms. They’ll only let us out when they want us to be out,” someone says, snickering. Ethan tries to remember his name. Gu Lei? He is already lying on the bed.

Eric groans and sits down on his chair. “No windows for fresh air, either,” he says. Ethan looks at the walls but finds no windows, hating the place even more.

“Didn’t you see how cold it was outside? I’m glad we don’t have windows,” says Verve. Ethan avoids looking at his face because he has glasses, which is strange for a young person. They are large, round and golden.

Eric sighs. “This is suffocating.”

Gu Lei yawns, “I like this cold better.”

The conversation dies after a minute as everyone seems a little exhausted from their travel to the spaceship.

Ethan almost dozes off twice while revising his math book. After his revision, he looks up from his book and sees Eric doing some push-ups.

“I’m going to sleep!” Gu Lei announces.

Next to him, Bambaata is already sleeping, his plump stomach going up and down as he breathes.

“I take what I said before back,” Verve says, sitting on the bed with a blanket over him. “It’s still too cold, even without the windows.”

Eric stops exercising and wipes his sweat. “It doesn’t feel so cold once you exercise.” He looks at Verve, who shrugs and goes to the bed anyway as if he’d rather handle the cold.

“So?” Eric asks Ethan, looking at him. “Going to sleep? It’s about time I switch off the lights.”

“Sure,” Ethan says, squinting at the lights above.

Royce’s voice pops up somehow, even from the other end of the dormitory, “It’s too early to sleep! I have playing cards,” and then all hell erupts and even Bambaata gets off his bed, gleeful. “It’s going to be a long night,” Eric whispers to Ethan, joining the crowd around Royce.

***

They are made to gather outside their building in the morning. Bhilzal is a tall Kix with thin legs and four yellow eyes. To Ethan, it looks like any other Kix as it says, “Hello everyone. I am Bhilzal.”

It pauses for a few seconds, looking at all the humans gathered on the spaceship, and continues in its flawless Ikari, “Since this is the first Numen that humans are sanctioned to participate in, some proceedings will be unconventional. Over the course of the exam, you will come across confidential information...which must remain confidential.”

Bhilzal pauses for a few seconds again then turns around and starts walking. “Now that those formalities are finished, follow me.”

“I didn’t think we would meet the supervisor of the exam so soon,” Bambaata whispers. “I’m scared.”

“Relax, the Kix have bad hearing,” Gu Lei says, looking at Bhilzal’s neck. “Creepy eyes, though.”

“Be quiet,” Eric whispers, tapping Gu Lei’s shoulder, “What we know of them is not necessarily the truth.”

It takes them ten minutes to follow Bhilzal and its thin legs, even though Ethan could walk the same distance in two minutes. They stop in front of a tall and wide building. Ethan supposes it could be thirty stories tall, but he isn’t sure. Normally there are windows to count to figure out how many floors a building has, but this building has no windows and is just a rectangle with a homogeneous blue exterior.

Bhilzal walks to the entrance of the building and the door opens on its own. It keeps walking inside, and everyone keeps following until they reach the centre of the building, where there are hundreds of transparent booths. “I want you all to access one of these,” Bhilzal says.

There is some hesitation, none of them knowing what to expect. Zelmira, a middle-aged woman from the half-rebellious 23rd district is the first one to remove herself from the crowd and enter a booth. After her, everyone follows.

As soon as Ethan enters a booth and stands over a strange circular symbol in the centre of the booth, it transforms—he begins to see that the seemingly transparent walls have turned into a solid shade of blue, and “Welcome” is written in Ikari on the four walls that enclose the booth. Even the booth door seems to have been covered with the strange blue wallpaper. Confused, Ethan walks to one of the walls, then taps the “Welcome”.

To his surprise, the walls change. They are still a shade of blue, but they are slightly darker. There are also many small images now, some Ikari text, and a lot of elements that make no sense. “Is this a screen?” Ethan wonders, having only heard about them. He is about to touch one of the walls randomly when the walls revert to their original state. He can hear Bhilzal say something from outside now, even though he couldn’t earlier. He leaves the booth and finds that others are doing the same.

“—is what we call as a void,” Bhilzal is saying, “No matter which branch you end up joining, being able to use voids is essential. In the second phase of Numen, you will be tested by being put in a simulation of the attack on the planet Vinci.”

Chapter 5 | Della | Messiah

Della opens her eyes and finds a young girl staring at her. She looks at Della blinking and gets off the chair, running outside the room, which is much larger than her room in the 17th district. It’s as if someone took four of her old rooms and joined them together. The young girl returns with a man, and Della looks up at him. He is elderly, short and wears spectacles. He also wears a white coat and…oh. He’s a doctor, she realizes.

“Don’t worry,” he assures, watching her scan the room, “you’re safe here.” He turns towards the young girl, “Call the king, and get some hot porridge.”

King? She looks up at the wooden cup next to her, and the doctor brings it close to her mouth after helping her sit against the headboard of the bed. “Thanks,” she says after she has finished most of it in a single sip, “I’ve been dying for some water. How…how long was I out?”

The doctor crosses his arms. “I’m not sure. Let me see…it’s been three days...I think. Or four. Don’t be concerned about that though—how are you feeling now? Any pain?”

“I’m not feeling any pain, but I’m hungry.” She looks down at her stomach. They have changed her into a plain, blue smock. She can sense that most of her body is covered up with some kind of bandage. Her shot shoulder and thigh also have a piece of cloth tightened over them.

“Good…that’s probably good. The painkillers must be doing their work, then.”

She doesn’t like the uncertainty in his voice. “Where am I?” she asks, craning her neck up to look out the window to her left. It’s too far up.

“That’s…hmm… I don’t think that’s for me to talk about,” he says. “The king should be arriving here soon.”

She stops trying to look outside the window. “How long will it take for me to recover?” She clutches the bedsheet tighter with her right hand, bracing herself for a reply. In the worst case . . .

“You should be fine,” he says. “This isn’t my area of expertise but from what I understand, the laser guns don’t have any metallic bullet to get stuck inside your body and the beams weren’t strong enough to completely pierce through your body or rupture any of your organs. Your clothes must have absorbed a decent chunk of light.”

Della nods, satisfied with the explanation.

A man soon enters the room, and the doctor bows and moves outside the room, closing the door. Trying not to hurt her body, Della looks up at the new entrant. He’s taller than the doctor, so she has to strain her neck a little. He appears to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He has a brown complexion with black hair and a short beard.

“Namaste,” he says, joining his hands, “I’m Gandharva.”

“Nam…what?” Della asks, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s an Indian greeting,” he says with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Hard to say. I’ve been told that I’m on painkillers. Are you…the king?” Della asks. She knows what it means, of course, since the Gorons provide them with books in Ikari that describe some of the Goron kings and queens...but still. It seems silly.

Gandharva’s smile drops. “You know, I keep telling them to quit it…but nobody listens. You can call me Gandharva.”

She tries to pronounce his name in her head as he did and fails three times. “…King sounds better.”

He sighs, but his smile is back up. “Right…so…” he coughs, taking a pause, “I should’ve thought of this before you woke up.”

She looks at him, confused. “What is it? Where am I?”

“I suppose I can just wing it,” he says. “You are in the fifth district, and I’m the district head over here. I’m called Gandharva. Now, your turn. How did you reach here? Where are you from?”

“So I made it…” Della says, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. She can barely keep the excitement out of her voice. “I’m Della…Della Gray from the seventeenth district. I wanted to join the black diamonds so—”

And so she recounts. It takes her five minutes to describe her past few days. The only part she omits is about Ethan, who must have gone away to take the Numen. The rebels wouldn’t like to include a sister of someone servile to Gorons. He does not speak a single word in her five-minute explanation, but when she is done, he takes a deep breath, “To be frank...I am not quite sure what to say. You are the first human to ever run away from a district.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Della says, “I was lucky that I met no predator that I couldn’t run away from.”

Gandharva looks at her, then gives a small smile. “We make our luck, Della. It was very brave of you.”

And that is all it takes for Della to flood open the gates and start weeping. She misses her unburnt hands and feet. She misses eating and drinking at ease, despite the awful taste. She misses her uninjured thigh and shoulder. She misses not having to worry about waking up the next day fallen from a tree or in a predators mouth or with an insect in her mouth. Most of all, she misses her family.

“I’m sorry,” she says as she turns away and hides the tears. “I’m just so…tired.”

“No, no, that’s fine. It’s just awkward,” he says, his left hand on his forehead, blocking his left eye from her. “I was hoping that we’d not bond over something before I threaten to kill you.”

Della wipes her tears and glares at Gandharva, tilting her body towards him. She raises her uninjured right arm up in front of her as if defending against an invisible strike. “What did you just say?” She must have heard something wrong.

Gandharva looks away from her, leaning back against the chair. It makes an unpleasant creaking sound. “Thanks to you, the gate is finally open. Many of us have seen the wildlife again, and we’ve even started scouting out for some settlement places. Some of the younger generation here hadn’t even seen a fraction of majesty of the earth before but now they have…so what I’m trying to say is, you have been a tremendous help, Della.”

She nods, her breathing becoming faster. “I don’t understand. Why do you want to kill me?”

“Right, right. I was getting to that,” Gandharva says, stroking his short beard. “The price of freedom that you gave us are the dead bodies of two Krots. I’ve been in four meetings with the Kix regarding their deaths—they have given us ten days to hand over the culprit. Rabid dogs must be put down, you see.”

“And…and you’re just going to hand me over?” Della asks, her voice loud, “I thought you were the most successful rebellious district!”

“We are, but you need to understand that they only tolerate our rebellion because we don’t straight out harm any of them. We’re like stray dogs near their house, but they let us do what we want because we don’t trouble them and are self-sufficient. Our rebellion exists because it’s too much trouble for them to quell without annihilating us..”

He then leans forward. “But this is the first time they’ve threatened to kill everybody inside this district. Turns out the Krots assigned to low-risk duties like guarding the gate tend to be young and inexperienced. And turns out that they don’t like them dead, especially the young ones…so yes, I need to hand the culprit over.”

Della sighs. She sinks deeper against the headrest, lying on the bed. “This is disappointing. I ran all the way here…and you still bend to the Gorons. So? When are you going to hand me over?”

He laughs. “I said I need to hand the culprit over. The very fact that the Kix aren’t in the district taking the culprit away is because they don’t know who it is…so anybody will do—I just have to convince them that they’re from outside the district somehow.”

Della’s heart sinks. “You mean…someone will die in my place?”

“You get to decide,” he says, smiling. “If you cooperate with me, I will hand over a scapegoat. If you don’t . . .”

“What do you want?” she glares at him.

“A messiah. I simply want you to become the messiah of humanity in this crisis."