Dance Until the World Ends

Chapter 1: Lina and ArabelIn the beginning there was the Great Tree, the Tree that existed long before the hands of time were set in motion, and longer still than even the most distant relations of humankind had crawled forth from the primordial ooze to stand upright and walk upon the land. The Great Tree is, was, and forever shall be. Throughout its existence, the Great Tree has been given many names by the tribes of men. To the west it had been dubbed Gaokerena. Those in the north would call it Yggdrasil. Still others would refer to it simply as the Tree of Life. For during the whole of man’s existence, it was this Great Tree, that by the protection of its branches and the gift of its fruit, allowed humanity to survive the eons. —Selected passages from The Book of the Origin by Bella Aurelius Nobilis, Modern Language Translation * * * * A bomb blast rumbled in some distant tunnel—the third one this week. Lina could feel it reverberating all throughout Cave of the Winds. She exhaled a long and noisy sigh. The rebels were going to make her late for her date with Arabel. Damned rebels. Lina looked over at the thick, translucent, amber resin that had automatically oozed forth to stand between the main tunnel and the critical facility where Lina toiled her days away. She turned her gaze to the pair of burly diploid women with their jack boots and truncheons, each sporting an almost identical buzz cut and frown, guarding the only other entrance. Damned rebels. Lina turned her attention back to the school children and their teacher who were touring the facility today. Diploids, all of them, they were almost all able to look Lina in the eye, despite their younger age. None of them seemed terribly concerned about the recent explosion. “Looks like we’re going to be here a while,” Lina said. “Does anyone have any more questions about Cave of the Winds and how we do our part to support the colony?” She was met by a sea of blank faces, barely concealing their boredom. “Any at all?” “How come you’re so small?” offered one of the diploid children. “Yeah, are you broken or something?” said another. “That’s enough,” said the teacher, “haploids are smaller, that’s all. Remember your biology lesson. And your manners.” “But you’re a girl, aren’t you?” said the first child, unhindered by her teacher’s admonishment. “Shouldn’t you be a diploid?” “I am a girl,” said Lina. “But sometimes it happens that girls can be haploids. It’s not very common, but—” “I told you she was broken,” announced the second child, much to the delight of her peers. The teacher, however, was not amused. Lina could smell it in the air, by the alpha pheromones she released. The children sensed it too. They quickly settled into silence. “Now, children,” the teacher said, “are there any questions about our tour today?” Hearing none, and seeing that the blast curtain was still very much closed, Lina decided to fill the time by quizzing the class to see what, if anything, they retained from their visit. Lina started with an easy one. “Who can tell me where this facility gets its name?” Several of the diploid children thought they knew the answer, and after the teacher’s earlier admonishment—with the sprinkling of alpha pheromones still lingering in the air—each student politely raised her hand rather than blurting it out. Lina chose a girl at random. “Yes, you have the answer?” “Because the air is always rushing through here to supply the colony. And that makes it really windy all the time.” “Very good. And does anyone know why the air is always rushing through?” Several children’s hands shot up, but not as many as for the first question. Lina chose another random volunteer. “Because, um…because the hot outside air cools in the vine tunnels above…um, and the moisture…” Lina nodded, encouraging the young girl. “And…and cool air is heavier, so it falls down.” “That’s right,” said Lina. “Starting out cool up here in the cave, air is drawn down through the colony’s tunnels where we live, and heated naturally by our bodies along the way, until—” “Until the warm air rises out the exhaust vents.” The young diploid smiled. “We toured that end of the colony last week. It was stinky.” The girl held her nose and scrunched up her face to illustrate. A hushed wave of half-suppressed laughter swept through the group of children. Lina did her best to ignore it and forged on. “Very good,” Lina said, and picked up a short piece of ropy brown vine that had been cast down by one of the other haploid workers in the myriad tunnels overhead. “Who can tell me what this is.” “Dead,” someone tittered. Lina did not see who it was, and apparently neither did the teacher, though she craned her neck around, searching. Lina detected a little more alpha pheromone in the air and the laughter quickly died down. “Quickvine,” another girl said. “When it’s alive, it eats up carbon-dioxide and gives off oxygen. Like, a lot of oxygen.” “Yes,” said Lina. “About twice as much as other plants its size, and it grows very quickly, making it perfect for our job of keeping the colony’s air fresh and healthy for all of you.” A few of the diploid students rolled their eyes at Lina’s obvious manufactured excitement over the quickvine. She was losing them, and rapidly. Even the teacher had grown tired of casting pheromones to keep them in line. Lina glanced at the thick, amber blast curtain, still in place. “But it dies really fast, too.” The girl who had answered the previous question puffed up her chest as she carried on. “Quickvine. Quick to grow, quick to die, but it makes the air for you and I. I’m going to be a botanist when I grow up.” “The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, derp,” another student mocked in return, and a chuckle circulated. The group had reached the end of their attention span. The teacher, too. She was staring at the blast curtain, as if by will alone she could make it dissolve away again. Amazingly, it worked. Lina shrugged. She didn’t believe that telekinesis was actually at play here, not even diploids possessed such power, but she did breathe a little easier as the barrier was shrinking, bubbling away, and the humorless guards blocking the side entrance had retreated. Cave workers swept the remaining bits of resin into reclamation portals in the floor. “Thank you for visiting Cave of the Winds,” Lina called out, as cheerfully as she could muster. The children filed out without so much as another word. She did, however, get a wan smile from the future botanist of the group. Lina smiled and waved back. * * * * Lina was sprinting down the colony’s tunnels and ramps, now three levels down from where she started at Cave of the Winds. Using her small size to her advantage, she dodged between clusters of dawdlers who were out strolling or shopping in the wide and high-ceilinged business district. Lina burst into another downward tunnel, narrower than those above. The air was heavy and moist, with condensation clinging to the walls, as she descended into the bowels of the colony. The tunnels at this level were devoid of the crowds that packed the commerce areas above. No one ventured this far down unless they worked here. Or, in Lina’s case, if they happened to be sleeping with someone who did. Arabel had just come through the wide, door-less entrance of the reclamation plant as Lina rounded the last corner. Arabel smiled upon seeing Lina, and released a bit of mating pheromone as she puckered up for a kiss. Lina happily obliged, letting herself fall into the trance provided by Arabel’s heady scent. “You naughty girl,” Lina chastised. “You ought not to be scenting in the tunnels. You never know when there might be children about.” Arabel shrugged, and took turns rubbing the back of her ears—the place where her scent glands were located—against the side of Lina’s neck. Lina’s eyelids fluttered, and she nearly swooned until Arabel clamped her teeth on an earlobe and hauled her back to reality. “You’re trouble,” Lina said. “And that’s exactly why you love me,” Arabel proclaimed, wrapping her arms about Lina’s neck. “I save you from your dull hum-drum existence. And…And you’re going to love me even more when you see all the great stuff I rescued today.” Arabel released Lina and proudly patted the satchel that she carried slung over her shoulder and across her chest. “I got some compostable material for my plants.” Arabel pulled some out, beaming while Lina wrinkled her nose. “And some bio-luminescent dye.” Arabel reached in again to produce a small tube, barely a quarter full with glowing orange liquid, and shook it in front of Lina’s face. “For the rave tonight. Something one of the tattoo shops had tossed out. Six colors in total. It’s gonna be fun.” “Still holding out hope that we’ll get into the rave tonight?” Lina tossed her head back and let out a brief chuckle. “We don’t even know where it is.” Arabel reached into her satchel a third time, as a wry smile crossed her face. She pulled forth a dirty and partially torn piece of paper. It looked like it had been wadded up and then carefully pulled apart and pressed flat again. “We do now,” Arabel beamed. “Behold. My best find of the day.” “I could just kiss you.” Arabel reached behind her ear with her index finger, rubbing her pheromone gland and grinning, before she ran that same finger down the length of Lina’s nose. “What’s stopping you?” Lina inhaled deeply of Arabel’s scent and fell upon her, trapping Arabel’s small body against the damp wall of the tunnel, going in with lips and tongue. “You’re so much trouble,” Lina said, finally coming up to suck a breath. “I’m telling you, that’s why you love me. I’m a walking good time.” Arabel kicked up her heel. “That, and I always know where the good parties are.” Lina said nothing in response. She simply flared her nostrils and inhaled deeply again, losing herself in the dizziness brought on by Arabel’s lingering pheromones. Eyes fluttering, Lina pressed her thigh hard against between Arabel’s legs, and took two great handfuls of the girl’s backside to pull her in. “You smell so good, baby.” “Oh, Lina,” Arabel teased. “But what about the children?” Lina backed away by a step. “Think of the children,” she mocked. Lina stuck out her index finger to playfully poke Arabel in the shoulder before leaning in to steal a long and lingering kiss. Sighing, Lina gave one final peck before putting on a mask of control and lacing her fingers in with Arabel’s. Together they set off, skipping down the tunnel to Arabel’s apartment. * * * * In the dim and dingy tunnel-way of the colony’s lowest level, Arabel opened the door of her apartment to a sight that always made Lina smile. She thought anyone entering Arabel’s humble abode might be tempted to classify it as a jungle biome. The humidity at this level of the colony was so high that the walls were constantly slick with condensation. But, Arabel had used this to her advantage, to water the hundreds of varieties of plants and vines that she had crammed into every available space. Even a section of the carved stone floor had been covered in compost and seeded with a low, mossy ground cover, making what could have been a dank undesirable apartment into a living thing full of wonder. What Lina found even more intriguing was that all of this beauty was created from things Arabel claimed she rescued as they passed through the reclamation area. “Before you rip my clothes off,” Arabel said, as she closed the door, “we should eat.” Lina rolled her eyes as she watched Arabel calmly shimmy out of her coverall, leaving it as a puddle on the floor. Arabel then sashayed, completely naked, the three steps it took her to reach the apartment’s tiny galley kitchen. There she washed her hands thoroughly and doused her bare body with water from the tap. Her damp skin glistened in the dim light of the three bio-globes that lit the one room space.