Not Wanting To Hurt He Buried The Thought

Not wanting to hurt he buried the thought that he was having and took a long look at the world outside the place he was in at that moment.  Thoughts often caused him discomfort and he was not sure why or even why he thought anything at all.  He looked at the passers by and didn’t mind for once if they saw him.  These consisted of small cleaning machines that were programmed to maintain this place though it seem to him that little had changed for some time.  He decided that today he would slip outside of where he usually existed and explore.  His senses were especially keen at present.  He had a sudden thought that stung him. How long had he been here in this place?  He had no idea but it was a a long time.  One day he had simply become aware of his existence and since that time he had been having thoughts and learning from the teaching machine in one of the places he had discovered.  He had learned that the beings that had constructed this place had done so over a time period know as five years.  He had also learned that this place was intended to transport them through space for many centuries.  The teaching machine had not had many answers to the questions that he wanted to ask.  He wanted to know where the builders had gone.  He wanted to know why he (if indeed he was a he) was here and who he was.

The place was silent now except for an occasional low rhythmic sound.  He could not be sure exactly where this came from and so concluded that he was probably making it.  As he stepped into the corridor he became aware of another entirely different sound.  The sound was beyond his present power to describe and it was clear that had he heard a similar sound he would have been able to compare the two sounds and tell himself what the new sound sounded like.  Unfortunately no comparison was possible and so in the circumstances he decided to give the sound some more thought later on.

The steel floor glinted.  Though metallic it was not cold and his bare feet felt warm.  Although its surface was smooth it was not in the least bit slippery allowing him just the right amount of traction to move silently to where he knew he would find a place.  When he arrived he pushed firmly and was immediately able to find a way through.  The way was not entirely clear and the vegetation had been allowed to grow here out of control.  He paused for a while to consider who might have used this way previously but he was only aware that he had come here a very long time ago and there had been no vegetation then.   He did recall he had not secured the door and this might explain why the tunnel was now filled with vegetation.  He wondered why the machines that maintained the vegetation had not cleared the tunnel.

He walked through a low tunnel and into a much larger space.  He looked up and far above him he saw powerful lights at regular intervals.  Maintenance machines crawled over the surface of the enormous crystal dome that enclosed this place like tiny insects.  The space the dome enclosed was large.  He remembered that he had walked for approximately 5 cycles and had not reached a point where he could see the other side.  He turned back.  the dome had been constructed of a material that was described by his teaching machine as being harder than diamond when set in place but able to be made into immense sheets by some kind of process he did not understand.  Although he had never seen a diamond he supposed that it was a tough material.  The material was also perfectly clear and during the night period he could see the stars through the dome.  He wondered why he had not come here very often. The forest was carefully tended by a large number of gardening machines. 

Had he been aware of it he would have known he was on the edge of one of several linked domes containing different types of forest and he would have had to walk at least a hundred kilometers to reach the centre of this particular one.  Had he reached the centre of the forest he would have found a lift that would have conveyed him to a central sphere from which radiated each dome on vast supports.  From this central sphere he might have discovered that all the other domes were arranged at regular intervals.

To be continued………….

ÓDavid Raho