The Nibiru Effect

Memory 81

Korri is alive.

The small korrigan looks just as I remember. Short, with dark skin and fiery hair. He wears a broad smile, no doubt thrilled to see me again. While I'm equally glad to see him in one piece, the shock of discovering he didn't die as Jonn told us he had keeps me from expressing my happiness. I just sit there and stare at him.

"You're alive!" I finally blurt out.

Korri looks puzzled but nods nonetheless.

"Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be?"

I chuckle.

"People who fall into bottomless pits usually tend to die," I point out.

Korri finally seems to understand why I'm so surprised to see him in one piece.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

I'm about to ask how he can forget nearly dying when I notice the half dozen korrigans standing behind him. Like Korri, they're all small, dark-skinned, and fiery-haired.

"Who are your friends?" I ask.

Korri seems confused until he remembers we have company.

"I'm sorry," he says, gesturing to the first of the five korrigans. "This is Korri. And this"—he points to the second korrigan in line—"is Korri."

The third korrigan is also named Korri. As are the fourth and fifth. I wait to see if this is a joke, but Korri doesn't seem to be kidding.

"You all have the same name?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"You're all named Korri," I say, unsure whether or not I'm being punked.

"Of course not," he says. "That's ridiculous."

He reintroduces his companions one by one, making sure to enunciate each name. Unfortunately, they all sound the same to me. I consider pointing this out, but I suspect it will only make things more confusing. I guess my ability to understand languages doesn't extend to korrigan names. While curious, this is rather unimportant given the grand scheme of things.

"Oh," I say, pretending to understand. "I hear the difference now."

I feel bad for lying to Korri, but it's easier this way.

There's a moment of silence before I can no longer bear the mystery of Korri's survival.

"What happened?" I ask. "Jonn told us you fell. He said you were dead."

The smile evaporates from Korri's lips.

"I did fall," he admits, "but I didn't die."

"How is that possible?"

"I was lucky," admits Korri. "I fell for a while before hitting a spider web. It stretched across the entire crevasse, acting as a net." I probably should be surprised there are spiders massive enough to spin webs that can save a korrigan's life, but I've seen so much it will take more than that to surprise me. "At first I was grateful, but then I realized I was trapped. The webbing was strong and sticky. There was no way for me to escape."

"How did you free yourself?"

"I didn't. I was trapped for a full night and part of a day. It wasn't until a few hours ago that Korri found me." He points to one of the korrigans. "He went for help, and working together, they managed to free me before the spider returned."

"Then what happened?" I ask. "How did you end up here?"

"I tried convincing them to help me find you guys," he explains, "but they refused."