Chapter 32: Solving Contradictions

Contacting the third of the three races awoken from the Atene hibernation chamber is going to be easier said than done. We know very little about the Hrill. As far as we know, they have had minimal contact with the Atenex, and none with Thurn. Tambara told us that the Merope sometimes trade with the Hrill, but she was unable, or unwilling, to provide details.

The Atenex, or elves as Thurnians incorrectly call them, have had an uneasy association with Thurn for over fifty years. Not only did Cassandra’s and my forebears kidnap over a hundred female ‘elf maidens’ and take them back to Thurn, but they enslaved the elven women and fucked them like whores. Unfortunately, that situation hasn’t changed much in the intervening years despite my own efforts to persuade the Thurn government to make improvements. Back in Thurn, adult elves are second class citizens with few legal rights. Worse still, young and adolescent elves are regarded as nothing more than semiintelligent animals. Even now, adolescent elves are forced to work in Thurn’s factories, mines and farms for minimal pay. I’m not sure that introducing another race into the mix is going to be of benefit to the Hrill.

Despite the disgraceful treatment of Thurn’s elves, the survival of the Atenex race owes much to the rampant breeding of Elf Maidens in Thurn. Because all elves born in Thurn are clones of their mother, the Atenex female population now exceeds the number of male Atenex by a considerable margin. Contact between elves in Thurn and the freeborn Atenex has been limited, so the gender mix among freeborn Atenex is more balanced. However, that situation is already changing after the disastrous decline in male Atenex fertility. For the first time in recorded history, Thurnian men have been allowed to breed with freeborn Atenex females. While that should stem any decline in the Atenex population, it creates an even worse gender skew. Nor does it help a similar reproduction problem in Thurn. The static, possibly declining, population of native Thurnians, is a stubborn problem needing some serious research to find a solution.

When we set off from Atene, we knew that our mission to find another of the five hibernation chambers, or Potiora, would bring us into contact with one or more other races. However we are illprepared to deal with the information the strange machine that controls the Merope Potiora tells us. Apparently the Hrill are suffering a catastrophic decline in population, and may soon face extinction. The Merope machine suggests we help solve the Hrill’s problem in the same way that my forebears unintentionally solved the Atenex struggle to maintain a viable population. I’m unsure what good will come from us making contact with the Hrill, but we should at least try.

Our group has met with the leaders of the only race awoken from the Merope chamber. If their leaders are to be believed, their population is already several times larger than the combined populations of Thurnians, Atenex and Hrill. Furthermore, the Merope technology is more advanced than anything used in Thurn or Atene. Which means that the Merope are far better placed to help the Hrill, but they show no inclination to do so. The Merope no longer visit their Potiora, and the vast knowledge stored in the machine is ignored. Instead, the Merope, or at least their leaders, are embarking on a mission of world domination. They anticipate that in a few generations their population will grow large enough to expand into Atene and Thurn. I suspect the Merope leaders would be perfectly content for the Hrill to become extinct. Thurnians and Atenex may one day share the same fate if the Merope leaders have their way.

“We could learn a lot by spending some time here at the Merope Potiora,” says Cassandra. “Not least of which are answers the anomalies between what the Dioxippe machine told us at the Atene Poriora, and what the Merope machine is telling us here.”

“I agree,” adds Ikaroa, who was Cassandra’s research partner during our time in Atene. “Dioxippe was adamant that this is the world on which our distant ancestors evolved, Merope says that it isn’t. One of them must be wrong. I would like to discover the truth.”

“I would also like to discover more, including learning some of the knowledge stored in the Merope machine,” I reply. “However, that will take several months, and time isn’t something we have in abundance. We promised to return to Atene within six months; at least a month before any pregnant Atenex gave birth. It has taken us nearly a month to reach here from Atene, and a return journey travelling against the river current will be much slower. Added to which, we will need to carry the boats around the rapids that initially delayed us. That won’t be easy if nearly half of our party is pregnant. The longer we delay returning to Atene, the harder our journey will become.”

“We should also try to locate the Hrill,” says Makareta. “We aren’t likely to get another chance once we return to Atene. I estimate that we have three months before we need to start our journey back to Atene.”

I’m reluctant to suggest dividing our small party, but doing so offers the best chance of achieving both goals. Fortunately there is general agreement when I suggest the idea. Cassandra, Ikaroa, Defina35, and I will remain at the Merope Potiora. Meanwhile Makareta, Ihapera, Whina and Emere will try and locate the Hrill. I think we all understand the risks of dividing into such a small groups. The river and surrounding jungle are home to several species of beasts. Although most of them seem harmless if left alone, none of us fool ourselves into believing that there aren’t dangerous predators lurking nearby.

We move most of our supplies into the Merope tower. Makareta’s party can travel faster without the burden of excess supplies. The second wakawaka is taken out of the water and stored inside the tower. Leaving it moored in the river would be asking for trouble. The river provides both drinking water and a plentiful supply of fish, so Makareta’s party can easily find food on their journey. Both Whina and Emere grew up in a riverside settlement, so they will be familiar with edible plants that grow near the water. We, on the other hand, must forage in the thick, and potentially hostile jungle, or eat from our stored supplies.

We discuss Makareta’s exploration plan, although it is little more than a rough strategy. Apart from a squiggly line on the map I drew back in Atene, we have no idea how far upstream the river is navigable, nor anything about the terrain surrounding it. From what little we know about the Hrill, they are apparently genetically suited to a dry desertlike environment. In other words, nothing like the damp jungle surrounding us here.

Makareta promises to return here no later than ten weeks from today. I would have preferred a shorter absence, but she and her party may need to travel a long distance. Besides, our research here could easily take that long to make any sense of what we hope to learn.

We part company early the next morning, and Cassandra, Ikaroa and I begin our own ambitious task. Defina35’s skills are vocational rather than academic, and she excels at metalwork. She finds some scraps of metal, presumably leftovers from when the Merope race abandoned this area. Before long she is producing a variety of tools and more than a few weapons.

Cassandra, Ikaroa and I make good progress with our research over the next week. Ikaroa is still in heat, so she and I are occasionally distracted by sexual urges that we need to satisfy. Cassandra soon overcomes her morning sickness, although Rawiri demands some of her time whenever he gets hungry. The Merope intelligence that controls the Potiora provides answers when asked direct questions. However, after its initial bout of helpfulness it rarely volunteers additional information. Consequently we spend a lot of our time trying to work out what questions to ask. We gradually build up a clearer picture of the origins of the Potiora, and why our ancient forebears created them.