Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [21]
Extropists with humanesque bodies. She had no idea. And neither, she was sure, did the rest of the Orion.
Wanton-poda had settled into a hovering position an arm’s length in front of her and at shoulder height. ‘Follow behind,’ it said.
They left the laboratory through a spongy door similar to the walls of her confinement cell, and stepped directly out into brilliant sunshine and a warm, light breeze.
Mira took a deep, deep breath and blinked repeatedly. All her senses told her that she was standing on the shore of a small island gazing at a string of tiny atolls in a sunrise-dappled ocean. She glanced behind. There was no evidence of the door they had come through.
Turning back, she surveyed the vista again: sun, water and a myriad of islands so like the Tourmalines. But unlike the scantly inhabited waters of her home, this sea brimmed with creatures, floating around her, and across the waves, and in the waves, all moving at abnormal speeds. Hundreds of different varieties of water species.
Something scratched at her toes. She looked down as a starfish-shaped creature with twenty or more tentacles lifted its body up and crawled across her bare foot. Splashing water dragged her attention back to the ocean. A crab emerged from the waves, taller than her and with a black shiny carapace, dragging one huge heavy pincer.
A tumble of questions threatened to escape her lips so she kept them firmly closed, bottling her curiosity.
Wanton-poda moved directly forward and she followed it down the sand to the water’s edge, revelling in the feel of the warm sand under her feet. But when the cephalopod floated out over the water, she baulked.
It returned and circled her several times before proceeding back out over the water.
She shook her head. Had the creature forgotten she couldn’t float?
It returned again. This time it positioned itself behind her. Without warning it brushed its fringe against her neck. The sting caused her to jump forward away from it.
It stung her again.
She jumped away from it again, biting her lip to keep from exclaiming aloud. This time though, the water lapped around her feet.
Or not quite.
Tentatively she took another step.
Instead of walking from the sand and into the water, she found she was a tiny distance above it. On a cushion of air? Or perhaps the water wasn’t real?
She stopped and knelt down and dipped her fingers into the rolling waves. They felt real - wet and tingling, and the scent of salt and the moisture on her skin. It had to be real.
Wanton-poda returned to her and made an irritated sound.
A large fish lifted its head from the water and turned a large silver eye on them.
Mira felt a disturbance of the air around her, as if it were vibrating.
Wanton-poda began to bob.
‘Is there a problem with this Host?’ the fish asked.
‘Highness Most Capable of Cultivation is escorting the humanesque shell to Symbiosis Revival. There are some anomalies. It has no speech,’ said Wanton-poda more calmly than she expected.
‘The Host shell may need to be destroyed. Some don’t revive. My own has been replaced several times in this form. But I chose carefully this time.’
Destroy the Host shell. Mira tried not to look disturbed. If she appeared too aberrant she would attract more attention.
‘Most Excellent Host,’ said Wanton-poda as a kind of farewell salutation.
‘Most Excellent Host to you as well, cephalopod,’ replied the fish.
Wanton-poda circled behind Mira and stung her until she stood and continued on.
She kept her eyes downcast after that. The fish had sounded mocking, condescending even, but she knew it could be dangerous to judge Post-Species by her own humanesque values.
They continued their walk across the water for some time - much further than she should have been able to go without tiring. She assumed this was because of the lack of friction and a sense of lighter gravity.
They traversed