Under a Starless Sky

Chapter 56

Shen woke to find TL sitting near him. He thought he had felt something, a shudder. He thought the

ship was crashing. His head was in her lap, and he was covered with a blanket. He bolted upright. The

darkness unsettled him. There were pitch fueled lights about the ship. If he hadn’t felt and heard the

water, he might have thought they were on a movie set, in a dark studio, or a cave. TL was stroking his

hair.

“Shh, it’s okay,” TL him. “It’s just whale song.”

“Eh?” Shen asked.

The vibration came again. An eerie sound, changing in pitch could be heard and he recognized it for

whale song. He laughed. The sound resonated with the ship, as if it were a sound box for a musical

instrument.

“I never thought I would experience this,” Shen said.

“The oceans of origin are pretty noisy,” TL agreed. “Whale songs have changed because of noise

pollution.”

“We can’t see the stars because of light pollution, we can’t hear our own thoughts because of noise

pollution, we can’t see the forest because of billboards,” Shen lamented.

“And advertisements on the boards remind us to save the environment,” TL said, amused. She scooted

closer and embraced him. Her leg beside him, her arms around him, she rested her head on his

shoulder. “Maybe one day humans will live in the clouds and the world will recover its diversity.”

“Or diversity will live off world, and we will go there to remember,” Shen said.

“Or, like your ship, you will carry all of it, a place and world for everything and everyone,” TL said.

Erico saw Shen was up and brought food, cheese, bread, and dried fish. He also brought him a drink

which smelled like, and taste confirmed, warm pickle juice.

“Glad to see you recovered,” Erico said. “Drink all of this. It’s good for you.”

“Thank you,” Shen said.

“Thank you, brother,” Erico said.

Erico departed to go back to his watch.

“Why do you seem sad,” TL said. “You’ve earned their respect. They love you.”

“I don’t deserve…”

“Because you used tech instead of real strength? Tech, magic, or strength, you risked your life for

them. You saved them. That has meaning,” TL said.

Shen nodded. He offered some of his food. She shook her head. “You eat. I can taste it through you.”

He continued eating. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“What if Jazmyne was telling the truth? What if she could get me home?” Shen asked.

“I would say it’s a bad trade,” TL said.

“You’re saying that because you want to keep me here, with you,” Shen said. He pulled free from her

and stood up. “I want to go home.”

“She is not the path,” TL said.

“You don’t know that,” Shen said. “We just met the surface of her. There is a deeper psyche there to

explore. There are answers in her she doesn’t even know she holds.”

“Then isn’t that true for everyone? Even you?” TL asked. She also stood up. “I know what I saw. And

you’re still not thinking right.”

“Back in,” Shen directed.

“No,” TL said.

“I am giving you a direct order…”

“And I am declining,” TL said. “I will remain manifested. You need eyes on you to keep you acclimated

to this reality frame, and not some underworld fantasy.”

“My whole life is a fantasy! What difference does it make if it’s hers or my own?” Shen asked.

“Everyone lives in the real world enmeshed with fantasy,” TL agreed. “The question is, will you be in

charge of your reality, or will someone else be? Will you be an NPC character in someone else’s

fantasy, or the star in yours?”

Lightening ripped under the boat, illuminating the water to either side of the ship bright enough it drew

his and TL’s attention. Jerica called out. Erico answered. Everyone who was asleep was waken and

they found a place to look over into the water. The entire sea floor was illuminated. Lights moved and

danced and rippled. The entire spectrum was represented. It was a storm of lights that was taken by

darkness, not complete darkness, there was still hints of light activity, then another burst of lightening

would awaken the sea floor and various creatures responded. The sea floor remind Shen of 70’s disco

lighting. The lightening itself was either blue, green, or red, diamonds or starburst patterns. The

lightening was crisp, solid, jagged beams of light. Some of the surrounding light-scape was very clear,

like looking down on Disney’s Light parade- only this was underwater world of light. Some of it was

indistinct- like Monet painting. There could be seen the silhouettes of whales passing through lighted

areas- assuming they were blue whales, the size of the silhouettes hinted at a scale and depths

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“Wow,” TL said.

“Warring Gods,” Torny said.

“Warring?” TL asked.

“In our legends of before the fall, the forces for good used blue lightening, those on the dark side used

red lightening,” Torny said. “The sea remembers everything- the bad tastes linger for a millennia. The

trees remember everything- the bad breath lingers a millennia.”

“It’s beautiful,” TL said.

“I’d like a closer look,” Shen said.

“That’s deeper than it seems,” TL said.

“And the Mer-people will take you,” Torny said. “No one goes into that storm and comes out of it.”

“Yeah,” Arne said. “Not even the Sea Gypsies go that deep.”

The lights receded aft as the ship continued on its journey. Shen went aft with Arne, TL and Yaffa to

watch it fade away, while the rest went back to bed or their post. It fell away fast, while also descending

deeper, revealing a canyon.

“I want more of that,” Shen said. (“Too deep to get a good scan. I can identify some bioluminescent life

forms from light signature, but I suspect there was also tech,” TL said. ‘Blue whale?’ Shen queried.

“The silhouette suggests so.”)

“Excuse me. I will go relieved Jerica,” Yaffa said.

“I am going to return to my sleep,” Arne said, and excused himself.

Shen and TL remained aft. They were quiet. “I’m sorry.” “I’ve got you.” “I need to be alone. Please.”

“Are you going to jump into the water?” “No!” TL hugged him, kissed the side of his face, and receded

back to the spot they had claimed. Shen stared at the water longer. He was startled when Jerica came

up beside him, and leaned into the ship to share the view into darkness.

“It’s way gone,” Jerica said. “All things fall. Most things fall away fast.”

“Yeah,” Shen said, agreeing while also sorting that as rather profound in unexplored ways.

“I didn’t thank you, yet,” Jerica said.

“No worries,” Shen said.

“I would like to do something more for you than just saying thank you,” Jerica said. “If I understand

Loxy, she is amenable to me being more direct with you.”

Shen looked at her. Her face was illuminated by the nearest torch. Hair was caught by the wind. There

was only decking behind her, no sea, no sky. At this moment, she was all there was in this strange,

dark world.

“I appreciate your directness. I like clarity. Let me be equally direct. No, thank you,” Shen said. “There

will only be friendship. I don’t intend to stay in this world. I am trying to get home.”

Jerica nodded. “Where is home?” she asked.

“Beyond the black, where the sky is more brightly illuminated than that sea we just past,” Shen said. “I

only want to go home. Everything else is a distraction.”

“Who wouldn’t want to return to the light,” Jerica said. “Maybe I could go with you?”

“I have someone there waiting for me,” Shen said.

“Like Loxy?” Jerica said.

“Exactly. Technically. It’s complicated,” Shen said.

“Wouldn’t she want you to be happy in the interim?” Jerica asked.

“I was content. Until yesterday,” Shen said. “Now I am reminded of an urgency. My anger is renewed. I

am angry I am here and I am angry at myself for my complacency and inability to stay focus on my

goal. Excuse me.”

He retreated to a quiet place, and paced the other side of the deck. Jerica went to TL.

“Master, can you teach me about you and Shen?”

Shen came at them, suddenly. “No conspiring! You both just want to keep me here. I am not staying in

this world! This is not my world!”

Erico came over to see if he can help.

“No!” Shen pointed at him. “I will not be pacified.”

Arne joined. “Brother, this is the darkness speaking. Come, have a drink with me.”

“No!” Shen said. “You’re all trying to trick me…”

Torny touched Shen and he collapsed to the floor.

“Oh, he’s not going to be happy when he wakes,” TL said.

“He was happy now?” Erico asked.

“He will be in a better place when he wakes,” Torny said. “Or, I will sleep him again.”

“I’d sleep him, if he weren’t so repulsed,” Jerica said. “I know I am ugly, but I never been so directly

refused.”

“You are not ugly,” TL assured her. “He finds you immensely attractive. His resistance is not about you.”

“It took Arne a month to recover from the Sirens,” Erico said.

“Yeah, well,” Arne said. “I was exposed longer.”

“I am telling you, Lotus flower would cure him,” Orton said.

“Stop talking about those dam flowers!” they all said.