@Marc: glad you liked the return of the characters; Miss Hyde and Miss Sikh were natural choices and I kind of like the characters all flitting in and out of each other's universes from time to time. I suspect they get together and talk about us when they're sure we're not paying attention. I hope Henri from your worlds doesn't talk about you when you're not around though.
The hiding place "Not deliberately," said Joachim. He looked slightly uncomfortable under the force of Miss Sikh's gaze. "Though I will admit I found the coincidence very amusing." "I recall a time when your people found a near-genocide very amusing," said Miss Sikh. Her face fell into shadow though the light around them remained unchanged, and a chill emanated out from her chair. Birds rose from the trees around the edges of the garden in a flutter of wings that was suddenly very loud and despite they being of many different species they came together in a cloud that wheeled and veered about, as though fleeing some unseen predator. "My people do not speak for me, nor I for them," said Joachim. "And, impertinent though you may find it, how many sacrifices were offered to you that you rejected, goddess?" The chill advanced a little further and Joachim could hear faint screams at the edge of hearing, despairing thin wails of the abandoned begging for one last human touch before the end. Then the sunlight seemed to wash it all away again and they were all shadowed as the birds wheeled across them and then split apart into groups, smaller groups and individuals. As the shadow they cast evaporated so did the one across Miss Sikh's face. "Would you believe she was a vegetarian goddess?" asked Miss Hyde. "No," said Joachim.
"When I was last at Easter Island it was larger," said Miss Sikh. Her gaze was up into the sky, but she was looking at something else entirely. "And things were... livelier." "Things are always better in memory," said Miss Hyde. "You only have to remember the bits you enjoyed and none of the huge boring gaps between them." "Maybe so," she said. "But there are few places to hide there.... Ah, I see." "You've found him?" asked Joachim. "In a manner of speaking," said Miss Sikh. "He is... oriented wrongly." "I think I would have found him if he were just lying down somewhere." "No, instead of being in a single point of space and moving through time he is at a single point of time and moving through space. Not exactly a hiding place... rather, not a hiding place he could choose, but someone putting him there has very effectively hidden him from you." Joachim stood up and took two steps away from the table. He looked calm unless you looked at his bare feet and saw that his toes were curled so tightly they were trying to be fists. "One of them did it, and the other knew about it." "Which and which?" Breath hissed out of him like an angry snake. "I suppose we need to find that out too."
2 comments:
@Marc: glad you liked the return of the characters; Miss Hyde and Miss Sikh were natural choices and I kind of like the characters all flitting in and out of each other's universes from time to time. I suspect they get together and talk about us when they're sure we're not paying attention. I hope Henri from your worlds doesn't talk about you when you're not around though.
The hiding place
"Not deliberately," said Joachim. He looked slightly uncomfortable under the force of Miss Sikh's gaze. "Though I will admit I found the coincidence very amusing."
"I recall a time when your people found a near-genocide very amusing," said Miss Sikh. Her face fell into shadow though the light around them remained unchanged, and a chill emanated out from her chair. Birds rose from the trees around the edges of the garden in a flutter of wings that was suddenly very loud and despite they being of many different species they came together in a cloud that wheeled and veered about, as though fleeing some unseen predator.
"My people do not speak for me, nor I for them," said Joachim. "And, impertinent though you may find it, how many sacrifices were offered to you that you rejected, goddess?"
The chill advanced a little further and Joachim could hear faint screams at the edge of hearing, despairing thin wails of the abandoned begging for one last human touch before the end. Then the sunlight seemed to wash it all away again and they were all shadowed as the birds wheeled across them and then split apart into groups, smaller groups and individuals. As the shadow they cast evaporated so did the one across Miss Sikh's face.
"Would you believe she was a vegetarian goddess?" asked Miss Hyde.
"No," said Joachim.
"When I was last at Easter Island it was larger," said Miss Sikh. Her gaze was up into the sky, but she was looking at something else entirely. "And things were... livelier."
"Things are always better in memory," said Miss Hyde. "You only have to remember the bits you enjoyed and none of the huge boring gaps between them."
"Maybe so," she said. "But there are few places to hide there.... Ah, I see."
"You've found him?" asked Joachim.
"In a manner of speaking," said Miss Sikh. "He is... oriented wrongly."
"I think I would have found him if he were just lying down somewhere."
"No, instead of being in a single point of space and moving through time he is at a single point of time and moving through space. Not exactly a hiding place... rather, not a hiding place he could choose, but someone putting him there has very effectively hidden him from you."
Joachim stood up and took two steps away from the table. He looked calm unless you looked at his bare feet and saw that his toes were curled so tightly they were trying to be fists. "One of them did it, and the other knew about it."
"Which and which?"
Breath hissed out of him like an angry snake.
"I suppose we need to find that out too."
Greg - I mostly don't want to know what Henri is up to at any time...
You've got an intriguing continuation here, and I find myself rather eagerly looking forward to your conclusion!
Mine:
Timmy hides in the bushes
And does his best to believe he's safe.
He's ignoring the whispers
From the angry, ghostly little waif.
She tiptoes past him again,
Her frustration a terrible heat.
He holds his breath and wishes
She'd find another pour soul to eat.
Just not one of his brothers -
He's not the sort of boy to wish that.
She wanders off, he sighs in relief...
But that's the moment he feels the rat.
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