Under a Starless Sky novel Chapter 42

Shen stepped back, jumped, and was caught up in a warp bubble. TL waved ‘bye’ and he dropped through the floor. While traveling he modified his clothes to resemble his ship’s uniform. ‘You sure?’ “I already don’t fit in. I might as well be me. Maybe I’ll start a comic con fad.” ‘You are Arkworld.’ “Haha.” ‘You’ll be at home at the ghost dance. We should call it the Comic-con Ball.’ “No, we shouldn’t.”

He wore boots, black trousers, metallic gold shirt that was two toned, micro sequin, and a jacket. He arrived back at the Matsu cavern. The bubble popped off and he landed on the beach.

“Hello, Matsu. With your permission, I would like to tarry. I would like to try and link portals so that I may travel to visit from time to time.” Shen said this out loud. No response. “I am going to assume a no response means you’re indifferent or okay with this.” No response. “Okay, then. TL, let’s do this.”

Shen approached the temple. The two women kneeling at the base seemed to be looking at him.

“This place still makes me horny,” Shen said.

“You’re horny all the time,” TL said.

“There is that,” Shen said. “Sorry, ladies. I was projecting. May I enter your temple?”

“That wasn’t suggestive at all,” TL said, chuckling.

Shen rolled his eyes. “How else should I ask?” Shen asked.

“You request was reasonable. You may enter my temple,” TL said.

“Matsu, I would like to establish a link with one of your portals. Will you assist?”

No response.

“Do you or any of these caryatids speak at all?” Shen asked.

“I do,” TL said.

Shen jumped. He was so focused on the statue, and too much in her cleavage, that he didn’t see TL until she was touching him. She was wearing a matching uniform, clearly reflecting homage to the Original Series. The skirt was reminiscent of a bygone era, and a splash of tie-dye in a subtle textured pattern helped connect the two themes.

“OMG, please don’t do that,” he said. He collected himself. “You look great in a uniform, by the way.”

“These boots were made for walking,” TL said, pirouetting to show off her outfit.

“I need a cold shower.”

“That’s one option.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” TL said. “Come on, I have an idea.”

They climbed the stairs together and approached the gate. At the top, between gates, TL began assuming yoga poses. She started on her knees, took on the pose of the caryatid at the base of the stairs, then next caryatid, and so on, up and around, ending with the one-Legged Wheel Pose: Eka pada Chakrasana. The gate didn’t respond. She stood up, disappointed. “I really thought would work.”

“It worked for me,” Shen said.

“Cheeky boy,” Loxy said, patting his face. She tried naming the poses to see if that unlocked anything.

“Star Trek,” Shen said.

“How is that applicable?” TL asked.

“Original series, ‘The Paradise Syndrome.’ Preserver technology, an ancient monolith and guardian of a Native American colony was activated by Kirk’s communicator call signature,” Shen said.

Shen called forth an original communicator and flipped open the device. It chirped. Nothing.

“Nice try,” TL said.

He did it again, “Kirk to Enterprise.”

“You wish that worked,” TL said.

“Yeah,” Shen said. “Maybe it’s music.”

“Music is a big thing,” TL said. “DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO.”

“Maybe tonal and words,” Shen said.

“That would make an impossible password,” TL said.

“Yeah, it needs to be simple,” Shen said. “Maybe the Ancient Order of Sisters keep a combination code.” Shen said. In in solfege, he sang, “Re, Mi, Do, Do, So…” the five tones from Close Encounters.

A holographic interface describing a circle appeared, flush with the East gate. Five of twelve patterns illuminated. After a moment they dropped off one by one and the interface faded.

“Fuck me!” TL said.

“Okay,” Shen said.

“Eh?” TL said. He was looking at the space where interface was fading.

“Yeah, okay. Later?”

“Really?” TL asked.

Shen looked at her. “What?”

“We’re finally going to be intimate?” TL asked.

“If you want,” Shen said.

“Hell yeah I want,” TL said.

“Okay,” Shen said. “But let’s make this work first.”

“Can’t this wait?” TL asked.

“You want to have sex now and here?” Shen asked.

“Yes,” TL said.

“What’s the rush?”

“You might change your mind. We get distracted by drama. Something,” TL said.

“Short of going home, we have lots of time,” Shen said.

“Oh, you don’t want to fuck me in the presence of goats?” TL said.

“There eyes are kind of creepy,” Shen said.

“Goats that stare at men is kind of creepy,” TL said.

“More so than men who stare at goats?” Shen asked.

TL smiled at him.

“What?”

“Loxy was right,” TL said.

“About what?”

“The best way to cure sexual issues is over indulgence,” TL said. “Have you noticed your frequency and number of partners has declined since being activated?”

“Activated?”

“You activated Loxy. Loxy activated you. You cannot invoke tulpas without fundamentally changing who you are,” TL said.

“I cannot divulge to you what you already know,” Matsu said.

“I am tired of hearing that.”

“It is what it is,” Matsu said.

“What would have happened had I walked through that gate wearing tech?” Shen demanded.

“Your Uniform would have been disabled, just as you experience it now,” Matsu said. “You would not have been harmed.”

“I can travel anywhere I want by tech, and that’s okay, but if I bring it through a gate…”

“My gate, my rules. You were given leniency in my domain, and may continue to utilize tech here, but not through my gate,” Matsu said. “There are places you can go where you can employ tech. There are places you cannot get to with tech. There are places you can go where it will be instantly disabled and you will be stranded until you’re on the path. If you attempt to go to Sinter wearing tech, you will die.”

Shen took a step towards her. “Please, Matsu. I don’t understand things. Are you a goddess? Are you an AI administrator? If you can’t answer questions, is there someone more amenable to dialoguing with me?”

“You don’t want a dialogue, you want an absolute,” Matsu said.

“Fair enough. Yes. I want to go home,” Shen said.

“We know,” Matsu said. “I can tarry long enough to answer another question or two, if they are not too involved.”

“May we take goats?” TL asked.

“Seriously?” Shen asked.

“I like these goats. And we could trade them,” TL said.

“The Tamorians will eat them,” Shen said.

“Jon, this is not a goat haven. It’s a farm. They’re being consumed,” TL said.

Shen became suddenly serious. He saw no change in the population of goats, but then, he hadn’t been counting of memorizing coat patterns. If there were differences, he didn’t discern it with eyes. He believed TL, though. “Who or what are eating the goats?”

“The people,” Matsu said.

“What people?” Shen said.

“In time, you might meet them,” Matsu said. “And yes, you may take goats. Some. Take a breeding pair. Anything else.”

“A list of gate addresses would be nice,” TL said.

Matsu looked up into the light of the trees. “Give us time to adapt.”

“Adapt?” Shen said. “You mean, find a way to put me back on path.”

“Yes,” Matsu said.

“Fuck. I have felt like I have been railroaded since day one, and people wonder why I am angry?” Shen demanded. “What am I? A goat to be corralled and consumed?”

“You are the love of our life,” Matsu said. She blurred out, leaving a rainbow streak that shot up into the trees.

“This is love?” Shen asked the cavern sky.

Shen found TL looking at him.

“What?”

“Help me catch some goats,” TL said.

“You want to be Bo Peep, you get the goats,” Shen said.

“Please don’t be like that,” TL said. She manifested a staff with a hook. “This will be fun.”