This is a chapter of the novel Earth’s Embrace by Space Cadet Michael. In this novel, the little and the lost becomes the fulfilled and the found - It is a novel of jungle adventure, artificial intelligence, and the answer to what happened to Percy Fawcett. See the full chapter list here.
Previously, Rimak navigated complex dynamics among his companions while planning a risky expedition to the City of Death.
On the road to the City of Death, via the Inca Capital
-Pari-
Pari is deep in thought on a topic that she has dubbed bench and butt pressure theory. She’s been wondering about whether the carved butt shape of the wooden seat under her makes it any more comfortable. “It could be measured with the mean time between weight shifting,” she thinks as her discomfort builds again past some threshold and she shifts in her seat. This useless thought is a useful distraction from the discomfort of fifteen hours and counting on this wooden bench in the hot, stuffy, cargo hold of the transport.
At the start of the journey, Pari tried to talk to Kashiri, but the conversation did not stick. Rimak spent most of the trip up in the cab with the drivers, unavailable. And Pari had no interest in trying to converse with Kesten by pantomime. Reeto would have been her preferred conversation partner, but he had been no company at all, sound asleep on a section of bench further down for most of the trip. How he can be comfortable laying across multiple wooden butt shaped indents is an important question for science.
And that has left Pari to focus on the wheels turning in her mind. Unpleasant guilt consumes her. Why is she idly pondering the consequences of ascetic bench use when she should be thinking about how to get back to Mia? Her last words to Mia rang through her head:
“I'll be back as soon as I can, shouldn't be more than three weeks.” Pari had said. Words that haunt her now, since she knows it will be much longer. Mia will be OK for a while, she has Oscar to take care of her. But Pari might not. She misses Mia more every day.
Pari watches Rimak walk over to Reeto and nudge him awake.
“Wha, wha?” Reeto rolls away from Rimak, towards the wall, and groans. “I don’t want popcorn.”
Rimak nudges his shoulder again. “We are almost there.”
“Hmm, hmm.” Reeto says, settling back into sleep.
Rimak stands and faces the others. “We will be arriving soon to the great land of the Inca Papa.”
Maybe it is the heat, or the long uncomfortable journey, but Kesten makes a noise of disgust.
“Do you care to tell our guests why my home is deserving of ridicule?” Rimak says in English as he walks over to Kesten and stands, towering over him, invading his space. Pari notices Reeto turn his head slightly so one ear is more towards the potential confrontation.
Kesten responds in the local language, bowing his head and motioning an arm to Pari. Rimak responds with a slight head bow that Pari thinks looks like “don’t mind if I do,” and then takes a seat next to Pari.
“What did he say?” Pari asks.
“He said I should do my best to convince you of the merits of my people, because we have none I shall fail.” Rimak smiles widely. “He had one bad experience and holds it against my entire people for all of eternity. Please, let me tell you about the great land of the Inca Papa.”
“OK. Please do.” Pari says.
“The story of our land starts almost 18 generations ago when Tupac Amaru Inca led us to safety from the smelly invaders and their civil war. He and his pregnant wife sacrificed themselves to stay the pursuers and his people escaped. The people were forced deep into the jungle, unwelcomed by tribe after tribe who pushed them onwards through the forest until they were fortunate enough to receive the generosity of Supay, who you met, and who brought my people here to the land of Inti.”
“Hold on, I met your God of the underworld?!” Pari gets an idea of whom Rimak is talking about as the last of the words leave her lips.
“Ah, you know our culture! Yes, you call it Tolek.” Rimak says.
Reeto rolls over and sits up in one movement, leaning forward, ready to listen intently. “Now I’ve heard everything.”
“Do you truly believe Tolek is a God?” Pari asks.
“I believe Tolek is a gatekeeper between worlds. Isn’t that enough?” Rimak says.
Pari shrugs. “Maybe?”
“And so my people arrived here, and we found the people of this paradise living in chaos. So we fulfilled the will of Inti, our God of the sun, our first ancestor, and brought order and stability to the people here. We built great cities and connected them with extensive networks of trade across the harsh deserts. Our people are hard, productive and reliable. We take care of each other and we work together for the benefit of everyone. In the name of Inti.”
Kesten scoffs again. Then speaks in his language.
Rimak translates, “He says many terrible things have been done in the name of Inti.”
“Is that true?” Pari asks.
“Not for many generations. He needs to learn to let go of ancient history.” Rimak says.
“What’s stopping him?” Pari asks.
“His one bad experience. I think so anyway. It happened while he was a child, so it's really stuck in his mind.” Rimak says. “He stayed with a relative of Inca Papa who was well known for being selfish and arrogant. He thinks my whole people strut around like peacocks all day, concerned only with accumulating wealth. It is not true, those are the exceptions.”
The transport gently comes to a stop.
“Ah, we are here! Please everyone, follow me.” Rimak says, standing, grabbing his bags and disappearing into the small hall that leads up to the pilot’s seat.
Kesten leans over and whispers in Kashiri’s ear. She looks at Pari and then Reeto. “If anything happens, stay,” she motions at Kesten and herself, “with us. OK?”
Pari nods then follows Kashiri and Kesten’s lead as they grab their things and join Rimak who has returned and is waiting for them by the main door.
The door opens and they find themselves face to face with a crowd of uniformed Incans. They are all as big as Rimak, all very official looking, and they do not look friendly.
Kesten yells loudly at Rimak and walks pugnaciously toward him. Kashiri holds Kesten back. Reeto joins in to restrain Kesten.
The thing about trusting someone is, sometimes your trust is well placed, and sometimes it’s not. Pari has spent a lot of her life worrying about whether someone is trustworthy or not, but she has recently decided that worrying is a waste of time. She used to try to ask lots of questions, try to uncover some clues from a person’s past as to whether they could be trusted. But what she found was that there are only two ways to see if a person would be trustworthy: 1) their manner of interaction when they first meet, and 2) their general behavior (which usually matches the first interaction). If they make an effort to be genuine and deserving of trust, then they are usually going to continue to make that effort. If they make an effort at skullduggery, then you know where you stand. Trustworthiness is a choice, and people are usually clear on whether they intend to make that choice in your case.
She gets the feeling that Kesten never completely trusts anyone. Maybe that's part of his job, maybe he just can't trust, or maybe Rimak has earned his distrust. Whatever the reason, in this case, at this moment, Pari thinks him quite justified to not trust Rimak.
Rimak speaks loudly at Kesten and the group. “I did not know of this. These men are here to arrest you all. They will not harm you, you have my word. I will go at once to Inca Papa and demand your release.”
And with that, Rimak disappears behind the wall of large men. The soldiers form a rigid square around them and start walking, leading them across a bustling station platform. The station is under an enormous steel framed roof with many transports in various stages of unloading across multiple platforms. This place would look big in San Francisco.
Reeto tries handing one of his heavy packs to one of the soldiers but they will not have it. Reeto simply sighs and swings the pack back on his shoulder.
Pari chuckles to herself and walks over to share in the moment with Reeto. “Nice try.”
“The service is not very good around here.” Reeto responds.
Pari tries hard to contain her laughter. She becomes self aware of her humor in the seriousness of this situation. She's stranded on an alien planet doing a quest for the God of the underworld and soon to be imprisoned by a team of the New England Patriots’ linebackers. If she can’t laugh at this then what can she laugh at, really?
The soldiers move them quickly through and out of the huge station hall, into the streets. Immediately, Pari is struck by the stark difference to the street outside. The station was pristine. It had clean, polished floors with inlaid patterns of different colored stones, finely carved pillars, and walls with abstract people and animal shapes. The street, in contrast, is chaotic, dusty and dry except for a small creek running in a stone channel along one side of the street. Bridges, usually a single large stone placed across the creek, give access to each house on that side through a trapezoidal opening that shrinks in width towards the top. The stones are light brown, with the occasional gray. It looks like an ancient Incan town.
There are no plants, flowers or anything living in the street besides people and beasts of burden. The people wear light brown clothes that match the walls, simple enough to be a potato sack with arm and neck holes cut out and an open bottom for the legs. Some of the sacks stop at the ankles, others at the knees and others at the top of the thigh like a miniskirt. Some people tie a rope around the waist, and others wear cloth hoods that hang long and pointy down their back and also hang over their eyes, shading them from the sun. But these people with hoods typically lead the beasts of burden or carry heavy goods. They shuffle along with their gaze low, avoiding the eyes of the soldiers.
Another type of person, more like the soldiers, is large, muscular, shows off their tan skin, never wears a hood and looks straight ahead as they walk. Many of these look at the soldiers but no greetings are made. There are two classes here. Rimak is clearly of the privileged class.
They pass along many similar, wide but busy and chaotic streets. The square formation of soldiers never wavers, everyone else moves out of the way, even slow moving carts behind beasts of burden manage to get themselves hurriedly off to the side of the road.
Their formation turns one corner and the fabric of the city stretches out before them. The road continues on far into the distance, climbing slowly up the hill to an enormous temple or palace at the end of the road.
When they reach the lavish flat terraces at the palace entrance, Pari turns to look back at the city. It stretches out far below them in an unbroken, tightly packed patchwork of small compounds, each with an outer wall and two or three floor buildings, down the hill behind them. It could be a day’s walk to the other side.
They enter the palace through one of the three large trapezoidal openings in the wall before them. Each opening is wide enough for their ten person wide square formation to fit through easily, and perhaps five people tall. Inside, they enter a large room with wrap-around balconies above them of finely carved stone. Each pillar is alive with detailed carvings of thousands of people and animals. Above them a vaulted ceiling of steel and glass bathes the room in light.
Large stone pedestals scatter around the floor of the room, along the walls and next to the pillars. These pedestals hold various shaped dark black artifacts that Pari recognizes as likely Banetmabo in origin. Each one is far larger than the largest item in Fawcett's shop. The largest being a thirty foot long tube taller than her on its side that sits just inside the entryway.
The strangest is a thin tube, about the width of a finger, that starts in a circle about a foot wide and spirals upwards, shrinking in diameter until it reaches about a foot and a half tall where it turns back down like a spout. It reminds Pari a bit of the shape of the large copper stills she once saw during a whisky distillery tour. Many of the other pieces are warped and broken, the sharp edges of their disfigured shapes remind Pari of Tolek’s broken backside that Mia tried so hard to repair.
Mia. She has to get out of here. How will she get out of here?
The large soldiers block too much of her view to see any more, and they are soon marched into a narrow hallway with a soldier at each arm, up a staircase and then herded into a pair of surprisingly well lit stone cells, separated by a hallway of iron bars.
Pari sits down on the sole bench next to Kesten. She stares across at the light that filters in through the dusty windows and lands on the floor in Kashiri and Reeto’s cell. A large window sits deep into the wall showing how thick the stone walls are. Almost a full arm’s length between the glass and the inner wall. The window panes are small with a regular rectangular grid of iron bars over them. The light is warm and soft, a contrast to the cold, hard sandstone of their jail cells.
What is Mia up to today, she wonders. What time is it even there? Pari realizes she has no idea.
Lost in her thoughts Pari absentmindedly watches the last of the guards file out of the hallway of iron bars and through a heavy wooden door that closes shut with uncomfortable finality. No sooner have they left than Kashiri pulls something from her pocket and says quietly, “Don’t look.” Pari looks for a little bit to see that Kashiri begins quietly and rapidly cutting away the hinges to the window in her cell. A very bright light comes out from the tool that she is using, but it is mostly blocked by Kashiri’s body.
Pari looks away until she hears Kashiri say something to Reeto who holds the window as it comes loose and sets it quietly on the floor. Then Kashiri, crouches down at the floor and cuts through the base of one of the metal bars like butter with her small, blinding tool. She soon finishes, taking Reeto’s hand and motioning that he hold the bar. She then stands tall and cuts through it far above her head, leaving it supported only by Reeto’s grip. Reeto carefully takes it into their cell and sets it down carefully, quietly on the floor.
Kashiri slips through the gap and out into the hall between the cells. She starts cutting into Pari’s cell but the noise of someone coming down the hall makes her stop and hand the cutter to Kesten. Kesten continues cutting and has completed the bottom cut when Rimak appears around the corner.
Reeto is waiting for him and punches him very hard in the jaw. Despite being two heads taller than Reeto, he provides a good target with his head leaned forward as he hurries through the doorway and Reeto connects well under the side of the jaw. Rimak stumbles back into the wall and slides down to the floor, stunned. More footsteps are coming down the hall. Kashiri makes for the window. Reeto grabs Pari’s hand through the bars and says “We’ll be back.” and Pari says, “Not until you’ve been to the city of Death. Go on, I’ll be ok here.”
And so Reeto follows Kashiri out of the window just before the hallway fills with soldiers. Rimak scrambles to his feet and without a word to the soldiers who have just appeared, follows Reeto out the window.
The soldiers shout at Pari and Kesten, gesturing at the cut bars. Kesten motions at Pari, pointing at himself then at her. Pari is still trying to figure out what he is trying to say as the soldiers unlock her cell and Kesten turns to walk out of the cell with his hands up and his elbows at right angles. As soon as one of the soldiers gets near him he whips around, punches him in the face and darts for the window, hopping out before anyone can reach him.
Pari is left standing in the cell in shock. Two of the soldiers jump out after him and the other two grab Pari by each arm and roughly take her out of the cell and out into the outer hall. They lead her down a twist of staircases. As it gets colder and darker, she knows they are getting deeper and deeper into the palace. There will be no windows to jump out of here. They stop at a heavy-looking steel door. The guard opens a tiny sliding window in the door, looks inside, then pulls out a large key and unlocks the door. This new cell has no windows, has its own guard inside, standing by the door, and has another prisoner in it.
Pari is roughly pushed into the cell and as the door slams behind her she wonders if she is going to ever leave it again. She ignores that thought for the moment, much more interested in the other prisoner. He has short blond hair, a light tan on very fair skin, and warm friendly blue eyes in a healthy but chiseled face. He stands, holds his arms wide and greets her like an old friend.
“Hei hei, I’m Arild Jensen. What is your name?”
“Jensen?! Not, The Jensen, the Archeologist from Norway?”
“Indeed.” He seems pleased at being recognized and performs a very elegant, very small bow.
“Where is the rest of your team? But wait, I’m sorry, I’m Parime Jimenez.” She holds out her hand and he shakes it. Pari has a lot of questions for this man.
“They are working slaves, unfortunately. I was not cooperative enough so I am here as an example to them to work harder. How do you know of me, and how did you get here? Where are you from? Sorry, I have a lot of questions, I have been here alone for many days. Well.” He points at the guard standing rigid by the door. “He doesn’t count. He has the vocabulary of a, what’s the word in English? Someone who can’t speak?”
“Maybe don’t use that word.” Pari says.
“Ah OK, I won’t. Instead I’ll say he hasn’t spoken a word since I arrived and has shown all the empathy of a robot.”
Pari eyes the guard. He stands so perfectly still, she can understand the intent of Arild’s words, though she thinks of Tolek and wonders if maybe ‘robot’ is the wrong word too. She turns back to Arild, “My home is in California. I know of you because my ex is a competitor of yours. Greg Townsend.”
Arild lifts his eyebrows in surprise while smiling warmly. “Oh, what good news! He made it too? Is that how you got here? You went into the temple with him?”
“Yes, well. We were following a little robot.”
“Ah yes. Perhaps I know it. Did it prick you with a needle?” Arild says.
“That’s the one.” Pari says. “Something about ‘protocol.’”
“Very mysterious. Well we were not following it. But we did meet it.”
“Where?”
“Deep in the temple we found a cavern. It was huge. Too big to be down there. It was here that the robot met us. We were starting to ask questions when we saw a blur of someone, go behind us out through the way we’d come, through that round hole, and the robot barrelled through us to chase after it. We don’t remember much else, and woke up outside this city.”
“What did this person who snuck past you look like?” Pari asks.
“Like all the people here, dark hair, light brown, simple clothes.” Arild says.
“Not all the people, just the people here.” She motions around her. “There are others.” Pari says, wondering if any other Incans know the way back home. She looks at the soldier guard with the idea of perhaps asking him, but then thinks better of it. If travel back was common then Rimak probably would have mentioned it. Or maybe not? She files that thought away for later.
“I’m sorry you are stuck here.” Pari says.
“Yes, well. Thank you. It is not me I worry about. It is my wife and two little boys.” Arild says. He pulls a picture out of his wallet of the four of them.
“What a lovely family.” Pari says, wondering how this explorer could have a family and his work at the same time.
“Isn’t it hard? Being away from them so much?” Pari asks.
“I talk to them all the time, well, before being stuck here. I was home almost every weekend. And I always spend the summer holidays at home with them.” Arild says. “Then there are vacations. We see each other a lot.”
“That can’t be easy.”
“I sleep on planes often, but we make it work. How about your family? Who is back home missing you?”
“My niece. I promised I’d be back soon and I’m late.” Pari hears in her own tone of voice how much that fact bothers her.
“When she hears your story I’m sure she’ll forgive you.” Arild says. “How old is she?”
“She turns ten in September.”
The little window in the door slides open and closed again with a pair of loud thwacks. The key turns and the door flings open. Kesten careens into the room and down onto the floor in a flutter of bright red robes. He looks up at Pari and Arild.
“They were everywhere.” He says as he pulls himself up and dusts off his robes in a mild attempt to regain his dignity.
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Will Pari make it back to Mia?
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