The Shell and the Star - Part 11

I'm back this week with Part 11 of The Shell and the Star. If you're just tuning in this week, or need to catch up on the story, you can find everything posted to date here: 

The Shell and the Star

Today's segment is a little longer because some critical information about their two cultures is about to be shared. 

Here's where the story left off last week...

For once Jinn was glad of the tedious hours she spent every day in the gravity chambers on Talstar, fulfilling her required exercise regimen to build and maintain her muscles. The effort it took to lift weights and do resistance training in the half-G of the training area didn’t feel so very different from the drag created by liquid water.

Her companion guided her away from his raucous companions into a small, private cove where a table of rock rose to just below the surface offering a place for them to perch. Trey hopped up to sit on the shelf and helped her up beside him. The sun-warmed water lapped against her thighs and she stretched out her legs until her toes broke the surface.

“You already swim like a native,” Trey praised, slipping off one of her fins and taking her small hand in his larger one.

Jinn looked away, unsettled, but soon cast a shy look his way. Water beaded on his face and shoulders and Jinn felt those strange stirrings again—the unsettling urge to touch those magical droplets. To trace the hollows and rises of his chest beneath her fingertips.

“What are you thinking?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Jinn dared not confess her true thoughts. “Why do you think…the two of us were born the way we are?”

“I’ve given that a lot of thought.” His thumb grazed over her fingers. “When our ancestors walked on the land—”

“Wait!” Jinn turned to him. “What do you mean they walked on land?”

“It’s true, Jinn. They lived on the land. And there, they were subjected to the full gravity at the surface without the benefit of buoyancy we experience in the waters--or the low gravity you know on Talstar.”

“But…they walked on the land?”

“Not only that.” He turned to look her full in the face. “They once walked on Talstar.”

Jinn tried to hide her utter disbelief. “How? And why?”

“The old stories say that Talstar at one time produced its own gravity that mimicked that of the land dwellers so they were comfortable living and working on the station, but over time, the system weakened and the knowledge had been lost of how to restore it. They had to adapt to low and micro-gravity. Over the eons the people of the Star began to evolve, becoming taller, leaner and longer limbed in the lower gravity.”

“That’s all very interesting…but what does it have to do with how we were born?”

“Because I believe we look like they once did, all those eons ago. And if I’m right, it’s possible our genetics sometimes revert back to our ancestral form that was once adapted to full gravity.”

“Throwbacks,” Jinn muttered.

“Yes. That’s what they call us. Because we look different from others of our kind—shorter limbed, more compact, more powerful.”

“Like you,” Jinn breathed.

“And you,” he added, holding her gaze.

“But if what you say is true, why did our ancestors leave the land to begin with?”

“Because of The Fall, Jinn.”

“The Fall?”

“You haven’t been told of this.” She shook her head, but his words had been a statement, not a question.

“If you are here to learn of my culture, you should hear this,” he said solemnly. “Ten thousand longtides ago—about fifty thousand orbits around our sun—a comet struck Veros. The impact sent out a great searing wind that scorched the land and there were powerful earthquakes and erupting volcanos. It left the air unbreathable and the lands barren and covered in deep ash. Billions died, but the few who survived were able to escape the planet and seek sanctuary with the residents of Talstar, which even then was in orbit around Veros.”

“And some sought refuge in the waters?”

“That came later. The sea surface boiled and much of the water evaporated, destroying most life in the shallows. Then the surface waters turned acidic from the fallen ash and that ended most of the remaining species that survived the initial impact. It was generations before the seas became survivable again, and Talstar was able to send some of its residents back to the planet to establish colonies in a few of the shallow bays. By then they’d already started to evolve into beings more suited to lower gravity, and they were able to adapt to living in the water.”

“But why would those on Talstar risk returning to this planet? Why would they not stay in the safety of the station?”

“Because they were starving, Jinn. The hydroponic farms on Talstar couldn’t support the growing population. They had to divide their numbers so they could begin farming the seas. Soon they were growing enough to send to the station, and the station sent them tools and technology in return. That’s how the Star and the Shell developed their system of trade.”

“How is it you know all of these things?”

“There are histories that tell of it.”

“What are…histories?”

“Records, preserved digitally by the Star and later brought to Veros by those who would become the Shell. Copied and re-copied over the eons into more indelible forms.”

“And you have read these records?”

“Yes.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“But if these records came from Talstar, as you say, why don’t we know of them?”

Trey’s gaze dropped and his voice grew quiet. “As I understand it, your leaders deemed this knowledge sacred and privileged, not suitable to be shared with most of the residents. Not to be taught to the young.”

“Leaders like my father?” Jinn asked guardedly.

Trey shook his head, looking pained. “I think it was decided by those who came long before him.”

“And what would be the reason to keep such secrets?”

“This, I don’t know, Jinn. My father once implied it was out of fear for how the people of the Star would react if they learned they hadn’t evolved on the space station. That they might be terrified or begin to question their world and those who govern them.”

“But now you have told me these secrets.” Jinn raised her eyes to the skies above. “And they do not terrify me.”

Trey pursed his lips. “No. Not at all, it seems.”

“My father said something odd before I left. He said I would learn what he couldn’t teach me. But if he realized I might learn of our forgotten history, then he would also know if I went back to Talstar, I’d talk about it.” Jinn tilted her head to the sky above. “Maybe he expects I won’t return.” She turned to look at him, gazed deeply into the sea-blue depths of his eyes.

He held eye contact. “We can’t know what he’s thinking, Jinn.”

She took in a deep breath of salty air. “You are very fortunate, Trey, to have read these histories. To have this knowledge of what happened so very long ago. To know of this past that’s been denied to my people.”

“It changed my thinking about many things.” He held her gaze for another very long and heart-stuttering moment. “My father believes understanding the past is the key to surviving the future. I…” Trey gripped her hand. “I agree with that theory, whole-heartedly.”

Jinn contemplated the rocks, Trey’s words churning in her mind. “How can what came before matter to what lies ahead?”

“Many ask the same question. Even among my own people, few care to learn. Most are only concerned with the here and now.”

“But you think this knowledge is important.”

“I do.” Trey ran the smooth flat of his palm over her hand. “Talstar and Perling are interdependent. Trade is what keeps both civilizations strong. Talstar technology—like voice translators and the ocean eco-barrier—in exchange for food we farm.”

“My father said our trade has weakened in recent calendars. That each society is growing in number and wishes to hold on to more and more of what is produced for their own people, so they make less available for trade. Our societies are drifting apart.”

“It’s true. The decline in trade is troubling, but I believe there are solutions.”

“Like our fathers’ attempt to pair us?”

His head swiveled her way. He didn’t answer for a time, and when he finally spoke, she thought his words were carefully chosen. “Our civilizations share a vital bond, Jinn. They need each other. They rely on each other.” He looked into her eyes. “As I hope we might…one day.”

She was all too aware of his closeness and the heat of his body—his fascinating body—to let the conversation drift into the topic of their pairing.  Yes, she was attracted to him. Yes, she admired him. . But their time together had been short. She had only just arrived and there was still so much to consider.

Shouts from the Boggy Ball game carried on the soft breeze into their quiet cove. “Tardem must be losing badly to make such a protest,” Trey jested, as if reading her discomfort and trying to put her more at ease.

________________________________

Hope you enjoyed this part of the story, with its many reveals and the growing attraction between Jinn and Trey.

One more note. "The Fall" is the reference I assigned to the comet disaster that afflicted Veros long ago, but because that term figures prominently in a peer's recent work, I need to change the reference to something else. For now, it's just a placeholder. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment below with your ideas. 

I'll be back next Monday with Part 12. 

Have a great week!