When he considered that Mara might have entered a more stable, logical frame of mind, he went back into the house and stood in the kitchen doorway. She did not look round although she knew he was there.
“I’ve made my decision,” he said finally. “I have to do as the Wise Man advised and try to get some answers from the Xordi.”
Without turning her head, she said, “And where do you think you’ll find any of them? They could be anywhere and you wouldn’t know it. For all you can tell, there could be one standing right beside you at this moment.”
“I think I’d be able to sense it if there were,” he replied. “But as to finding them, they’ve only come when I’ve been completely alone, away from everyone else.”
“So you intend to go off and sit by yourself somewhere in the desert?” Mara sniffed and spread her hands in resignation. “I can see you’ve already made up your mind and nothing I say will stop you in this foolishness.”
Kalam sat cross-legged in the dim shadow of the Temple and tried to empty his mind completely. It was not easy for even though he closed his eyes against the crimson light, stray thoughts kept nagging at him, demanding his attention.
How long he sat there it was impossible to tell. Utter silence enfolded him like a cocoon. Then, abruptly, he opened his eyes. Was it his imagination, or was there the feel of presences all around him? He could see nothing. But then he hadn’t really expected to. Unless the Xordi intended to communicate, they wouldn’t show themselves. He shivered. The Xordi were so different to himself that even being in their presence was uncomfortable. Not that they ever made any show of aggression but—
His train of thought suddenly gelled inside his head.
A voice, cold and sexless, suddenly echoed in his mind. ‘You come to seek information from us.’ It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes. I wish to know what you can tell me about the Blackness.”
‘The Blackness? Then you are aware that it approaches swiftly, that soon it will fall upon this world.’
“So I’ve been told. But can you tell me what it is and when it will come?”
There was a long pause and then: ‘We cannot explain to you what the Blackness is for it is something beyond your comprehension. But this we will tell you. You know of the two suns of this world, the small blue-white one and the large red one. What you do not know is that there is another sun, one which does not shine like the others.’
“Then why have we never seen it?”
‘Because for many thousands of years it has been elsewhere. We cannot explain where it has been, you lack the necessary knowledge to understand. But heed this. It will return by the second mid-blue sun from now. What its coming portends we do not know.’
“Is that all?” Kalam asked.
‘That is all we can tell you. All you can do now is warn the others of your kind.’ The echoing voice faded into silence inside Kalam’s head.
Kalam shook his head mutely. Another sun but one that only appeared at intervals of many thousands of years? A sun that did not shine at all? He did not doubt the veracity of the Xordi, but it made no sense. He could see no way by which it tallied with what the Wise Man had said. Yet, somewhere, there had to be a connection.
Just before the middle of the second blue day the entire community was out in the open. All of the houses were empty. Word had spread quickly, not only through their community, but through all of the others around the perimeter of the Great Wilderness.
Ever since Zanos had risen that day, Kalam had experienced a resurgence of that strange apprehension which had gripped him just before the coming of the Wise Man. Now it was so strong, so powerful, it seemed to blot out everything else from his thoughts. Throughout the community there was an expectancy in the air which he had never known before.
Zanos climbed slowly towards its zenith.
The sense of premonition in Kalam’s mind mounted swiftly until it became an irresistible compulsion. He had to go to the Temple! Unable to help himself, he began walking across the sand towards the towering doors only vaguely aware that all of the others were doing likewise, moving like automatons without a will of their own.
From all of the other communities, from every direction, the people were converging on the Temple. Hundreds of them; thousands. A dark mass that covered much of the desert.
Kalam heard a few brief snatches of muttered conversation around him but for the most part the vast multitude was silent; waiting.
Waiting for what? he wondered.
Something made him turn his head, away from the massive doors of the Temple, towards the glaring sky. He experienced a sudden shiver of superstitious awe. Something was happening to Zanos! From one side of the sun, a huge mass was moving slowly across it.
The silence around him intensified. Then a sudden loud cry jerked his head around. The—Blackness? — moved in an irresistible wave across the world. It began at the edge of his vision, far off, moving over the sand. It slid across the great metal doors and two things happened almost simultaneously.
Above their heads, the Blackness stretched across most of the heavens — but it was not empty. It blazed with points of light; lights of all degrees of brightness, twinkling across a range of colors.
And then, in front of them, the massive doors slid open without a sound. The chamber inside was vast, almost beyond Kalam’s comprehension, and it was lit by enormous arrays of multi-colored lights.
Driven forward by the weird compulsion in his mind, Kalam went through the gates with Mara at his side. He felt utterly dwarfed by the sheer immensity of the cave. Soundlessly, the multitude followed.
Then a voice reached them from some hidden source. It was not unduly loud but it could be heard by everyone there.
“Welcome, people of Ronan. Now is the time for you to fulfill your destiny. More than twenty thousand years ago your motherworld became uninhabitable due to the total destruction of the protective ozone layer in its upper atmosphere. It was then that the decision was taken to send chosen groups to all of the inhabitable planets within a radius of one thousand light years, to colonize those worlds and, when the ozone layer had replenished itself, to enable you to return to your homeworld.
“Those whom you know as the Xordi are not newcomers, they are the indigenous inhabitants of Ronan. You are the interlopers but all knowledge of that was erased from the minds of the first colonists. Only the myths surrounding the Temple and the Great God were allowed to remain.
“We knew of Kalder, the dark star in this system. Only when it returned after twenty thousand years in its eccentric orbit would its shadow open these doors to allow you to enter. Now go forward and be not afraid.”
The message ended. In the silence that followed, Kalam turned to face Mara. Without a word being spoken, she took his hand and led him forward. Others followed in a long, winding column, not knowing where they were going or what would happen next.
Then, when they were only a little distance from the far end of the chamber, the entire wall slid aside. Kalam gaped at what he saw. It was a long, gleaming shape, tapered slightly at one end. He could see no windows but there was a rectangular aperture in the side with steps leading up to it. A faint bluish light gleamed from inside.
There was also something near the bottom of the steps, twin metal poles, each surmounted by a glittering crystal, these forming some kind of barrier. Cautiously, he passed through with Mara on his heels. Halfway up the steps, he glanced back. Many of those attempting to pass between the poles were unable to do so. It was as if something invisible prevented them, forcing them back to one side.