The Pole Shift

Lett and Macka

They had been in darkness for too long. Months. In her womb twins moved to be born, Lett grunted with them, willing their time within her to prolong. Her unborns wanted out though and she wondered if they'd emerge pure white, like the occasional cave eel they'd been eating.

                It was Macka who had cracked first, after weeks of scrabbling around the few galleries he could access he had declared they had a month's supply of food - but enough weaponry to hold off an army. Funny - he had said - you think you need to kill to survive, but really you just need to eat. That was the last time had had laughed, stupidly, insanely, Lett had thought.

                There was no communication from Prophet, she felt the electricity of the crystal, and sometimes she yearned to rip it out. She couldn't though, their only means of survival was to be saved through instruction and that surely meant the AI. Prophet! She would whisper, Prophet Prophet, answer me! As if Prophet were God. In the end Macka told her to shut up and she did.

                At least they had water. Warmly metallic, full of minerals. The underground river must have risen up from the depths rather than flowed down from the surface, the river's mouth gaped like a dark garage door, then bubbled and argued in a deep pool before easing up through hand span cracks and away. Macka had tried to swim into the mouth of the river, but the current was too powerful and he came up steaming with the heat and spluttering hard.

                They lost track of time. They conserved their lighting. What they guessed was every few days, Macka would say:

                "Is it time?"

                "Yes." Lett would reply, and she would bring out Clarky's scrapbook and the goings on of Mr. Spooky. She would read aloud what Mr. Spooky said, then show Macka the picture in the dim glow of a small LED.

                "Are you scared of a werewolf?" Lett held up the picture, Mr Spooky was writhing, a thought bubble sprouting fur, his eyes had turned red, his face had elongated, muzzled.  A second thought bubble screamed in capitals:

                "WHAT IF YOU WERE THE WEREWOLF?" The drawing was very good, and Macka and Lett peered at it, wondering how they would feel if they were werewolves, and what Clarky was thinking when he drew it.

                "Why did you have to kill him?" Lett knew the answer, knew it wasn't personal.

                "He was in the way of you. My job." Macka understood Lett had loved Clarky without knowing it, love was unfathonable to him too. In the confined space of a cave deep under a mountain he regretted the killing, it would be good to have Clarky reading his scrapbook to them.

                "He shouldn't have died, he was pure, silly, but pure." Lett put the scrapbook away and they prepared themselves for deep meditation, limited exertions and no conversation.

                Perhaps a day had passed, their hearts beat very slowly, the sound of water tinkled and gurgled and their minds played with that sound, as if consciousness and water were friends in a playground. It was Macka who detected an alien watery sound. The river spoke, a chime in the flow marked some change. He opened his eyes. The water shifted it's position in some way, as if it was speeding up or slowing down. Lett opened her eyes. An orange glow seeped into the cave, they both checked to see if the LED hadn't flicked on under a cover. The glow grew, and the mouth of the underground river yawned with approaching brightness.

                Transfixed they watched as out from the mouth eased an orb glowing sun like orange, it elongated to fit through the mouth, like the wax in a lava lamp. Then, forming a perfect Orb again, a woman robed in reds stepped out.  Her curled hair was perfect. Her large deep set eyes took in Lett, they glanced at Macka. She made a motion and the orb diminished and changed colour, the cave was suddenly lit by what seemed like natural light. The two bedraggled survivors of the Pole Shift squinted as the woman spoke:

                 "Poor Letto, Lett. I think you two should come with me, to the Inner Ocean.  There you will mend, and become more." The woman strode to Lett, sliced the crystal from her ear with a finger nail and dropped it on the cave floor. She guided them to the orb,  that encapsulated all three in what felt like silk. "Just sleep now." She whispered, and they did.