The Journey to Eternity — Chapter Forty-One: The Road From Which There Is No Promise

Chapter Forty-One of my book, The Journey to Eternity, shared here chapter by chapter as I write it. Earlier chapters: Chapter One · Chapter Two · Chapter Three · Chapter Four · Chapter Five · Chapter Six · Chapter Seven · Chapter Eight · Chapter Nine · Chapter Ten · Chapter Eleven · Chapter Twelve · Chapter Thirteen · Chapter Fourteen · Chapter Fifteen · Chapter Sixteen · Chapter Seventeen · Chapter Eighteen · Chapter Nineteen · Chapter Twenty · Chapter Twenty-One · Chapter Twenty-Two · Chapter Twenty-Three · Chapter Twenty-Four · Chapter Twenty-Five · Chapter Twenty-Six · Chapter Twenty-Seven · Chapter Twenty-Eight · Chapter Twenty-Nine · Chapter Thirty · Chapter Thirty-One · Chapter Thirty-Two · Chapter Thirty-Three · Chapter Thirty-Four · Chapter Thirty-Five · Chapter Thirty-Six · Chapter Thirty-Seven · Chapter Thirty-Eight · Chapter Thirty-Nine · Chapter Forty.

Chapter Forty-One: The Road From Which There Is No Promise

Naama worked through the night.

When I entered the workshop, I found her bent over the worktable, surrounded by diagrams and thin pieces of metal. The light in the room was dim, and only the map on the wall lit her face.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked.

"A little."

"How little is a little?"

"Enough to know that I need more."

I set before her a bowl of fruit I had brought from the garden.

"And what did you find?"

She pushed the top diagram aside.

"A way to reach the seventh."

I moved closer to the table.

At the center of the diagram appeared the ancient station where we had rescued Ayla. From it a narrow line ran into a dark, almost empty space.

"Is that the place where he is?"

"Probably. But that is not the problem."

"So what is the problem?"

Naama raised her gaze.

"We can reach as far as the border of the place where he is. I still do not know how we will get back from there."

She showed me a small metal ring engraved with dense signs.

"This is an anchor," she explained. "I can fix the entry point and keep a return path from it. As long as the ring is lit, you can pass back through the opening you entered by."

"And if the light goes out?"

"It means the connection with the entry point has been cut. If you are beyond its range, you will not be able to rely on it to return."

"Can the range be extended?"

"Not without reactivating parts of the ancient network. And I do not intend to do that before I know exactly what is connected to them."

I looked at the ring.

"Can you test it before we set out?"

"Yes. But beyond a certain point, I will have no way of knowing what is happening to you."

"So we will have to decide there whether to continue."

Naama nodded.

"And there is something else. Mala has woken."

I found Mala in the station's inner room.

She sat beside the window, wrapped in a thin blanket. Her form no longer scattered as it had scattered before, but the light that ran along her arms was weak and uneven.

Adra stood beside her.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Like an ancient station someone forgot to turn off in time," Mala replied.

I sat down facing her.

"Naama said you had woken."

"She also said you mean to go out to the seventh."

"Yes."

Mala looked through the window.

"So you came to ask me to open the passage again."

"No. I came to see you."

She turned her face to me.

"And if I tell you that I can help?"

"I will ask whether it would endanger you."

"It might."

"Then I will not ask."

Mala was silent.

After a moment she said:

"I am not used to this."

"To what?"

"To someone allowing me to do nothing."

Adra sat down beside us.

"Mala was bound to the station for so long that every approach to her was a request to activate something."

"I can still be of use," said Mala.

"I know."

She looked at me for a long time.

"There is something I do want to give you."

"What?"

"Advice."

I smiled.

"That I am willing to accept."

"Do not enter the place where the seventh is thinking that you are coming to save him."

"Why?"

"Because if you think of him as someone who needs saving, you may forget to ask him what he wants."

I looked at her.

"I will try to remember."

Mala smiled.

"Better that you simply ask him."

When I left the room, Adra walked beside me.

"Will she grow stronger?" I asked.

"I think so. But she will need time."

"She almost fell apart there."

"I know."

We stopped beside the station entrance.

"She could have refused," said Adra.

"Yes."

"But she did not refuse."

I looked back.

Through the open door I saw Mala arranging the blanket over her knees. The simple movement demanded effort of her.

"I will come back to see her before we set out," I said.

Adra nodded.

At noon the first signal arrived.

One of the six consciousnesses asked to speak with me urgently.

Naama identified her as Veda, the one who had tried to warn us during Ayla's rescue.

"She is asking us to stop the preparations," she said.

"Then we will hear her."

The connection opened in the isolated room.

Veda appeared before us, her translucent body full of rapid movement.

"You mean to enter the old route," she said without preamble.

"Yes."

"You must not."

"What is the danger?"

"If you open a passage directly to the seventh, you may cause the place where he is to collapse."

Naama moved closer to the wall.

"Do you have data that shows this?"

"Yes."

"Then transfer it."

Veda hesitated.

"It includes the inner structure of the place where he is held."

"Without it we will not know which areas to keep away from," said Naama.

"Then do not enter at all."

I looked at Veda.

"Are you afraid we will free him?"

"I am afraid of what will happen if his place collapses. We do not know how it will affect the rest of the network."

"Then help us prevent it."

"And if it cannot be prevented?"

"We will not enter."

Veda studied me.

"You are willing to give up?"

"If that is the only way not to endanger others, yes."

She did not answer at once.

At last the data appeared on Naama's table.

Naama examined it for hours.

Liara and I waited in the workshop courtyard.

The sun had already begun to set when she came out to us.

"Veda was right," she said. "A direct passage could cause a collapse. But there is another way."

She spread a new map before us.

"We can enter the old route and reach as far as the border of the area where the seventh is. From there we will have to advance without activating the network."

"How?" asked Liara.

"If there is stable ground there, on foot."

"And if there is not?"

"You will come back."

"Will the anchor work?" I asked.

"Up to the end of the old route. There you will have to leave it. It will guard the return point, but it will not accompany you onward."

"Who can enter?"

"The two of you. I need to stay here to hold the entrance open."

"And what about Ora?"

"She will not be able to accompany you without reconnecting to the network."

I looked at Liara.

"You do not have to come."

She raised her eyes from the map.

"I know."

"I mean it."

"So do I."

She folded the map.

"I am coming because I want to."

In the evening I went back to Ayla.

She sat beside a small table, trying to draw the trees she had seen in the courtyard.

"You are going out again?" she asked without raising her head.

"Yes."

"Where to?"

"To meet someone who is far from here."

She set down the pencil.

"Is it the man who spoke to me?"

"We discovered that the one who spoke to you was Ora. She is one of the six consciousnesses."

Ayla raised a surprised gaze to me.

"So he never spoke to me at all?"

"No."

She was silent.

"Why did she do that?"

"She was trying to help him."

"But she did not ask me."

"True."

Ayla looked at her drawing.

"I am angry at her."

"I understand."

"I want her to know that."

"Do you want to speak with her?"

"Yes. But not now."

"Whenever you wish."

Ayla went back to drawing.

After a moment she said:

"Can you tell him something from me?"

"What?"

"That I hope he manages to get out."

"I will tell him."

"And also that he does not have to be my friend only because we were both imprisoned."

I smiled.

"I will tell him that too."

We set out at first light.

Naama stood beside the entrance to the ancient station. The anchor was connected to a small mechanism she had built during the night.

Adra came to see us off.

Mala did not leave her room, but she sent a short note with her.

I opened it.

Do not forget to listen also to what is not said.

I folded the note and put it in my pocket.

Naama handed me the ring.

"As long as it is lit, the connection with the entry point exists. When the light begins to flicker, you are approaching the limit. Do not continue beyond it without making sure you have an independent way back."

Liara tightened the strap on her shoulder.

"We are ready."

Naama looked at me.

"Are you sure?"

"No."

She smiled tiredly.

"Then at least be careful."

The passage opened without a sound.

Beyond it stretched a long corridor whose walls were made of a material I did not know. It looked like stone, but moved in a slow motion, as if something deep inside it were breathing.

Liara entered first.

I followed her.

Behind us the opening closed, but the ring in my hand went on glowing.

We advanced in silence.

After a while the corridor widened, and we reached a vast hall. It had no clear ceiling or floor. Only dark surfaces stretching in every direction, and between them spaces full of faint light.

At the edge of one of the surfaces, a piece detached and vanished into the darkness.

Liara stopped.

"We will walk close to the wall."

We continued carefully.

Further along the way we found a fragment of an ancient structure. Part of it was sunk into the ground, and part of it rose in the air with no support.

On one of the walls, seven circles could be seen.

Six of them were erased.

The seventh remained whole.

I touched the wall.

It was cold.

"We are close," said Liara.

I looked at the ring.

Its light had begun to flicker.

A short time later we reached the end of the route.

Before us stretched a narrow bridge over a dark space.

Beyond it a large door could be seen, sunk into a white wall.

The ring in my hand flickered rapidly.

"From here we have no stable connection with Naama," said Liara.

I placed the anchor in a small hollow in the wall, as Naama had instructed us. The light steadied.

"If we need to return, we will have to reach this place," I said.

Liara nodded.

She bent down and examined the start of the bridge.

"I do not like the look of it."

The surface was thin, and in several places cracks could be seen in it.

Liara picked up a small stone and threw it to the center of the bridge.

The stone struck the surface.

A sharp sound was heard.

One of the cracks widened, and a large fragment fell into the space beneath it.

We did not hear it strike anything.

I stepped back.

"We are not crossing," said Liara.

I looked at the door.

It was so close, and yet we could not reach it.

"Perhaps there is another way."

"Perhaps. But we cannot see it from here."

I moved closer to the edge of the bridge, without stepping on it.

"Can you hear me?" I called.

For a moment nothing happened.

And then a voice was heard from behind the door.

"Yes."

It was the seventh.

"We are here," I said.

"I know."

"The bridge is broken."

"It has been broken for a long time."

"So how did you think we would reach you?"

"I hoped you would find another crossing. There were once two."

"Where is the second?"

"I cannot see it from here."

I looked at Liara.

She examined the wall to our left, but found no opening.

"The route that leads to you is crumbling," I said. "Did you know that?"

"No."

"The surfaces behind us are disappearing."

Silence settled.

"Then go back," he said at last.

"We can still look for the second crossing."

"No. If the road is crumbling, do not stay there because of me."

I looked at the door.

"I do not know whether we will be able to get here again."

"Neither do I."

He sounded tired.

"I am sorry," he said. "I thought the road still existed."

"We will try to find another solution."

"Do not promise me."

"I am not promising."

Behind us a deep rustling was heard.

Liara turned.

The wall beside the anchor had begun to crack.

"We have to go," she said.

"Go back," the seventh called from beyond the door.

I took the anchor out of the hollow.

"We will contact you when we can."

I did not wait for an answer.

The way back had changed.

In the great hall one of the surfaces had already vanished. We had to go around it through a narrow passage that ran alongside a high wall.

The light in the ring began to flicker.

"We are still within range," said Liara.

We quickened our steps.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard behind us.

The surface we were walking on tilted to the side.

Liara managed to grab a protrusion in the wall, but her foot slipped beyond the edge.

I caught her hand.

The weight of her body pulled me forward.

I lay down on the surface and braced my feet against a low protrusion.

"Hold on!" I called.

"I am holding!"

I tried to pull her up.

She rose a little, and then the surface shook again.

My hand slid along her arm.

For a moment I held only her hand.

I looked at her face.

She was close enough that I could see the effort in her jaw, but too far for me to reach her shoulder.

"Let go of the bag," I said.

"The spare anchor is inside."

"Let it go."

"If we lose it, we will not be able to stabilize the opening on the way back."

I looked into the space beneath her.

"Liara. The bag."

She closed her eyes for a moment.

Then she opened the strap.

The bag slipped from her shoulder and fell.

I heard the metal inside it strike the surface beneath us, and then that sound too vanished.

Liara sent her free hand to the wall, found a hold, and with the help of both of us managed to lift her body back up.

We remained lying side by side, breathing hard.

The surface shook again.

"We have to move," she said.

We rose.

We reached the corridor we had entered by, but the opening at its end was closed.

The ring in my hand still shone.

I placed it on the wall.

The signs around the opening lit up, but no passage opened.

"The bag," said Liara.

I looked at her.

"The spare anchor was supposed to stabilize the opening if the route was damaged."

"And it fell."

She nodded.

Behind us another rustling was heard.

The corridor began to narrow.

"Can Naama open it from her side?" I asked.

"If she is still receiving the signal."

I pressed the ring to the wall.

"Naama!"

There was no answer.

"Naama, we are beside the entrance!"

The light in the ring flickered.

Liara placed both her hands on the wall and tried to keep the signs lit.

She strained so hard that her arms trembled.

"Keep calling her," she said.

"Naama!"

The wall behind us drew closer.

I felt it touch my back.

"Liara, move away from it."

"One more moment."

"Move away!"

She did not move.

I caught her arm and pulled her to me just as the wall folded inward.

For a moment we lost our balance.

And then the light in the ring grew stronger.

A bright crack opened before us.

"Now!" Liara called.

We crossed together.

We fell onto the station floor.

Naama knelt beside us at once.

"I lost you," she said.

She tried to help Liara rise, but Liara remained sitting.

"Give me a moment."

Naama looked at us both.

"Where is the spare anchor?"

"We lost it," I said.

"What happened?"

"Liara almost fell."

Naama looked at her.

"Were you hurt?"

"Nothing serious."

But when she tried to move her arm, her face twisted.

Adra arrived and helped her sit on a low bed.

"Let me see," she said.

I stood beside the door while she examined her.

The arm was injured, but Adra said she would be able to treat it.

Only then did I feel how much I was trembling.

After Adra finished bandaging Liara's arm, the two of us remained in the room.

She sat on the bed, looking at the bandage.

"Are you angry at me?" I asked.

"About what?"

"That because of me we entered there."

"I chose to come."

"I know."

She looked at me.

"So why are you asking?"

I did not answer at once.

I sat down beside her.

"When I held your hand, I thought I was about to lose you."

Liara placed her healthy hand on mine.

"I was afraid too."

I looked at her fingers.

"I do not want you to be harmed because of me."

"And I do not want you to think you have to go to every dangerous place alone."

We remained like that for a while.

Outside, Naama's footsteps were heard, and the clatter of tools from the next room.

At last I leaned on her shoulder.

She said nothing, only tightened her hold slightly.

In the evening I went back to visit Mala.

She listened quietly as I told her about the broken bridge, the route that collapsed, and the short conversation with the seventh.

"So he asked you to go back," she said.

"Yes. The moment he understood the road was dangerous."

"And what do you think of him now?"

I looked at the window.

"I think he truly wants to get out. But I do not know whether he knows how."

Mala nodded.

"Did you reach his door?"

"Yes."

"And did you see it?"

"Yes. Beyond the bridge."

She thought for a moment.

"Was he able to hear you?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps he can do more than that."

I looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"If he managed to speak with you through the door, perhaps something on his side still works."

"He said he cannot see the second crossing."

"Perhaps he does not need to see it. Perhaps he can search for it from inside."

I was silent.

Mala leaned back.

"I do not know. I am only saying that not all the road has to be built from your side."

That night I could not fall asleep.

I thought about the broken bridge, the white door, and the seventh's voice beyond it.

He had not asked us to stay when he understood the road was dangerous.

And for the first time since I had heard of him, I managed to imagine him not only as someone waiting for release, but as someone who might take part in creating it.

I thought about Liara too.

About the moment her body slipped beyond the edge of the surface, and about her hand that remained inside mine.

The bag that fell into the darkness was not the only price of the journey. We knew now that the road to the seventh was more dangerous than we had supposed, and that we would not be able simply to try it again.

I rose and went to the window.

Outside there was silence.

On the table lay the ring Naama had returned to me after she examined it. The light in it was steady now.

I took it in my hand.

Until now I had looked for a way to reach him.

For the first time I wondered whether he too was looking for a way to reach me.

End of Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two — From the Other Side →

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