Harmony

For the next few hours as they made and ate lunch, Suria determinedly focussed her mind away from disturbing thoughts about death and alternate realities. She reverted back to the possibility that their reality was as they saw it: a nice existence here for now, with some nebulous operation occurring in the future, and missing memories to be recovered. The decision to go to Versena had been made, and they were taking their destiny in their own hands, together. This line of thinking gladdened her, and she clung to it.

Nonetheless, the oddness of the village, in comparison to her knowledge bank, continued to puzzle her. There was some purpose here, some reality that she was not grasping. No matter how she rationalised their existence, there was no denying the strangeness of the environment they were living in. It was a whole other world, and it was not even remotely making sense to her, especially now.

As they packed their backpacks in the equipment room after lunch, Arias wandered up to her, speaking as if her prior thoughts had been expressed out loud.

“This is another world, amigo, another world,” he said.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking!” Suria was grateful for the opportunity discuss this angle. She knew he could have easily chosen to discuss the alternate reality and death thoughts of earlier. She knew he was aware of this and was being sensitive to the whole situation. So typical of him. She loved Arias and was so grateful he was here in this group with her.

“Everything in the world depend on cars, roads, trains. All types of vehicles. There is none of those here.” Arias was as puzzled as she was.

“I know, I know. It’s so hard to work out why this is. How did they build these houses and this community centre if they couldn’t drive construction vehicles here?”

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I do not know. This is another world,” he repeated.

Rocsi appeared to have overheard them, wandering up to talk as well. Suria glanced at her with a look of bewilderment, hoping that maybe she had some ideas.

“Well, guys, I haven’t the faintest idea how they built this goddamn village, but they sure as heck did a good job of it. How did it get built without roads? Perhaps the biggest mystery of all. Hey, maybe we’ll find out in a day or so! Anyways, Tau asked me to ask y’all if there were any special requests for tomorrow night’s campfire dinner?” Rocsi was back to business. It appeared to be her way of dealing with the same disturbing thoughts they had all had recently.

“Nothing from me, but thanks for asking. Arias?” Suria turned to Arias but he simply shook his head.

“Okay then! We finally get to go! I’m so tired of not knowing. I want this freakin’ thing to end one way or another.” Rocsi’s enthusiasm wasn’t all that convincing. Not this time. She turned and walked away, clearly masking her own discomfort.

There wasn’t anything Suria could say in response as Rocsi departed. She felt the same way.

They all had dinner together that night, but from the food machines. Tau was too drained to cook, he said, which they all understood. Rais suggested they all get an early night. The next day was going to be a long one, he said. Suria took his suggestion on board, as did Pixie, but a few of the others stayed back and played cards for a while, as a distraction, they said.

Suria’s bedroom had a different feel that night. The walls seemed less mystical and more confining. The threat of this whole world being nothing but an elaborate psychological trap hung over her thoughts. She was aware that she was doing this to herself; that her thoughts were self-defeating and she could change them if she willed it enough. She was running out of the motivation to do so. It was all too hard, and the hope that Versena would solve everything was just too vague for her liking. It was just a place on the map. What could it possibly offer? It took a good few hours of tossing and turning before she could sleep.

Suria woke just after dawn. It was now September 27, 1975, her twenty-first day in the village. Her shower was not nearly as uplifting as her previous ones had been. Something had changed and she didn’t like it. At least today there was action being taken. No more waiting.

When she got over to the community centre with Pixie, the mood was sombre. So it wasn’t just her. Rais attempted to cheer them all up with a typically enthusiastic welcome, but even he didn’t believe his own words. This worried Suria more than anything. She’d placed so much faith in his judgement, and if he was losing it, maybe they were all doomed.

Her companions were unzipping and rezipping compartments in their backpacks, filling water bottles and the like. There was very little chatter. The grey skies this morning, along with the mist present in the lower sections of the valley, created a different atmosphere than the one she was used to. The air was quite still and therefore Suria could hear birds chirping all around the valley. She felt some butterflies in her stomach as she realised what the group were about to do. Her mind wavered a little more towards the positive, and she allowed it to.

She had built up Versena in her mind as being not just the centre of this operation they were supposed to be a part of, but of resolving all their questions about their reality and their memories. As such, she thought they would find out much that would help them, including who the originators of the messages were, and why there was a delay in giving them the information they so desperately craved about why and how they came to be here. Not to mention the recent thoughts of death and the possible unreality of their whole situation.

Movement amongst the group intensified. Some of them started getting their packs on. The walk was about to start. Suria gathered her pack up and hoisted it onto her back. The sense of purpose and determination within the group was now clearly perceptible. They were seizing the moment and taking control of their destiny. At least that was worth feeling positive about. Soon they were all together at the top of the path in front of the community centre, ready to start walking. The graveness of the moment was such that no-one was speaking.

“All right guys!” announced Rocsi, shattering the silence. Her voice was clear and strong, and it imbued Suria with determination to get through this experience no matter how hard it got, either physically, mentally, or both. “I’ve been looking into our route with Rivo and Arias. This is what we’ve decided. It’s going to take about a day and a half. We could get there in a day if we really, really pushed it, but it’s not worth the physical pain we’d all go through. We’ll camp on a river on the other side of a mountain ridge, and then head for Versena the next morning. We’ll only need a few hours tomorrow to reach it.” Suria began to get butterflies again. This was really happening.

Rocsi continued. “There’s a road on the map not far from where we plan to camp. With any luck we might find someone on the road who we can talk to, and perhaps catch a ride into Versena from there. If not, it’s only about another two hours’ easy walk. Hope that sounds good to y’all?” Rocsi was confident they’d made the right decision on their route. That was good enough for Suria.

“Yes it does, Rocsi. How far we walk, all up?” Rais asked.

Rocsi glanced at Arias and he answered instead. “About eighteen kilometres today, and nine tomorrow, mostly downhill. Path will be steep later on, so we need to go easy. Our walk to the lookout a few days ago was fourteen kilometres, so today is not much more than that.”

“Okay thanks Arias. Everyone good?” Rais’ words were met with agreeance form the group. “Okay, let us head out!”

With Rais’ words, they were on their way. As they started walking down the path, away from the village, Suria felt her anticipation a little more keenly. Hope flourished a little more. She walked with Arias, Bia and Rais at the back of the group. She could hear some other smatterings of conversations ahead of her, but the four of them at the back walked in silence. She was fine with that, as she now at least keen to once again see the path she took up to the village on her first day, in the opposite direction. The path was already unrecognisable going the other way, even though she’d seen it before.

Not long into the walk, it started raining. The sky had been overcast all morning, so the rain wasn’t a surprise. It wasn’t heavy and was not much beyond a light drizzle. It seemed to match the overall mood. For the first week or so it had been sunny, and everything was nice. Now, just as general mood suffered a downturn, so did the weather.

The rain got heavier. It looked like it would settle in for a while, so they stopped to put on their wet weather clothing. Discussion was minimal. Suria was at least somewhat enjoying the outdoors, the exercise, and the sense of adventure. Her mood was improved. She would accept her fate. The outdoors was stimulating enough to her that she didn’t feel like talking anyway. She preferred being alone with her thoughts for the time being.

Going was slow due to the wet ground. When they reached the positions where Arias and Rocsi awoke, the drizzle had stopped. The group took a short break as Arias and Rocsi reminisced on their first impressions of the valley, and how they saw the village right away. It was certainly visible to Suria from here, as she looked back up the path they had just travelled down.

They started walking again and before too much longer they also reached Suria’s awakening point. She barely recognised it as there wasn’t any distinctive marker on the path or the stream that she was able to remember. She did however have a clearer recall of the forest where she had been on her first morning in the valley. Reaching the forest had happened quite quickly this morning, compared to her first day. She was hardly even tired. It was, however, approaching lunch time.

The circumstances of her turning around didn’t seem important anymore. There were bigger things to deal with now. When she arrived at her turnaround point, she mentioned it briefly in conversation, but they all ploughed straight on through it. The whole group atmosphere was different now, and there was not much discussion beyond a bit of small talk. Suria didn’t like it, but that was how things were for now. They all knew where they were going and what they wanted when they got there.

They began walking again soon enough. The rain recommenced, this time more heavily than before. Rais called for them to make a dash for the forest, only a short distance away. Under the shelter of the thick pine trees, the rain was much less of a problem. They caught their breath for a bit and took in some water. Running with full packs on was not easy and they were all breathing hard. Wet weather clothing came back out and after a rest and some lunch, they were ready to push on. The rain then eased somewhat and the forest seemed like it would provide cover.

Within an hour or so after lunch, they were out the other side of the forest. Here the terrain changed into slightly rolling hills, covered in lush green grass, before flattening right out into a valley. The stream continued to meander quietly along, next to the path. It had been a pleasant companion here, as it was back in the village. The water was a beautiful aqua colour, and it drew Suria’s eye as she walked along, this time with Gimi and Rivo at the front.

Through the other side of the valley they deviated away from their stream, the one they had lived near or walked next to for the past three weeks. It was kind of sad, leaving it behind. To Suria it signified a departure from everything they had known so far, since waking up. The significance of this was not lost on her.

Away from the stream, they began the slow, steep climb up the mountain. The path had narrowed significantly and they were forced to walk in single file. Breaks were more frequent as it was getting harder to maintain a solid pace for too long as the steepness of the path increased. Suria was coping well physically at least, thinking that their little walks here and there over the past few weeks and their volleyball games had prepared her well for this day.

Near the top of the climb they reached part of a mountain ridge. The summit towered above them to their right and the view was extending and extending as they got higher. The trees had all but disappeared by this point and the sun was sinking lower in the sky. Suria overheard Rocsi tell Arias and Rivo, during one of their breaks, that she thought they were a little behind schedule. Still, most of the hard work was done, she said. Rocsi told the group that they had about three kilometres to go, all downhill, to their proposed campsite. They should make it well before sundown, she said.

Towards the top of the mountain ridge, some pretty yellow flowers were dotted here and there, brightening Suria’s mood and adding even more vibrancy to the rich green grass that covered this part of the mountain. Soon, they reached the top of the ridge, and then they could see it: the lake.

It was bigger than she expected. The deep blue waters reflected the sunlight, contrasting with the lush green grass and expanses of forest surrounding it. The silence of the whole scene made them pause and stare at for a few moments as a group. She tried to find Versena somewhere in the distance but it wasn’t visible from this part of the mountains. It must be obscured by the forests or perhaps one of the peaks still in their path.

Rais called for a rest break. They could see their proposed campsite from here, though. It was on the bend of another stream, and perhaps only a few kilometres or so down the mountain. It presented as an inviting location to spend the night outdoors. This stream was quite a bit larger than theirs was, so it was probably more apt to call it a river. They followed the single file trail along the edge of another extensive pine forest, losing sight of the river for a few hours, and then finding it again just as the sun was starting to get close to the horizon.

As they arrived, the sun was beginning to set. Rais urged them to collect as much wood as possible before it got dark, so that they could get a fire going and set up their campsite. Their tents were easy to set up and quite comfortable on top of the thick green grass next to the river. The gently flowing water nearby was calming, and it was not particularly cold, so Suria thought she would sleep quite well tonight. She had admittedly been expecting an uncomfortable rest, based on how Le and the others had described their night in the aircraft. Now that she was here, she was more optimistic than she had been that morning.

They had brought some cards with them and played various different games around the fire after dinner. They laughed and enjoyed themselves in a unique environment, enjoying each other’s company, as they always did. For an hour or so, Suria almost forgot the bad feelings she’d had for the last day or so. Then the game ended, and the sombreness returned, as if it had never left.

As they turned in for the night, Rais arranged a shift watch, with one of them always awake for a while, and then waking the next person in the list. Their only tasks while on watch were to keep the fire going, raise the alarm if any animals wandered into the campsite, and keep tabs on the weather in case it started raining again. Thankfully, there was hardly any wind, the rain stayed away and all they heard was a few birds in the nearby trees from time to time, above the gentle sounds of the river flowing.

Suria had a good night’s sleep, albeit punctuated by her turns awake watching the campsite. Thankfully she only had to do it twice, roughly twenty minutes each time. It was difficult estimating time without watches, so Rais devised a unique method of moving small rocks around in a circle on a piece of cloth every ten seconds or so. The person on watch had to guess how long ten seconds was, but it wasn’t too hard. It kept the mind occupied, at the very least. If they’d had a watch, it probably wasn’t too far off twenty minutes in real time. It was quite ingenious. Thus, they all got approximately eight hours sleep and only had to be awake for roughly forty minutes within those eight hours. It was a bit too military for Suria’s liking, but it seemed to work as it made them feel safe and secure and it was kind of nice when she had responsibility for everyone else’s welfare.

Not long after dawn most of them were awake and moving around in their tents and in the campsite. Suria didn’t need much urging to get out of her sleeping bag and get moving. It was now September 28, 1975, and Suria internally was calling it Answer Day. She even voiced the term out loud to Pixie, who liked it immediately. They were going to Versena and they were going to get answers, no matter what. It only took a single look from Pixie to know what her best friend was feeling. No words were required. For Pixie, too, it was answer day. Suria was certain the whole group felt the same way.

Once they had washed themselves as best they could in the river water and packed up their tents and sleeping gear, they had breakfast. It was clear what was on everyone’s minds. They were all moving with purpose around the campsite and no-one was saying anything. Nothing needed to be said. Once everything was packed up and in their backpacks, they settled down to their prepared breakfast.

Rocsi was as determined and as keen as Suria had ever seen her. In fact, she broke the silence with such passion in her voice that the whole group turned to look at her.

“This is the freakin’ day, my friends. The day! We find out today what’s really going on – I’m sure of it! It’s been a long time not knowing anything. Finally we’ll know!” She was staring miles off into the distance, her expression unreadable. Not for the first time, Suria wondered how much angst the others were going through. She dared not ask.

“It’s been a long three weeks. I can’t wait either Rocsi.” Pixie was well and truly over it all. That much was obvious.

“It scares me, though, guys.” Prina’s voice was small.

“How so, Prina?” Rivo didn’t know what Prina was thinking, which surprised Suria.

“I love you guys, all of you. I know I have family, I must have, but how can I leave you all? It doesn’t feel like it’s possible,” she said. “Even with all the bad things we have found out lately, we still care about each other and we are all still together. Whatever happens, we are together. I don’t want us to be apart.”

“I am the same, Prina. I love you all too. Every last one of you. I am so glad you used the word ‘love’ because that’s what it is. That is what I feel when I think of each one of you. The good times, the hard times, the teamwork, the fun, the joy. It is all because of you. I don’t want to leave you. Maybe ever. But we might have to.” Suria might have expected Neca, the emotional one, to speak these words, but it was Arias who said them. He was on the verge of tears.

Rocsi, sitting next to him, leaned over and gave him a hug. Her expression and tone was subdued. “I love you too, Arias. And everyone else: I love you all. Oh god. Maybe we should have stayed there in the village. Maybe this wasn’t the right thing to do. I’ve been pushing for this for so long. Now I’m wondering if we should turn back. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking us up.” Rocsi’s voice was breaking with emotion.

Tau responded to her. “You won’t be, Rocsi, you won’t be. We all wanted this. One in all in, and we were all convinced. There’s too much darkness beneath the surface now. We all felt it yesterday. What if it gets worse? What if we’d stayed and hoped for something to save us? No. That’s not us. We won’t sit still and blindly accept our fate. We’ll charge into it and take whatever comes, however good or bad it is.”

Suria could feel the knife’s edge they were all on at these words from Tau.

Le was in tears too, as she spoke. “Whatever happen today, we fight through it. We survive. If it bad, it bad. If good, okay. But we go through it together.” She wiped her eyes, looking grave.

Suria despaired again, knowing that Le might ultimately be right. The crumbling of their world hit her full force again, and she felt the blackness encroaching. The dam wall she’d been holding back threatened to break.

Just before it did, the goddamn waves of peace arrived again.

Suria could even hear Rocsi’s voice in her head, describing them in that manner.

Some exasperated sighs broke from the group. She heard Bia, Pixie and Gimi. They were all struggling with this rollercoaster ride as much as she was. It needed to end, as it was getting worse. The waves of peace this time seemed more intelligently useful though. There was an intuitive, guiding presence to them. Her thoughts were on amore even keel now, and there was calmness where uncertainty had previously been.

Was this just a false dawn, or was it real? It might be real. Suria felt hope, and in that moment, realised how long it had been since that emotion had been present. She refocussed onto what was already starting to happen: the group were packing up the campsite.

Down came the tents, folded up quickly and packed away, along with the rest of the items they had taken out of their packs. The breakfast fire was extinguished and the ashes scattered to allow the grass to regrow. This was Rivo’s suggestion; a way of preserving the natural environment, he said. Suria loved the respect for the environment and the sense of goodness this gesture evoked.

She was a bit sore from the long walk the day before, but once she got walking, she was back into the rhythm and the discomfort eased. There had been a slight change of plan for the journey. Instead of heading for the road across the expanses of grass, they stayed on the same narrow path that pointed to Versena, as it was shorter. There were no guarantees of finding cars on the road, Rais said, so he had discussed with Rocsi, Rivo and Arias the prospect of taking the same path through a different valley and saving about a kilometre of walking. They all agreed it was the better option. In less than two hours, Rocsi said, they would arrive at Versena.

The tenuous hope from earlier remained as they began their walk. It was fragile, but it was there. Was the storm of negative emotions over now? Had everything been purged, leaving a more solid grip on reality? For a moment, Suria visualised the crossing of an emotional ravine on a narrow and rickety bridge. The baggage that had been unknowingly weighing them down had perhaps been welcomely tossed into the ravine, and they were across the other side, never to encounter it again.

The ravine was still there, just behind them and fresh in their memory. It was enough of a warning for her not to take anything for granted. Maybe there were more ravines to cross yet. That seemed distinctly possible. She could only be hopeful for now, nothing more.

The sky was a deep blue this morning as they stepped away from their campsite. After a short climb over the smaller ridge in front of the lake, they found themselves in a narrow valley with steep slopes on either side. They could now see the lake again, but still no Versena. On the other side of the lake were more mountains and forests, stretching off into the distance. The blue water contrasted with the surrounding greenness of the trees on the lake shore and was even prettier at this closer distance. The water radiated cleanliness and purity. The forests, too, were vibrant and full of life. She could see more bird movement here than in their village. It was a peaceful scene, but their destination was not yet visible. They continued walking, and after another thirty minutes or so, around the next bend in the path, they finally saw it.

On the lake, jutting out on a small peninsula of land: Versena.

On first viewing, there appeared to be several dozen buildings, of varying sizes. It was hard to make them all out. They were surrounded by flat expanses of grass and a perimeter of trees right on the water’s edge, as well as trees scattered through the middle of the town. The lake glistened in the morning sun. The excitement amongst the group lifted and was clearly felt at finally seeing their intended goal. However, as they got closer, Suria had a feeling of foreboding she couldn’t easily dismiss. A little farther on, she knew what it was that didn’t seem right about this place.

She could not see any movement at all.

No vehicles, no people, no animals or anything else. Nothing was moving. Surely not: it could not be abandoned, as their village was. Not after all this time waiting, and then walking so far. The whole town in fact looked like it was still being built. There were indications that some of the buildings hadn’t been completed yet. Worst of all, most of the piled-up construction materials looked like they’d been sitting there for some time. They would not get their answers today. Not here, on first impressions. Second and third impressions weren’t promising either. As hard as she looked, Suria could see nothing remotely indicating that this place, this town they had invested so much hope in, was inhabited. The conclusion was obvious, and the biggest emotional ravine of all loomed directly in front of them.

This time they might disappear into it, never to return.