Extreme Difference (8 page)

‘If I wanted to prevent anyone from digging back into an occluded memory, I would place ’em in an environment where their every waking moment was taken up trying to survive, that way they wouldn’t have time to think about their past, let alone work out what had happened to them.’

‘That makes sense to me,’ Ben butted in, not wishing to be left out of the argument, ‘and it certainly explains a few things I’ve been thinking about.’ He turned to Sandy, willing him to continue.

‘Do you really think the Great Light has some sort of hearing aid tuned in to our conversation, to see if we are being ungrateful for it’s bountiful gifts, which I consider to be their discarded rubbish anyway, and, if so, are all the other groups being monitored at the same time? Come on Nan, just think about it, it can’t possibly be true.’

Nan’s eyes had gone out of focus, as Sandy’s heretical suggestions clashed with his own beliefs, the internal struggle manifesting itself as a series of shudders rippling through his body. Somewhere, deep in Nan’s partially occluded memories, connections were being made which had not existed for a very long time. Pictures of things he had not known in his present world were beginning to flash up, devaluing and displacing his present field of references.

‘Do you think he’s all right?’ asked an anxious Ben, as Nan struggled to break out of the trance induced by the mind conflict. ‘You don’t think he’s going to die, do you?’

‘No,’ Sandy replied confidently, ‘he’s just trying to adjust to a whole set of new ideas and reasons for being here. It must be like suddenly discovering you are someone else after thinking you are you, if you see what I mean.’

‘I think so.’ Ben sounded doubtful about the concept.

Sandy gently reached across to touch Nan’s trembling arm.

‘Are you OK? Sorry to have shaken you up like that, Nan, but someone had to do it. We can’t go on living like this, it’s disgusting to say the least of it, and not much fun into the bargain. The only way to improve things is to find out the truth, and then turn it to our advantage.’

With a final shudder, Nan wrenched himself back into present time, giving the other two a weak smile as he said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t stop shaking. There must be something in what you say, because looking back it all seems a bit silly somehow. Can’t explain it, it’s just a feeling I have, a sort of numbness, difficulty in getting my thoughts together coherently. Please carry on with your questions, I’ll do my best to answer them as truthfully as possible.’

‘Are you sure you’re up to it?’ asked a concerned Sandy, thankful that the first hurdle in his quest for the truth had been cleared. Nan just nodded.

‘What do you know of the Great Lights? How do you know when they will come?’

Nan slumped back against the wall, drew in a deep breath as if it would be his very last, and then relaxed out a little.

‘I just know when they will be here. Can’t explain it really, it’s just a feeling I get. When I go outside, it’s always just before dawn and the light is always there, like a big round sun, but there’s no heat. By the time I walk across the sands, the new body has been dropped, and anything else they wish to give us. I bring the new person back to our home, as I did you, and they join the group. That’s all there is to it.’

Sandy nodded sagely, looking for clues in every word uttered by the now contrite Nan, but finding nothing new on the subject.

‘Have you ever seen anything above the light? For instance, when it is visiting another group?’

‘I’ve only seen it twice when it was for the others, as I don’t get the ‘I should be outside’ feeling then. All I ever see is the light, it’s so bright it blinds one to anything else, and it’s so big. There is no sound that I’m aware of, except a very faint whisper, like wind blowing through bare trees.’

‘And what are trees?’ asked Sandy innocently, hardly able to hide his smile.

‘I don’t know... yes I do, they’re tall growing things, with leaves like our plants, only bigger, and if you have a lot of them together, it’s call a wood! I didn’t know that just now, but when I looked, I did!’

‘Looks like Sandy was right when he said our memories have been hidden,’ Ben chipped in quickly, ‘I got a picture in my mind of a wood, and I’ve never had that before.’

Sandy sat back with that smile on his face you only get when you have been proven right against all adversity, and someone else has done it for you.

‘What do you know of the other groups? How many are there, and are they all the same?’

‘There are hundreds of groups around the mountain walls, I would think. I’ve only had dealings with two or three, as the distance between them is something of a barrier. We trade with the ones each side of us, and one other, but the others have nothing to do with us. The group on our left speak the same language as us, but the others on the right have a language of their own, but one of them translates for us, so we are able to trade. You’ll be seeing them tomorrow. I’ve heard tell that most groups have their own language which others can’t understand, but I’ve never met them.’

Nan was much more relaxed now, and seemed eager to talk to the other two. This was a relief to Ben, and encouraging to Sandy, a new question pouring out when the previous one had been answered. They talked long into the night, careful probing from Sandy producing the answers to fill the odd gaps in their history, until a detailed picture of their circumstances had been built, and the unbelievable truth was revealed at last.

The three of them eventually went to their separate sleeping quarters, tired but wiser of what had befallen them, and just a little angry at having been made to suffer so unnecessarily.

The night was very short, and it was a bleary eyed Sandy who was shaken awake next morning by a grinning Mop with a portion of ‘bread’, as she had been unable to find him the previous night. He was glad of the food, and was saved from the next course by the shuffling footsteps of Ben who appeared just in time. Mop left, giving Ben a filthy look in passing.

‘My, she’s got her eye on you all right.’ Ben croaked, hoarse from so much unaccustomed talking. ‘If she gets you into her cave, you’ll never get out!’

‘Perish the thought,’ Sandy groaned, as an involuntary picture of the dreaded amorous Mop in full cry flashed before his eyes, ‘I can only just stomach her stews.’

‘We’re due to pay our neighbours a visit this morning, and it’s almost light enough.’ Ben looked longingly at the bread, so Sandy broke it in half.

The shuffling of their footsteps was augmented by their noisy munching on the hard and dry gift from Mop, as they made their way to the outside world.

‘You’ll have to wrap your feet in these.’ said Ben, handing Sandy two long dirty rags. ‘It’s to protect your feet from the frozen sands.’

The first hint of daylight broke above the towering crater walls with a soft pink glow, as the pair set off at a jog to arrange a swap of goods for a few growing bins, and their contents. Bell had already checked her stock, and found that she could spare four of them without jeopardizing their own food supplies.

They were greeted by the other group’s translator, being careful to keep up wind of him and dreading the moment when they would have to enter the cave system and experience the closer proximity of the reeking creature.

‘Weren't sure you’d turn up, ’cos we don’t ’ave much to trade wiv,’ he said, waving them into the entrance tunnel.

By keeping well ahead of their smelly escort and following the directions he kept calling out, they managed to avoid most of his noxious odours, until they came to the cave where the scavenged cast off's of the Great Light were stored.

‘Don’t show too much interest in anything you think would be useful, as it will weaken our bargaining power.’ Sandy muttered to Ben, whose eyes had already lit up at the sight of so much metal.

‘We can only spare three boxes and their plants.’ Sandy offered, lightly treading on Ben’s foot as he opened his mouth to correct the quotation.

The head of their clan had now joined the group, which brought them all into even closer proximity, and thereby intensified the aroma of long unwashed bodies.

‘What’s this?’ asked Sandy, pointing to a very large bale of fine cloth lying in a corner of the cave, partly covered by thin sheets of metal which had been randomly thrown down.

‘That’s metal from the Great Light,’ the translator said, ‘that other stuff we got from a group who didn’t wan’ it.’

‘What do you use that stuff for?’ enquired Sandy, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

‘We don’t,’ came the reply, ‘tident no use to us, it’s too soft ’an fine.’ Sandy marked it down mentally as an almost free gift, if he played his cards right. They continued to rummage through the junk piles which had collected over the years, Sandy looking for metal tools and blades.

‘We’ll have to go soon,’ Ben straightened his back with a loud click, ‘the sun’ll be up over the top of the rim, and then we’ll have to stay here ’till evening.’

The threat of staying for a full day was enough for Sandy, and he began to gather together the items he thought would be of most use to them. The actual bargaining took longer than they had anticipated, as everything had to be translated via the man with the strange accent to the chief, and back again, also the chief proved to be a little more canny than they had expected.

In the end, they acquired a collection of flat pieces of metal, some wire of different thicknesses', various bits of plastic, and the huge roll of cloth was thrown in for good measure, as Sandy had predicted it would be.

The main sticking point in the transaction was a metal cylinder, with what looked like a pump attached to it.

In his eagerness to acquire it, he had been unable to disguise his interest in the piece of machinery, and so the ‘price’ went up. In the end, after much haggling, it was agreed that an extra growing bin would be exchanged for the cylinder and its attachments. Ben grinned to himself at Sandy’s astuteness and foresight.

As the raided group would have to collect the growing bins from Nan’s caves, and would have to go over there anyway, it was agreed that they would help transport Sandy’s collection of materials as they went, and so the party set off, with the full sun just breaking the highest peaks.

As they rounded a small peninsula of rock which jutted out into the sands, a piece of sheet metal fell out of the over filled arms of one of the men. Before he could readjust his load and stoop down to retrieve it, it disappeared in a flurry of sand, as something below sensed a meal.

Everyone promptly leapt for solid rock, dropping several items in the rush for safety. They had barely turned around to see what had happened to it, when it came flying out with a flurry of sand to land at their feet.

It was a badly shaken little band of men, which after very carefully retrieving their goods, continued along the edge of the sands towards Nan’s cave complex, reaching it just before the full blast of the naked sun hit the area.

Nan was none too pleased when he realized that the eight strangers, only one of whom spoke their language, would have to stay until the evening, as the sun was now bathing the crater with its full brilliance, and travel across it would mean certain death to anyone who tried.

Two other things were cause for concern, they would have to feed the strangers at midday, and the motley band were several grades up the rancid scale of smells, compared to the home team, and that didn’t go down too well with anyone.

The four growing bins for the exchange were moved to a cave close to the opening, so that when the temperature had dropped sufficiently, they could send their malodorous visitors on their way as soon as possible.

When Mop heard she would have to provide extra food, she threw the expected tantrum, which was great entertainment for all, except the deliverer of the news.

The exchanged goods were taken down to Ben’s store, Nan, more from habit than necessity, querying every item as to why it had been chosen, especially the metallic cylinder with the attached pump. Sandy tried to explain, without going into details, that he wanted it for a future experiment, hiding the fact that he was none too sure himself why he had chosen it, except it seemed a good idea at the time. He was a man who often relied on hunches in life.

‘Why do you want that bale of cloth?’ asked Ben, when they were out of earshot of the others, ‘I thought the visitors said it was useless.’

‘To them it might be,’ Sandy replied, ‘ but I thought a new set of clothes for us would perk the place up a bit, and if we can include a hair cut and a wash down, we’ll be the smartest lot in the crater.’

‘Crater? What do you mean by that?’ asked Ben, a puzzled look on his face. The word’s familiar, but I can’t define what it means.’

‘A crater is the top of a volcano, a point on the earth’s crust where molten rock is forced up and spills out, building up into a cone shape. The middle often remains hollow, like a bowl, and that’s what we’re in. Why it’s filled with sand, I don’t know, I’ve never come across that before, and it’s the biggest crater I’ve ever seen, or heard of.’

Sandy put the idea of new clothes to Nan later that morning, and was surprised by his keenness to go ahead with the project. The idea of hair cutting and a good wash, while not rejected out of hand, failed to receive the degree of enthusiasm Sandy had hoped for, and he did not understand why.

The time for the midday meal arrived, and the whole group assembled in the main cavern to sample Mop’s offering for the day, minus the visitors.

‘Where are the others?’ asked Nan, concerned that their hospitality might be open to question.

‘Mop said she would give them some food in the cave with their growing bins, even she can’t stand the smell.’ someone volunteered, a muffled chorus of agreement rippled around the cavern, and then someone made a very unkind comment about Mop’s general ambience, and Sandy heard the first really loud communal laugh since arriving.

The placid acceptance of the group’s situation worried Sandy, and taking Nan to one side after their meal, asked him again why no one had ever tried to climb to the top of the peaks, and see what was on the other side.