CANTOR DUST

[unanun]

​

 

[Itari]

The air hummed with the sound of hundreds of thousands of people praying. They sat in perfectly arranged concentric circles, prostrated on the ground, arms extended forward, palms turned toward the sky. In their center was an enormous dead tree and next to it, a great bonfire fed by branches harvested from its boughs. Their voices rose in a desperate fervor until a small girl in the front row stood, wearing nothing but a cloak. Suddenly, the air became silent and they sat up, staring at her. The cloak pooled at her feet and she looked at the two adults she had been kneeling next to. Just yesterday she had called them her parents. Now, they stared back at her unblinking, waiting, wanting her to leave them and everything she'd ever known behind. Despite the warm fire, her body shook.

The girl walked forward until she stood between the tree and the bonfire. She took one last look back at what was once her family. As she turned to face the tree, a sharp pain lanced through her body. She looked down to see a branch protruding from her chest. She coughed and blood dribbled down her chin. This was it. She had failed. The girl was just about to fall to her knees when the tip of the branch suddenly lifted her in the air and exploded in her chest into thousands of worm-like tendrils. They crawled all throughout her body, into her muscles, causing her body to spasm uncontrollably. She could feel the cracking of her bones as they burrowed into them. Her lungs struggled to fill with air and she thought her heart would burst as they wrapped her organs in tight cages. She was screaming. She had to be. She screamed for her parents, for anyone to save her. And yet, the only sound that filled her ears were the cheers of celebration from the people around her.

She woke up covered in leaves from the revived tree. In the dim moonlight she could see that her skin and hair had turned a pale shade of green. Her body was decorated in a tapestry of branches, all stretching out of a knot of bumpy scar tissue growing out of the hole in her chest. She staggered to her feet. Her people were long gone; they had returned to their ships to begin the terraforming process. Wisps of smoke blew into the air from the remains of the bonfire. The girl stepped toward it and began digging, ignoring the burns and splinters from the coals. As she neared the bottom, her digging became more frantic. Her breath came in frenzied gasps. When the remaining wood had been cleared, she collapsed into the ash at the bottom. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Just as she was about to close them, a hand emerged and gently brushed them away, leaving a trail of dust behind. It cupped her cheek. The girl blinked and from the ashes, a gray smudge in the shape of a boy emerged. She reached out to touch his face and smiled.

------

Nari stared at herself in the dirty mirror. Pure black eyes with a ring of white stared back at her. She reached out, covering them with her hands. Branches sprouted from the back of her head, reaching forward. When she moved her hands from the mirror, her eyes were covered by two brilliant red flowers. A boy stood behind her frowning, and Nari frowned back at him through the mirror.

"I have to. The priest said so."

"He said the people don't like to look at them." She looked down. "He said they scare them."

The boy wrapped his hand in hers. She grinned. "Well if you like them, then I don't need anyone else to."

The two left the room, hand in hand.

"Oh, I finally thought of a name for you!"

"It's Grey."

"Don't laugh! I spent a long time thinking about it!"

"Do you like it?"

"Of course I like it. I thought of it!"

 

[unanun]

"Nari! Nari!"

A boy ran through grass that was tall enough to hide his feet, which cushioned his fall when he tripped. He rolled twice more than necessary, tumbling with the last remnants of his baby fat before springing upright to reorient himself. On his cheek were the stains of his tussle, but the chlorophyll was already oxidizing brown. Giggling, he ripped up a handful of grass, to complement the flower crown that dangled from a bent metal wire gripped in his other fist.

His goal was a girl in the distance, standing at the foot of a tree that supported the sky (at least, from his vantage point; though he was still in the flickering penumbra, even the twigs at the ends of each daughter branch were thicker than his torso, with leaves that he could have used to hide from the rain like the little frog that he was). He continued to run as a brisk summer breeze flexed the tree louder than a thunderstorm, and dodged a brief shower of petals before finally arriving at his destination.

"Nari, look!"

Grey thrust his arm as high as it could go. Though he stood on his tippy toes, the wire that separated the flower crown from his hand dropped it to just below her chin.

"A flower crown?" A young Nari turned from the tree and flinched when the wire caught her chin. She pinched the twisted stems and lift it from the metal hook, holding it up in the umbra of the great tree to examine its pedigree. Shy, pink buds dotted the green, young twigs, hiding their brilliant red petals.

"They're not ready to bloom yet, Grey!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Grey kicked the grass under her shadow.

"Obviously, because-" Nari sighed and nominated herself queen of the great tree. "It's nice, Grey, but I'm not really into these kinds of things anymore."

"Oh."

"Why not?"

Nari tucked several strands of hair behind her ear, and raised her nose by a fraction. "Because, Grey. They're teaching me important things at the institute now. Natural categorization. The order of biology. The cycles and periods of the weather. These are all very important things, Grey, and I don't have much time to play anymore."

"Oh."

"... Why not?"

"Nevermind!"

"So ..." Grey kicked the grass, "do you still want to splash around with me?"

Though Nari was prim and educated, in an expertly tailored modest dress of pure green, she could not resist. She at least tried to make a show of it, glancing at him several times, snorting and pursing her lips in thought, while Grey had a wide smile on his face and a twinkle in his amber eyes. Finally she removed her gloves and held her hand out in the summer air, and Grey snatched her fingers and pulled them to the tree, tossing aside a handful of dried, brown grass. They pressed their cheeks against the trunk, so wide it curved out of sight and formed their new horizon.

The bark was warm, conducting the sunlight gathered from its span along troughs that could easily fit an arm. Slowly, the rough surface crumbled, and they slid half inside, whereupon Grey began to scoop out as much mulch as he could until he opened a cavity about his size. Water gushed out as he hit the xylem, and soon he was a boy made of mud, tossing and squelching and squirting and throwing it all over Nari. They splashed and tumbled and tussled and rolled the afternoon away, and when the setting sun finally peeked out from the yawning canopy of the great tree, two children of the same height rose from their little swamp and left a trail of brown footprints back to camp, from which furtive, gentle sprouts peeked. The small wound in the tree had already scabbed over, bulging out in a knot that would one day become an altar.

"I guess it's time for you to go learn about categorization, huh?"

"Categorization? You say the weirdest things, Grey."

"I hope they'll let you see me tomorrow. I had to wait so long for today ..."

"I just saw you yesterday!"

"If you say so ..." Grey adjusted the crown on her head. Some of the flowers were withered, but some of the buds had also burst into full bloom. "I like it when you're my height." A leaf tickled her eyebrow, and when Nari reached up her hands brushed a petal and she beamed and spun around, alternating her hands in his left, right, left, and right as they exited the night of the shade into the twilight.

 

[Itari]

The sun sat high in the sky, warming her skin, but the cool waters of the lake against her back made her want to shiver. The harvest season was upon them, which meant Nari spent long hours working everyday. It was rare to have a moment of peace and quiet. She was just closing her eyes when she was suddenly rocked off her back by a rush of waves as Grey dive bombed into the water. Nari popped back up to the surface, sputtering and laughing.

"Grey! You should give me some warning first."

"Well, then you can't complain if I do this!" Nari used her arms to splash as much water as she could at Grey who quickly began to splash her back.

"Race you back to the top of the cliff?"

The two quickly swam to the edge of the swimming hole. Nari reached it first and was in the middle of hauling herself on the land when Grey grabbed her ankle and pulled her back into the water. The two wrestled at the water's edge until a vine grew in front of them and slapped repeatedly at his wrists, giving her a brief window to escape his clutches. As soon as she was free, she made sure to turn around and give him a good shove back into the water, before taking off running to the cliff side. It didn't take long for him to catch up. He was taller and stronger than she was these days, and soon was up the cliffside past her..

"Lady Growth!"

Nari froze on the side of the cliff and slowly began making her way back down. She hung her head and shuffled over to the Head Priest, unable to meet his glare. Grey also quickly descended but stopped at the base of the rocky wall.

"Lady Growth, do you know what time of year it is?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "We are in the midst of a crucial period of growth, My Lady! This harvest season must go well if we are to expand our city limits and establish more settlements! If this harvest fails, it will be impossible to settle the rest of the planet! We can't have you wasting your time on frivolous activities during a time when your strength is needed." He spared one glance at the figure still standing at the base of the cliff wall. "Your progress has been delayed enough."

Nari raised a hand to wave at Grey, "I'll-"

The priest gripped her shoulder and gave her a rough shove back towards the city. She left without saying goodbye.

 

[unanun]

Part 1/2

"The boy is becoming a problem."

The room that the priests were cloistered in did not yet have any of its future grandeur. It was just a room like any other, built from concrete and steel, without any of the adornments, effigies, statues, and altars that it would have. The people that sat around the table were similarly drab, and had not shed their settlers clothing yet for white silk, their dress still comprising utilitarian polymer.

"In what way, though?"

"He is holding back Nari's education."

"And that doesn't seem to hold back Nari's powers in any way."

The Head Priest leaned back coolly in his chair. "As far as you understand this... phenomenon, anyways."

The Head Scientist leaned forward, keeping the space between them constant. "We can't exactly run causal experiments, only observations. You have the favour right now by arguing that Nari is like a human, but there's no telling how far we can stretch that analogy."

"Why not? She's taking to school well. When she gets her playtime with Grey, we can see she disdains how ignorant he is, but of course she still has some lingering attachment to him. That is what we need to figure out, the nature of their bond."

"Let me separate them, then."

The Head Priest/Psychologist considered this suggestion carefully. "It would allow us to focus Nari on her education ..."

"And allow me to study the effects of distancing them. We only know that they were born together. We can't depend on them forever. We have to distill their essence and master that, instead."

Though the Head Priest did not agree, the Head Scientist forcefully argued his position towards the rest of the board, and their legacy of those who came from the stars biased them towards reason. They voted to send Grey to the mines.

 

[unanun]

Part 2/2

Grey and the other children took a deep breath of the fresh air before diving into the humid confines of their masks. While the canisters and tubes gave them oxygen and filtered out the silica dust, it did little to remove the odour of drying spit, which steadily built into a nauseating stench over the hours that they crawled through the mines.

Grey crowded into the elevator cart. He was already a head taller than the rest of them, having added that additional height to his frame since he had been sent here for 'continuing studies.' Normally, children his height would have been too tall to send inside, but he continued to outperform.

"Hey, Grey! Maybe I'll beat you today!"

He turned to his friend. The quirks on everyone's masks were just as good at identifying each other as their noses and mouths. This one had a cartoon tiger scrawled onto the plastic covering of the filter cartridge.

"You were so close yesterday," Grey agreed. "Besides, I'm getting too tall. I can't go into the richer veins like you can."

"Haha, that's right!" Tiger had a bit of a lisp, on account of losing a few of his baby teeth. "The milk's as good as mine!"

The cart shook, juddered, groaned, and creaked. They all pressed together a little bit, finding comfort in their concentrated mass. They had done this route so many times, hundreds of times, but they never were quite able to dispel the demons they imagined lurking at the bottom of the shaft. Many of their eyes turned to Grey, who smiled back reassuringly in turn. Once the gates opened everyone scattered like it was recess. There were rewards for the top earners, and no one wanted to miss a second cup of cold milk. Grey followed Tiger into the branch that went deeper and steeper, for the more experienced diggers. At the end, everyone picked a passage and split off.

Onward they all went, until the signals from their comslink began to cut out. That was when some of them would remove their masks, to better squeeze into the tunnels with their laserscalpels, so they could extract the finger-sized pieces of ore and slip them into their hip pouches. Grey had first discovered this cheat when one of the boys began to cough up blood and was taken away for decontamination, but the first time he peeled the mask from his face and exchanged the stale spit for the dry air that smelled of a thousand years, when he wedged himself deep into a nook to extract a piece of ore the size of his fist, and the dust from his scalpel had coated his eyes, nose, face, and saturated his lungs, he began to feel better, better than ever. Now he eagerly took it off as soon as he was out of sight, breathing deep of the caverns. He could even tell what the other boys were up to, just from the smell. The scent of Tiger wafting in from the passage next door suggested that he was burning hot and bright, trying to cut away big chunks of rock to prospect deeper.

Grey went deeper into his passageway, and after checking that no one was looking (some of the boys were jealous, and liked to make sure no one was cheating), he turned right and disappeared into a passageway that he had carved. Though there was no light, the stone itself glowed under his gaze, granite, feldspar, fools gold, and bauxite. His fingers sank into the stone and it crumbled and turned into a cloud in his grip. The ashes coated his hair and formed a film on his eyes, but he did not mind.

"So?" Tiger nudged Grey. They had both turned away from the rest of the chattering boys as their cart lurched skyward. "How much did'you get?"

Grey smiled and opened his pouch to compare their glittering haul.

"Ha! Mine are so much bigger than yours!"

"I think you're gonna get it today, Tiger."

Tiger peeled his mask off as they hit the green and blue air. His grin was indeed missing his two front teeth, and he surely would enjoy his extra milk.

 

[Itari]

The tantrum Nari threw when she was told she Grey had been sent to the mines was legendary. She didn't even remember it. One minute the priests were telling her that Grey had been sent to mines on the far side of the planet. The next, the power of the sacred tree was exploding out of her. Every tree within fifty miles of the temple grew over thirty feet in less than an hour. Their roots exploded through the ground, and their branches and trunks crashed into walls. Some of them grew so many branches that they were no longer able to support themselves and they crushed everything standing in their way as they fell. It ended two hours later, after Nari had exhausted herself.

After the disaster, Nari was taken into seclusion. The years passed in a haze, hooked up to machines and surrounded by scientists. She could feel her power grow. It flowed into her from the sacred tree and swelled into an uncontrollable river that raged within her that begged for release. Outside of the lab, the planet flourished in an eternal spring. She wasn't sure how long had passed when she was finally released. It could have been weeks. It could have been years. The first thing she did was run.

The miners were still working when Nari arrived. The citizens in this part of the planet had never seen their goddess in person before. They kept their distance, faces full of uncertainty and fear. Everyone she turned her dark eyes on flinched and ran as fast as their legs could carry them in the opposite direction. When Grey finally emerged, she had curled into a ball on the floor and hid herself in a flower bud. She didn't look up until all the petals withered under his touch and he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. For the first time in years, the churning waves within her calmed. Without a word, Grey took her hand and led her into the elevator. Unlike all the other miner's, Grey's performance had only increased with age. He was now the unofficial head of the area, and Nari could see the respect and love they had for him. It filled her with an intense jealousy. The priests saw her as nothing more than a tool. The people worshiped her as a deity. Everyone around her spoke as if there was a screen that separated them. They were terrified of her eyes and cowered away from her touch. Nari tightened her grip on Grey's hand.

It was her first time underground, and though the air was stale and dust filled her nostrils, she couldn't help but be fascinated. The excitement Nari felt discovering an entirely new world reminded her of their youth when they used to spend all day learning what they were capable of. Grey taught her how to identify the different kinds of stone, showed her where he harvested all the gems he gifted her, led her through the secret tunnels he made, and took her to the hidden caverns that were now his second home. It was here Grey finally sat her down and made her talk.

"I've been in the lab. I think. I don't remember it well."

"I can feel it now. The tree I mean. It doesn't say words, but I can still understand it. Its power will flow through me, using my body as a conduit, and I can't stop it and..." She didn't realize she was crying until Grey got out of his chair and brushed the tears from her cheek. He pulled her close to his chest. "Grey, I'm afraid."

Nari hid underground for three days. When she emerged from the earth, the leaves on the trees had begun to wilt and turn brown. They could hear the hum of panicked cries and prayers before they were halfway out of the mine. The priests were waiting for her. Nari took a deep breath and let go of Grey's hand. With the weight of the responsibility she carried filling her ears, Lady Growth walked away from Lord Decay, every step she took bringing life back to the planet.

---

"Lady Growth?"

"In her room. We have her under twenty seven hour supervision."

The head priest ran a hand down his face, "It's good nothing serious happened."

"It's evident that Grey must be dealt with. Sent away"

"We would be risking another tantrum."

"Reverend Father, you do not understand the seriousness of this behavior from Lady Growth. Look at the way Decay manipulates her. She disdains him for his disregard of her duties, for weakening her, yet she still goes to him after all these years. He abuses their connection, makes her believe that she needs him, so that she always goes running back to him. He enjoys the control he has over her. It is not enough to separate him. We need to get rid of him completely."

"And how, exactly, do you propose we do that? She won't listen to reason and she has become too powerful for us to control. Decay's powers have also grown greatly, if the rumors are to be believed."

"Nari will only listen to one person. Which means, all we have to do is convince that person to make the decision to separate them."

"You mean..."

"We will convince Decay to leave on his own. Luckily, he is slow, arrogant, and full of pride. We will still have to do it subtly, of course, but I do not think it will be difficult. Convince him that he is wasting his potential here. He loves it in the mines, and is stifled by Lady Growth's growing power. Entice him with rumors of a new dream mining project that only he can do. Sprinkle in rumors to make Nari unappealing to him, and eventually he will be convinced to toss her aside. I am sure that you can come up with something?"

The head priest leaned back in his chair. His gaze was fixed on the window behind the scientist. The full moon shone brightly, filling the room with light. "Yes... I know just the thing."

 

[unanun]

The salt cave was unadorned and unfurnished, save a granite slab on top of a pile of salt. On this slab were blocks of minerals carved into: shoes, sock, trousers, a dress shirt, a tie, and a suit jacket.

First, Grey put the socks on. They were made from rock wool, and the silicon needles were soft and comfortable on his skin. Second, he picked up the trousers. Carved from black onyx, the legs unfolded in his grasp into loose fabric. He pinched the pants at the top and drew two knife edges down to his toes. Third, he slid his feet into the shoes, knapped from obsidian, and the facets of the volcanic glass caught the light from the phosphorescent ceiling. Fourth, he covered his chest with the dress shirt, the marble flowing and rumpling as he tucked it into the trousers. Fifth, he pulled the diamond tie through the collar, mostly invisible until a twist of his body caught the light. Finally, he pulled on the suit jacket of granite inlaid with lapis, the blue only faintly visible in the light of the salt cave.

"I'm afraid I will have to turn down your offer." Grey put the cup back on its saucer.

"Grey—Lord Grey," one of the peoples on the other side of the table leaned forward, steepling their fingers, "have you not considered that you need more space to thrive? Your mines take up, um—"

"A full quarter of the planet, yes. Grey's continent, as I've heard it christened on the radio." Grey reached for the cup but pulled back. It was his habit to fill pauses with sips of his drink. "But I have not even begun delving to the bedrock, or tapping the mantle. There's so much more down there."

"That would be unadvisable, for many reasons—"
"Tectonic shifts—"
"Volcanic activity—"

"Decay," a familiar voice cut in, belonging to a face that Grey had known since he was a child, "you're getting people killed."

"I find that hard to believe. Everyone in my tunnels and mines is happy. Everything we excavate people want." He tapped his finger on the table, defensively, boring a little hole of dust into it. "I'm asked to provide, and I provide. Do you take a full accounting of all the consequences of things you ask Growth to do?"

"They're happy while their lungs fill with silicate dust, Grey. That's not being happy, that's dying."

"They ask a god for a boon, and that is what is granted!" His snap was dull in the cavern so full of rock, debris, and dust, without even a spec of dirt. "You have the freedom to choose what to do with what you dig, don't you? Then make the choice!"

Grey had never killed anyone, and it was unlikely that anyone would die here today (although he didn't guarantee safety—tunnel collapses happened often in his domain). Still, the delegation felt his anger and lapsed into silence, not even daring to look at each other.

"We'll come back another time," the old friend said, first to stand up from the table. "You'll speak to us—me—again, won't you?" He did not see a 'no' in the eyes that stared back, so he waved the rest of them to follow, and they shuffled out to pile onto the railcart.

"Grey ..."

Decay looked up. It was just the two of them now, and he had dropped his voice to a whisper. Black smoke of onyx and obsidian rose from his clothing and obscured his face.

"Grey."

"You're killing Nari."

He tried for a moment to see past the smoke, but left when the cup shattered in Grey's fist.

 

[Itari]

The head scientist stared at the screens. Lady Growth slept peacefully in her bed, unaware of the small particles of dust they released directly above her. A monitor on the right displayed her vital signs. Over the last few months as she had breathed in the pollutants in her sleep they had decreased, but the change wasn't yet significant. "How is her health?"

One of his assistants who was currently working undercover as Lady Growth's attendant referenced her notes, "It has begun to deteriorate, but she hides it well. I am the only person who has seen her cough thus far. She is especially diligent about keeping it hidden from Decay when they meet each other."

He handed her a small vial. "Give her this right before her next public address. And make sure Decay will be there to watch it."

She took it, eyes widening when she read the label, "Are you sure sir? I thought we were trying to avoid making her so sick as to affect her ability to do her duties." The assistant looked uncomfortable, "Decay knows her well. I believe he is already starting to suspect that she is hiding something from him. If we just wait a few more—"

"We don't have time!" The head scientist slammed the console, causing his assistant to jump. "Those idiotic priests don't know how to handle them. They always go on and on about how Decay manipulates her. They think they can entice him with mining projects on the moon to get him to leave. How can they not see it? They are in love. The only way to get rid of him is to make him think he is harming her!" The assistant shrank back from her teacher's wrath but said nothing, "Do you know what she suggested in the last meeting? She wants to give him half the planet! Half!"

The assistant's eyes widened, "He already has a full quarter. Is that not enough?"

The scientist waved dismissively, "She keeps spouting some nonsense about how they are equals and must stay in balance." He turned back to the screen. Flowers bloomed from Lady Growth's headboard, framing her face. "She does not realize the power she has. Decay holds her back. Our plans on the other planets to interrupt their farming systems is already under way. All we need now is Lady Growth, and we can make the entire system reliant on us."

"This could leave her bedridden though. And Lady Growth is not stupid. She'll know that we poisoned her, not Decay." Despite her words, it was clear her conviction was wavering. Though the mines brought profit to the planet, and the plant growth provided a natural filtration system from the toxic fumes, many of the citizens still found them an eyesore though and disliked how something as simple as Decay's passage through the city could damage the homes that had begun to grow out the plant life.

"The general public will blame him and once he sees that we are willing to put her health in danger, he will leave, whether or not it was truly his fault." His eyes softened and placed a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I know you care for her. But this is for the good of our planet. She will recover quickly under our care."

The assistant nodded and clutched the vial close to her chest, "I understand."