The Last Candle - 4. Chapter 4

The

Art

Of

Capturing

Stars

 

QIN DYNASTY

Several bursts of brilliant energy emanated from the region of Aries, leaving behind a black rip in the night sky. They sped toward Earth and within several seconds converged into a single ray of white light. The moment they reached the atmosphere of the earth, causing major blackouts and fear, Alpha Arietis , Beta Arietis, Gamma Arietis and Lambda Pi 30[i], all the major stars in the constellation entered the candle in a blinding explosion that rocked the foundations of the cavern.

 

Ratti Pi had captured dozens of stars in his own universe. One running parallel to Earth, just inside its aura. He was one of the few ‘guides’ from the afterlife who were able to transport themselves to any point in any universe at any time.

 

It was nearly dawn.

 

He aimed an arrow at the last of the 12 signs. Capricorn.

The stars converged and entered its corresponding candle, and, when he looked up into the night sky, it was dark and lifeless and empty like the eyes of the soldiers guarding the tomb, and Ratti Pi, exhausted by his efforts, fell down on his knees to rest awhile.

 

That’s when the mystery deepened.

 

Why would Qin be so interested in the Western Zodiac? The Chinese zodiac was far more intricately designed. Maybe…just maybe…the Western zodiac had a major part to play in his discovery of immortality.

 

He knocked three times on the wall. A signal to Qin that he had finished, the wall would disappear, and Qin would step inside.

 

But that’s not what happened.

 

Ratti Pi received no answer.

 

The wall remained solid, and would do for a very long time.

 

He waited. Then he waited some more. He was hungry and tired. He wanted to return to his own universe but he couldn’t do that without hitching a ride on Qin’s thought waves.

 

He shouted. He screamed until his voice was no more than a harsh whisper. Dancing, singing, hallucinations came later, thirst, hunger and insanity finally defeated him.

 

He lay upon the barren floor of the chamber and closed his eyes.

 

 

 

Tit

For

Tat

 

1939

 

Professor James Fellow’s eyes rested upon the terrifying shape of a glutinous scorpion with a scaly tail staggered at the JOINTS and a huge sting that hovered above his chest. Instinctively he rolled away just as it shot forward

 

and hit the ground.

 

The stunned creature made a rasping sound. He took advantage of the gap and ran, zigzagging through several smaller tunnels. Eventually, he stopped to take a breather. The torch lost battery power and his skin and bones ached from the cold. In the utter silence of the blackness, his breathing was loudest.

 

Was it?

 

Or was it the sound of a giant scorpion scraping along the tunnel floor?

 

A Scorpion that possessed the flame and fury of a hungry animal.

 

 

Determined and forceful

 

Emotional and intuitive

 

Powerful and passionate

 

Exciting and magnetic

 

On the dark side....

 

Jealous and resentful

 

Compulsive and obsessive

 

Secretive and obstinate

 

It was to his left. The first thing he saw in the dim light was the deadly sting suspended above the scorpion’s head; a ghastly looking thing that dangled like a sword. He zigzagged across the cave’s floor to find just one glimmer of daylight. If he could find the wall he could get out and lock the creature in. He had no idea that Qin had designed the wall to resist any kind of exit, except his own.

 

The creature crept in on him and watched as he scampered about, trying desperately to find freedom.

 

It seemed amused. It cocked its human head this way, then that, in staccato action. It lowered its tail and peered through the darkness with its long, giraffe like neck.

 

James pinned himself between two stalagmites and waited. The creature inched forward with eyes piercing the darkness, searching for the slightest movement. The softest breathe; the weakest moment.

 

When it came, the weakest moment turned out to be his itchy neck, James bent his elbow up to scratch

 

 

and the creature pounced.

 

 

It leaped into the air and landed on solid ground, between two stalgmites. James pre-empted the move and he scattered. Suddenly the floor fell away and he dropped into a deep black hole. But it wasn’t just any hole. When he landed he found himself gazing up at another candle.

 

 

 

Chinese

Gooseberry

And

New Zealand

Kiwi Fruit

 

2012

 

‘I guess we get Kiwi fruit from a fruit and veg store.’ Rebecca’s eyes blinked, and continued blinking.

 

Monty raised his hands. ‘Stop.’

 

‘Stop what?’

 

‘The blinking.’

 

‘Oh. Sorry.’

 

He rested his chin in the palm of his hand and paced the length of the room. ‘I don’t understand.’ He said. ‘I’m thinking out loud here, so excuse the babble, but, what has Chinese Gooseberry got to do with unzipping this mother?’

 

‘You mean what has the acid in the Chinese Gooseberry got that could open this canister?’

 

He shrugged his shoulders.

 

‘Good point. Maybe it’s a conductor of some kind of energy?’

 

‘Well, there’s only one way to find out. Google it.’

 

 

Wikipedia

 

[ii]Also known as the Chinese gooseberry, the fruit was renamed for export marketing reasons in the 1950s; briefly to melonette, and then later by New Zealand exporters to kiwifruit. The name "kiwifruit" comes from the kiwi — a brown flightless bird and New Zealand's national symbol. Kiwi is also a colloquial name for the New Zealand people.

 

 

‘Hmmm, it doesn’t say what kind of oil…oh, here. It says that Kiwifruit is a rich source of vitamin C, 1.5 times the DRI scale in the USA per 100 grams. It has potassium, vitamin E, vitamin A. Flavonoid antioxidants . 62% alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. 46 calories, 0.3 g fat, 1 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, and 2.6 g dietary fiber found partly in the edible skin. Kiwifruit is often reported to have mild laxative effects, due to its significant level of dietary fiber.’ Unquote’.

 

Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment. ‘It’s strange. Alpha Linolenic Acid and omega 3 fatty acid. Linoleic acid is found in many vegetable oils and have a positive effect on certain ailments. Omega 3 fatty acid is an unsaturated fatty acid and is vital for normal metabolism.’

 

‘How do you know all this?’

 

‘I cook. I love cooking. I read everything there is to know about cooking and nutrition.’ She winked at him suggestively, ‘I know you want this body.’

 

The smirk on his face said it all; you’re not my type, honey.

 

‘Oh, man. Just kidding.’

 

‘Watch out I don’t kiss you.’ He leaned into her.

 

She moved away, ‘Hey! I don’t do gay boys. Are you sure you’re gay?’ Her face twisted into a frown.

 

‘Most times. Not now.’

 

‘You’re kidding, right?’

 

‘Yes. I’m kidding. I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole. I’m your best friend, and friends don’t fuck.’

 

‘So why have I never seen you with a man?’

 

‘Easy. I prowl the empty streets at night, waiting…’ He repeated the opening lines of an old Springbok Radio program from the seventies. ‘Seriously. I haven’t found a compatible partner. Someone who’ll take me as I am, with all my faults, all my quirks and innuendos. I want to be wined and dined and feel loved. I want a Valentine’s day card. I want a Christmas present. I want sex.’

 

‘Did you say the S word?’

 

‘Yup.’

 

‘There’s something wrong with you.’

 

‘There is?’

 

‘Look at you. Your hair hangs loose on your shoulders. Your eyes are as blue as the sky, your mouth is full and engaging…well, you know what I mean. Goddammit! You’re such a waste of a looker. If you can’t find and keep a guy by now, you never will.’

 

‘Is that it?’

 

‘Is that what?’

 

‘The end of the lecture.’

 

She blinked and her nose twitched. ‘Yes.’

 

‘Well, then, back to our dilemma. You think this Qin was a vegetarian?’

 

‘Well, I know this much. He was a cruel emperor. Failure was not an option and so he died young from his own stupidity for want of a better word. He created order out of the chaos that is now China. Gave them a language. A counting system. A zodiac.’

 

‘Quite the man, huh?’ Monty said.

 

‘Okay, so we’ve found out that the Chinese Gooseberry is really the Kiwi Fruit from New Zealand. Let’s get one.’

 

 

49

Maiden Road

 

The caretaker was an elderly gentleman, barrel shaped at the waist, balding, with venous cheeks in a flabby face. His nose was red and his ears too large for his head. He approached Plato with a whistle. ‘Have you got a ticket?’

 

‘A ticket?’ He asked, not sure what the Chinaman meant.

 

‘You have to have a ticket to get the key to your storage space.’ He pointed down the corridor.

 

‘I have this. An envelope. That’s all.’

 

‘Fair enough. Have you bothered to look inside the envelope?’

 

‘Err, no.’ Plato stammered. He opened the envelope and searched inside. Sure enough, there it was; his ticket to the unknown.

 

‘Well, you give me the ticket and I go fetch the key and take you to your storeroom. Easy.’ The man smiled wryly and held out his hand to take the envelope.

 

‘I see. Well, here’s the ticket then.’

 

‘Well done…now follow me.’

 

When the proprietor opened the roller shutter door, Plato came face to face with Gemini.

 

Qin had sculptured him as a naked, virile man, god-like in stature, on the one side, and on the other, a naked, sensuous woman.

 

Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively


On the dark side....

Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistent
Cunning and inquisitive[iii]

 

Gemini held a scroll in his hand.

 

Plato stepped forward, removed it and rolled it out. He couldn’t make head or tail of the Chinese writing and handed it over to the owner.

 

I am not the secret.

 

Yet the secret is in me.

 

Guard your eyes for

 

We are bound

 

In light.

 

Hold my arms

 

To bring you

 

To your

 

Destiny.

 

 

‘The rest is too high. I can’t read it.’

 

‘This is so cool.’ Plato stammered

 

‘Maybe too cool. I’m outa here.’

 

‘Wait. Maybe there’s more.’

 

It happened quickly.

 

The shutter dropped behind them and darkness closed in like a brick wall. Gradually the storeroom filled up with a sharp green light. Gemini had the storekeeper in his hands, holding him off the ground.

 

‘I could kill you but that would serve no purpose. I could allow you to live but that would serve no purpose also. I could ask you for a drink of water, then maybe kill you.’

 

Plato leaped away from Gemini’s reach.

 

‘You can leap, but you cannot escape.’ Gemini said, blinking his eyes.

 

Geminii spoke. Her voice was soft as silk and reprimanding.

 

‘Oh, be still, Gemini. He is harmless. Put him down. He belongs on the ground.’

 

Grunting, Gemini lowered the Chinaman gently.

 

Geminii spoke to the Chinese storekeeper in Chinese.

 

‘What does she say?’ Plato whispered, cowering in a corner.

 

‘She says it has been a long, long time.’

 

‘For what?’

 

He redirected the question to her.

 

‘She says, it has been a long time since they last encountered a human being. But you must make ready for war is at hand.’

 

‘War? What the fuck is she talking about?’ Plato asked.

 

‘She says the young man will lead a mighty army and conquer nation after nation.’

 

‘Me?’

 

‘Well, I’m nearly fifty five. You are the only young man in this room.’

 

Gemini the male spoke out, ‘Take our hands and hold on tight.’

 

‘Where are we going?’ Plato asked.

 

‘To another place. The only place that can protect us.’

 

Plato and the Chinese man took Gemini’s hands and in an instant they disappeared into the green light.