The Oak Hotel - Watty Awards 2013 Finalist

Chapter Forty-seven - Alhambra Minor

Chapter Forty-seven

Alhambra Minor

First, there was warmth.

Then a sigh.

Lincoln felt Kayleigh’s breath on his ear as she said, “Lincoln. Open your eyes.”

They were back on the balcony of The Oak Hotel. The sáwol cloud was dissipating, swirling, flattening until it became the great ribbon of prismatic light they had first seen from the bottom of Mount Aikona. And with it, music as if from a children’s choir.

Lincoln patted his arms, his sides and head. Smiling, he couldn’t help but say, “I’m me again!”

Kayleigh laughed, which made him sad for he knew she could never say the same.

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done,” he whispered. “When we were together at the beginning…”

“I know,” Kayleigh said softly, putting her arms around him and nestling her head between his neck and shoulder.

When Sapana’s voice filled their minds again, it was gentle. You are both very strong. Most would not have made it through what you were shown.

“We’re not done, though,” Kayleigh said, holding onto Lincoln’s left arm.

No, but we thought you should have a moment to rest. There is still much to see and much for us to explain.Looking down at Kayleigh, Lincoln was again reminded of how tenuous their situation was. He wasn’t sure how much time they had left together, so every moment counted, yet… part of him just wanted everything to be over. Whatever they had to do, he was ready to do it and be done.

In sync with his thoughts, Kayleigh said, Continue your story, please.

As you wish, Sapana said kindly.

The rainbow ribbon, which had been performing acrobatics a few hundred feet over the treetops, sailed down fluidly and surrounded them as it had before.

We spent thousands of years searching for clues. We observed races of beings evolved to advanced stages of peace within their societies. Still, we uncovered no way to beat the ever-expanding universe and the isolation it would eventually impose.

Until we found Atoth.

“The place my parents are from?” Lincoln asked. “And Kayleigh’s grandfather?” He wasn’t sure he liked Sapana’s tone when she said Atoth.

Sapana said, simply, Yes.

They did not travel as sáwol, for which Lincoln was grateful. When the de’Malange mist fell apart, they were standing in the center of a great open city. Lincoln had been to Manhattan once with his parents and his first impression was of confinement. The buildings encased him, pressed down around him… his only relief was to stare directly up at a jagged ribbon of blue sky. This city was larger by many orders of magnitude, spread out over a measureless amount of land. The buildings, rather than utilitarian and constructed only to hold a mass of people, were of an unending variety of shapes and heights, spread out organically. Several rivers, or perhaps the same river, wound throughout the multitude of buildings. Lincoln never thought he’d ever associate the word beauty with city until that moment.

We were quite amazed at what we learned, Sapana continued. The people, physically identical to the humans of Earth, were more technologically advanced than any race we’d encountered. What impressed us most was their level of social peace. It wasn’t perfect, but there was no war. They conquered the problem of food with organic replication and disease through highly advanced genetic manipulation. The lifespan of certain people, as you’re already aware, is measured in hundreds or sometimes thousands of years. This part of Atoth is known as Alhambra Minor and is represented by the Nineteen Families. Science has ruled their culture for millennia and advances at an exponential rate. Curious as to how their knowledge grew so quickly, we soon discovered the reason. The Alhambra clans were involved in far-ranging and overt cross-dimensional trade. Their trade focused on advancing their own technologies and stabilizing space-time tears to complete these trades.