Extreme Difference Read online

  ‘First I’ll tell you what we know about the physical world, and then about the different types of people who live here.’

  Sandy opened his mouth to speak, but Nan raised his hand to silence any interruption of his narration.

  ‘Imagine a large shallow bowl, where the smooth rim has been cut into a series of ragged points, and then plaster the inside with a two or three centimetre layer of mud or some such material, taking it right up to the top of the points. Now half fill the bowl with fine sand, and where the sand meets the mud layer, make some small holes to represent caves.

  ‘That is basically what our world looks like, except that it is very much bigger, in fact it is nearly sixty kilometres across, as far as we can tell. The sun is very fierce, and during the day the sand gets so hot that if you were to walk on it, you would burn your feet very badly.

  ‘At night the temperature drops to below freezing, and even a quick venture out onto the sands would result in severe frostbite. This leaves a short time in the early morning and evening when we can safely venture out into this inhospitable world, and we have to be careful about that.

  The growing bins are taken out in the early morning as soon as the frost has disappeared, and brought back in before the sun climbs over the mountain rim to bathe the sands in direct sunlight. The same thing happens again in the evening, once the sun has dropped below the high rim of the mountains, the bins are brought out again to utilize the softer reflected light from the shiny peaks, and returned to the caves just before the cold cycle begins.

  We have to do this to enable us to produce enough food to live on. There are other sources of food, as you will see, but green plants along with their fruits and berries, are essential for our well being.’

  ‘The caves and tunnels are part natural, and part man made. Over many generations, extensions have been made to some of the caves to house our artefacts and growing bins, and connecting tunnels have been laboriously hacked from the rock to make access a little easier. Some of the tunnels go very deep into the body of the mountain, and so it is believed, those who enter them never return.

  ‘The sand itself is not so innocent as it might at first appear. There are creatures who live in it, and are not adverse to sampling human flesh if they can get their teeth into it. I have never seen them, but I did know someone who was taken by them. All that was left was a small blood stain on the sand to mark where the incident had happened, and no one has seen any trace of him since.

  ‘The only time you can safely walk on the sand is when it is frozen, or very hot from the sun, and then you must protect your feet with wrappings. We assume the creatures can’t tolerate the extremes of temperature, and go down to a lower level.’ Here Nan paused to see if Sandy was absorbing what was said, which gave him the chance to ask, ‘What’s on the other side of these mountains, as you call them? And why do you stay here if it’s so inhospitable?’

  ‘As far as we know, there’s no way through the mountains. We can’t climb over the top, it’s too high, and the rock gets more shiny and slippery the higher you climb. In the past, there have been several attempts to see what’s on the other side, but no one has ever found out.

  ‘There may be nothing on the other side anyway, so we would be no better off even if we could get there. It would seem that here is where we are meant to be, so there’s little point in trying to go anywhere else, not that there’s anywhere else to go, as far as we can tell.’

  ‘Oh, come on, you can’t have a sand bowl ringed with a mountain chain, and nothing on the other side of it,’ Sandy interjected quickly, ‘there’s got to be some land, or something on the other side. Anyway, where did you get the idea that you’re meant to be here, who said so?’

  ‘It has always been so. We arrive on the sands, and are taken into whichever group gets to us first.’ Nan’s face hardened, and he continued in a defensive tone. ‘None of us has a memory of being anywhere before, so we must be created here, by some superior force or being. We are the servants of that greater force, here for a purpose, it is intended we remain here to do whatever the greater force wants’

  ‘What a load of crap,’ Sandy exploded, ‘you’ve been here too long, and you’re beginning to believe your own myths.

  ‘Just think about it, you arrive here with a usable language which you all understand, you grow food, make things, you know how to organize yourselves into working groups, and you really think some benign being created you and filled your heads with all this information and abilities just to watch you running around like a lot of scruffy bloody hermits living in caves? You’ve got to be joking, or seriously off your heads.’

  Nan’s face darkened thunderously, and drawing himself up to his full height, he pointed a long shaking finger at Sandy.

  ‘You’ve been here a few hours, and you have the gall to make fun of us and the purpose we’ve been created for. How dare you!’ He spat out angrily, his mouth continued to flap open and shut silently, having run out of words to say.

  ‘All right,’ Sandy replied, ‘think about this, where did you get the concept of ‘a few hours’ from? I don’t see any clocks here, so that idea must have come from somewhere else.’

  Slowly Nan’s anger subsided, and he looked confused for a moment, opening his mouth several times to speak, but closing it again as he rethought what he wanted to say.

  ‘Come on,’ said Sandy, ‘what do you know of time? How long is an hour, or for that matter, a day? How many hours in a day?’

  ‘Twent.....twentyeight,’ stuttered Nan, ‘but how do I know that? I don’t know what a clock is, do you?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ began Sandy, and then found he was unable to recall it. A look of confusion spread over his face.

  ‘I’m sure I did know, but for the moment it eludes me.’

  The two men stood staring at each other for some moments, neither wanting to be the first to speak in case they were unable to find the right words, and later have to explain their meanings.

  Nan slumped down on his bench, all the spark had gone out of him, and he was a mere shadow of the man he had been only a few moments earlier. He raised his hands twice, and then dropped them back into his lap in resignation, this stranger had shattered his cosy concept of life by asking a couple of questions, what would he do if the stranger tore down the whole structure of their existence with a few more questions? He felt it was quite possible.

  ‘I’m sorry to have shaken you out of what you have taken for granted for so long, but you can surely see, just because you have accepted it, it doesn’t make it a fact, and only by looking at actual facts can we make accurate judgements. Anyway, how do you think you got here?’

  ‘The same way you did, from the Great Light, that’s how we all get here.’ Nan brightened up a little, he was back on familiar ground, talking about things he felt were real to him, things he could identify with.

  ‘The Great Light comes down to the sands just before dawn, creates us, and drops us onto the sand. Sometimes, pieces of old broken machinery are left behind, also packets of seeds, cord, cloth, all manner of things are left for us to make things with. They are gifts from the Great Light. Those are facts, they actually happen, ask anyone here.’ Nan was looking his old self again, assertive, confident, and in control.

  ‘OK, how do you know about ‘broken machinery’? How do you know it’s broken in the first place? How do you know what to do with seeds? Who told you what to do with these things?’ Sandy knew he was being unkind to press the point home so hard, but he wanted answers which made sense, and he was determined to get them at all costs.

  The confused look came over Nan’s face again as he desperately tried to recall the meaning of the items Sandy had mentioned, but there was nothing to recall, just an emptiness, and it made him feel dizzy to look at it.

  ‘Now do you see what I mean?’ Having got the thin end of the wedge of doubt neatly in place, Sandy was intent in hammering it firmly home.

  Nan began to sway on his bench, a
nd Sandy leapt forward to steady him, holding him in place until the spasm passed.

  ‘I’m sorry to do this to you, but you must realize that you have all been fooled, for God knows how long. It’s about time the truth was pulled out of this pitiful charade.’

  Tears ran down Nan’s grime streaked face, and his shoulders heaved as he tried to suppress the turbulent emotions which tore at his very being. Why had this stranger come to upset their world? Everything was just fine yesterday, the plants were growing well, their water bowls were full, there had been no raids for many a day, and now this.

  The very fabric of their existence was being torn apart.

  ‘How do you know these things?’ asked a sobbing Nan, doing his best to control the turmoil which was racing through his mind, threatening to tear apart the fabric of all he knew and understood.

  ‘By the same means you know about ‘machinery’, and other things you do here. I just know. I know the words, and I know what some of them mean. There’s no way I could have learnt them here, so they must come from my past somehow. I can’t explain it, but I know it to be true, and so will you if you’ll only let go of this claptrap you hold onto.’

  The two men sat huddled on the same bench, one comforting the other, both trying to make sense of the seemingly unfathomable situation they found themselves in.

  Nan eventually pulled himself together, and had assumed some semblance of dignity by the time one of the others came into the cavern, stating it was time to get the growing bins inside, as the sun was just breaking the top of the peaks.

  They all hurried outside into the harsh light of a brilliant white sun, shielding their eyes until they had acclimatized to the powerful glare, and working in pairs, brought the growing bins back into the relative cool of the bin cavern.

  ‘Please don’t say anything about what we discussed earlier,’ said a somewhat demure Nan to Sandy, as they trouped back into the main cave, ‘it’s hard enough trying to keep this lot working as a team as it is, God knows what will happen if they start thinking for themselves.’

  ‘Don’t worry on that score,’ Sandy replied, ‘we have a lot more to sort out before we can let them in on it, I’m not really a destructive fool, I just don’t like being taken for a ride by some unknown force, that’s why I’m trying to pick this sorry mess apart, and make some sense of it.’

  Nan nodded in tacit agreement.

  When the entire group had assembled in the cavern, Nan stood on a raised section of floor to address them, physically reinforcing his authority over them by his elevated position.

  ‘It is noticeable that some of you seem reluctant to accept our newest arrival into our midst with the degree of welcome usually afforded a stranger. This is most unfortunate, as he has much to offer us, and we would be the losers if he should decide to leave us and join another group.’

  ‘Such as what?’ someone asked, all heads turning this way and that to see who had dared to be so outspoken, but the originator of the tart remark remained a mystery.

  Bell did her best to give Sandy another welcoming smile, but the two missing front teeth along with the other misshapen and discoloured ones, did little to reassure him that he wanted to be welcomed into such a dishevelled and grime streaked rabble.

  ‘I can understand your hesitation in accepting me into your cosy little group,’ Sandy began, ‘but I can offer you something you don’t have. First, I shall need to settle in and find my place among you, and then we can begin to bring about some changes for the betterment of you all.’

  If he expected a rousing blast of applause, or even a mild cheer, he was going to be disappointed. Apart from scowls from a couple of men, his speech of reassurance did little to change the stolid sullen attitude which seemed the norm for the group. Sandy realized that if he was going to make any headway in the popularity stakes, he would have to work on them individually, and very carefully.

  Nan, who had the wind taken out of his sails by Sandy’s outburst, realized there was nothing constructive he could add to what had gone before, and quickly stepping down said, ‘Let us get to work, there’s much to do.’

  The scruffy little group of cave dwellers melted away as quickly as they had assembled, leaving behind the sour odour of greasy hair and unwashed bodies, their shuffling footsteps gradually fading away in the distance as they went about their allotted tasks, leaving Nan and Sandy alone.

  ‘I would assume that water is in short supply,’ Sandy began, to break the awkward silence, ‘and I doubt anyone’s washed their hair since they arrived, let alone cut it. Why do they let themselves get into such a filthy state?’ he asked, and then realized he had inadvertently included Nan in his disparaging remarks.

  ‘As you say, water is in short supply, we only have what we can collect from the dew which trickles down from the rocks outside, and there is never enough of that.’ Nan was obviously hurt by the remark. ‘Drinking water is our first priority, and we recycle what we can to add to that used for the growing bins. I noticed the aroma when I first arrived, but I soon got used to it as time went by. Do you really find it so offensive?’ he asked, hoping Sandy would not make too much of it.

  ‘Well, let’s put it this way, if one of the females were the most gorgeous creature alive, I would think twice before taking her to bed!’ Sandy replied, trying to make light of the issue, and failing completely.

  ‘Seriously though, is there no other way of obtaining water? Do any of the tunnels go downwards, and if so, have you looked for it there? If it trickles down on the outside of the rocks, there’s a good chance some of it may collect within the rock formation.’ Sandy concluded.

  ‘That would take us into regions we aren’t meant to go into.’ Nan replied, looking worried that this newcomer might break well established taboos and endanger them all.

  ‘There you go again, who said you couldn’t go into certain tunnels? I’ll bet it started because someone a long time ago got careless, and didn’t return. That’s no reason to put certain tunnels out of bounds, that’s just stupid superstition.’

  ‘Would you be willing to go into the forbidden zones then?’ asked Nan, hoping to see terror at the prospect.

  ‘Certainly, if we take care, and don’t go falling down any holes, I see no reason why we shouldn’t go where we please, I’ll bet there’s lots of things we could find out which would enhance our lives, if only you’d all forget the superstitious crap you’ve build up around the place.’

  Nan assumed the hurt look again, mixed with a little fear.

  They talked on for some time, finally being interrupted by Mop bearing two bowls of something which gave off copious wisps of water vapour and an indescribable smell.

  ‘Here we are,’ she beamed pleasantly, ‘you’ll both feel better with this inside you.’ She had sensed that Nan was not quite up to his usual bright state.

  They took the proffered bowls and crude metal spoons, Nan tucking in hungrily before Mop had left the cavern.

  ‘Come on, eat up,’ Nan said between mouthfuls, ‘it tastes better than it looks and is very nutritious, you’ll get used to the smell after a while.’

  Sandy dipped his spoon into the gruel-like mess, hooking out a piece of something he could not identify, and was grateful for the lack of recognition. Nan was right, it tasted quite palatable if he held his breath while chewing and then quickly swallowed, the liquid remains in the bottom of the bowl was something else, and Sandy put it aside.

  Nan quickly scooped up the bowl, and asked hesitatingly,

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want it?’ and drank it down in a couple of gulps before Sandy could reply.

  ‘You have fire then?’ Sandy asked, a little surprised at the hot goo they had been served up with.

  ‘No, why do you think that?’ asked Nan, a puzzled look on his face.

  ‘Because of the hot...,’ he had to force himself to say ‘food.’

  ‘Oh, that’s heated by the hot gas vent in one of the caves.’ Nan replied, relieved another ass
ault on their beliefs had been avoided, for the time being.

  ‘I’d like to see that,’ Sandy said, suddenly finding something of real interest to investigate, ‘can we go now?’

  ‘I suppose so, although it’s Mop’s domain really, and we should ask her first.’

  Nan led the way down a series of tunnels, one of which eventually opening out into a cavern lit by three gas lights, and equipped with a rough table littered with pots of various sizes, two shelves, somehow fixed to the wall, but he could see no obvious means of attachment, and a copious amount of Mop’s body odour.

  A large bundle of rags in one corner suddenly moved and unwound itself, revealing the dreaded Mop. She had been stooped over a pile of wrinkled brown and black things, sorting them out into two piles.

  ‘I was just getting something tasty together for the evening meal,’ she offered, giving Sandy a welcoming smile.

  ‘What are those?’ he asked, dreading the answer.

  ‘Mushrooms, of course. We grow them in one of the caves near here, would you like to see them?’ she replied, pleased that someone had at least acknowledged her presence and possibly her culinary skills. Sandy went over to the pile and looked closer at the wrinkled and shrivelled objects, wondering if these were the extra chewy bits he had had so much difficulty in swallowing.

  ‘These aren’t mushrooms,’ Sandy exclaimed, ‘mushrooms are rounded white things, on a stalk. But they are of the fungi family. How do you know they aren’t poisonous?’

  ‘No one’s died yet!’ exclaimed Mop, sounding hurt.

  ‘I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,’ he hastily added, ‘but some fungi are deadly poisonous, I was just wondering how you knew these were edible.’

  Nan, fearing an argument was about to ensue, and upset the delicate balance of his charges, interrupted the conversation.