Under a Starless Sky

Candace was sitting by the water’s edge, lotus pose, meditating. There were two girls her age, sparring with bamboo. They stopped and blocked him from coming closer.

“What do you want, ghost,” the one said.

“I just wanted to talk to Candace. I am her brother,” Shen said.

“There’s no way you’re her brother,” the other said. “You’re not right. Did you fall in bleach?”

“Candace?” Shen asked.

“Don’t summon her,” the other said. “She is far walking.”

“She’s meditating,” Shen said.

“Go away,” the first

“May I

a crude tent on the ground, a blanket that had been soaked in Irk pitch and let dried. It was perfectly water proof. He went in and removed the empty jars he had been given to collect honey. There was a rather good size hive nearby which was another reason to maintain this camp. Lower tent was draped over a rope between two trees. One of the trees was near enough to another tree he could

the sleeping space, he could walk branches to a number of trees. There was a couple of crude ramps bridging some of the further gaps, and vine rope, which was simply twisting three vines together, so he had a guide connecting his path. One place he used a vine to swing to the next tree, which always amused him enough he felt good about himself. At the end of the upper path, he climbed down the tree and proceeded on ground, carefully as there were exposed Sleeper Roots, and found his way to his cave. He called it a cave. It was hardly a hollow space. The ceiling did slop towards the exit, which helped carry the smoke from his fire

North, and braced the Sleeping Forest through the darkness until the light returned, he would come to a river. It varied from creek, to full blown river. The water was always cold. During the times the river was shallow, he would explore the mud and invariably find crystals. He had kept some, traded some. He was not sure why no one else had explored this area, as it was reasonably accessible by the route he had taken. There was the stray Irk, but if you were paying attention, you could climb and secure yourself to a branch with a rope before it

would chase a torch. They would chase a glow

sat by the fire, his back up against his egg, hoping it was still good. He entertained fantasies of being there at hatching, ‘imprinting’ himself as the parent, and one day riding into the village on the back of a fully grown Irk. He didn’t like killing rabbits, but he had made a rabbit pin and he now had a dozen rabbits in his care. They were angora rabbits and there fur was valuable, and he wished he had electric sheers. He would likely have to kill them to feed the newly hatched irk. He also had dried fish prepared. It was not great, but it was eatable. He had seen the Irks eat fruit. He suspected avocado seeds and sharp stones helped

drawn Loxy maybe a dozen times. Some of the drawings were so bad he burnt them. He didn’t want to remember her wrong. He stuck a ‘Wilson’ branch in the ground near the place he usually sat, and some of the picture were attached to the branch, literally pushing the branch through the paper so her pictures hung. No matter which way you came at the branch, you would see Loxy’s face at the top. Full body pictures were in the middle. He would talk to her, hence the name ‘Wilson’ branch. If he had a volley ball, he

and placed points and lines representing energy flow, again, per texts he had seen. He drew crude maps of his present location. He was still trying to get at a world map from remote viewing. His memory imagination block kept making him draw circles and straight lines, and he would end up with the death star. He would tear this out and burn it. He spent a whole day drawing with a stick on the dirt floor trying to get at it. When he had sleep, he dreamed of a place with three mountains. Maybe mountain,

His heart sprang. He became quiet and still, waiting for another noise. Quiet. He spoke. A low oscillation emitted from the egg, not a growl. It felt like a cat purring. He nearly cried. He had forgotten about a cat’s purr. He sang. The egg purred louder.

want this. He ranged far enough to gather wood to keep the fire steady. He eventually had to go to collect water. He went to first tent, ate honey. He went to the orchard, and harvested for the caretaker and got his fill of fallen fruit, and returned to first, where he spent the night because of just being tired. When he got to the cave the next