FALAHA'S JOURNEY: A Spacegirl's Account in Three Movements

Episode #66

I woke up in the cramped cockpit. We were already on the move.

Though there was slightly more free space than before—I was sitting in Eyuran's arms, and Tagai was nowhere to be seen.

Still wobbly, I checked my chronometer—we'd moved out less than five minutes ago, and I'd overslept. I clearly remembered that something important had happened to me before I fell asleep, but my body betrayed me on that awesome feeling. The feeling that Kané tried to suppress when she was with Dorgu.

And then, there was the Ancestor himself with his request. While I was doing my deep soma research, I got caught and blacked out from the contact with that thing. Pieces of memories that flooded me were still within me—I had yet to sort those out, but other than that I was fine, and my connection with Bradoh had restored, so my Falaighnn was fine too. Analyzing my situation, it didn't look like Wen wanted to hurt me and it was definitely he who'd freed me from his bubble. He wasn't actually sleeping, yet there was a possibility that he hadn't been expecting me to sneak up on him. Speaking of whom, we forgot someone really scary in Tjrnenagh! There's trouble!

"Father, we need to talk!" I messaged him.

"Oh, finally awake," he replied. "Want to tell me what happened, enjhs? Eyuran woke us up when he lost connection with you, and you gave us quite a scare when even I couldn't wake you up. Your soma did not respond."

"Why did you kick Tagai out?" I felt his presence near the machine.

"He decided to move on his own, following us."

"Ah, fine then," I said. What exactly happened? I wasn't sure myself. But it definitely wasn't a tabiru. "Shaamta probably wants that kid because he is a pure Maok," I continued. "But I doubt he knows what the kid is. I doubt any one of them know what was born as him."

"What do you mean, Fireball?"

"I've met Wen."

And so I started my story of that brief encounter.

I had a feeling of unintentionally eavesdropping on a large crowd harboring secrets and beliefs, and sharing rumors. The picture that slowly fleshed out in my head was exactly what Somg said to be not appealing to all, yet for me the discovery was both frightening and exciting—as explorer I got extremely lucky to dig out such riches. In a few days my universe expanded from the size of my kennar to a new wide world beyond imagination.

The memory belonging to the Maok themselves was still elusive. All I dragged out of soma were semi-legendary and, in most cases, legendary accounts of creatures who'd encountered them, including the Alima Eni.

Besides the Alima Eni case, why were these memories in his soma? These people did not seem to have any connection to it, so how did it accumulate whole epochs and cultures? What exactly were the Maok? All of them had the same 'serial' mark on their necks.

Carnivorous predators, they favored intelligent species as a delicacy. Yet someone's flesh wasn't the only source of food for them—they were probably well adapted to harvest energy from other sources more efficiently. Their hunt was more of an entertainment for them. Many hated them and wanted to destroy them, but there were also those who were fascinated by them. The Maok ignored and fed on both, never coming into contact with anyone. They were a silent horror lurking in the shadows beyond the light, waiting for everyone who dared to venture there.

It was clear that these creatures should have been taken seriously as they appeared to have the most advanced technology anyone had ever seen, and there were enough hints that they were the ones who'd designed it. At least I could tell, because I was a descendant of one. But this was still disputed in many of those cultures (most of which probably no longer existed) that witnessed the presence of the Maok—those who wanted to destroy them had focused on models of behavior attributed to beings who do not have high intelligence. Their technology was also a controversial issue, as opinions on its existence and level differed.