Righteous Alchemy saw two paths in front of him and he
knew the time had come to choose. To left was the dark downward path of death,
where the welcoming waters of Lethe would wash away all his memories and he
could just slide into a pleasant and eternal oblivion and let his troubles drift
away. To the right was the uphill path where he would have to confront the
dreadful scrutiny of an all-seeing white light that would lay his sins bare
before him in an endless stream of agony, guilt and shame. One way was easy and
pleasurable, the other, not so much. He could choose to let go and slide slowly
into never ending nothingness, or climb the hill of suffering and eventually
reach, though not guaranteed, salvation. But the voices that had guided his
every move were no longer there, and without them he couldn’t make a decision.
He teetered on the edge of the ice, blind and helpless.
Which way should he go?
Left right
Day night
Birth or death
Tick tock tick tock
Time was up.
He opened his eyes.
With a single movement he swept Sweet Mary up into his
arms and started to run like the devil.
Righteous caught up with the hobbling threesome in no time
at all and went steaming by. Dutch had never seen a prettier sight than that
black man’s buttocks pumping past them as he carried Sweet Mary across the sands.
“Righteous, wait!” she called after him. Righteous skidded
to a stop and turned to hear what she had to say.
It had become painfully apparent to Dutch that their
progress was far too slow. Rose was a substantial woman and too heavy for her
and Officer Angelo to make any discernable headway on the encroaching ice.
“Put her down and take Rose here,” shouted Dutch. They had
no time to lose. “We’ll help Sweet Mary.”
Righteous put Sweet Mary gently down on her feet and
lifted Rose into his arms as if she weighed nothing more than a child’s doll.
Once they had swapped burdens they set off at a more even pace, keeping just
ahead of the slurping, slithering ice. Dutch put her arm around Sweet Mary’s
waist and hugged her furiously. She honestly thought she’d lost her.
They all ran well for a while but soon the burden of Sweet
Mary began to tell heavily on Dutch and Officer Angelo. Dutch had no idea how
long Sweet Mary’s null-wave transmitter would stay switched on, but she knew
they couldn’t keep dragging her along forever. There was no discernable
sanctuary in sight. The red mountains were miles away and no use as a refuge.
Officer Angelo was gasping for air like the out-of-condition, vodka and
lemonade-drinking, junk-food eating cop he really was. Dutch was not much
fitter for lying around in a jail cell for more than a year and had a terrible
stitch that she couldn’t shake. The three of them were practically crawling
along the ground, and the ice was catching up inch by inch.
There was nothing to hope for. Nowhere to run. Dutch kept
expecting there to be something over the next rise that would save them, but
the landscape remained depressingly consistent, time after time.
‘We’re done for,’ thought Dutch as she felt Officer Angelo
trip and stagger, then try and pick himself up again. She couldn’t go on any
longer. She couldn’t drag both of them along.
Then, as if from the bowels of the earth, came the deep,
mellifluous voice of Righteous Alchemy.
“I can see something,” he said, and everyone’s hearts
leaped for joy. “I can see something glowing, perhaps a place where we might be
safe. Follow me.”
Righteous strode magnificently away from them at a slight
tangent to their present course. The effect of Righteous’ voice on Sweet Mary
was miraculous. It was as if the good news had brought her to her senses. Truth
be told, her anxiety levels had dropped to normal and the limiter in her brain
had finally switched off. She turned to Dutch and gave her a small “hi.” Dutch
was overjoyed to have her back again.
“You ready to run?” she asked Sweet Mary as calmly as
possible.
“Yes,” she said, trying to get her shaky legs to start
moving. It wasn’t long before they were all running as if they had wings, their
eyes glued to Righteous’ mesmerising buttocks.
“It’s not far,” he urged them on. “Just a few more paces.”
But they ran more than a quarter of a mile before they
could finally see what Righteous was talking about. In the distance was a
strange unearthly light, like a beacon hovering just above the ground that spurred
them on to a last heroic effort. Soon they could discern the dim outline of a
rocky knoll sticking up out of the desert ahead of them, lit all around by this
strange light. Sanctuary.
They had no memory of running those last few hundred yards.
The next thing they knew they were clawing and scrambling their way up onto the
stony plateau scant yards ahead of the ice-pack as it struck the base beneath
them with a thunderous thump that made everything tremble and shake. But the
outcrop held and they watched in relief as the ice parted and circled around
them, leaving them high, dry and alive. Sweet Mary was lying cradled in Dutch’s
arms, and Officer Angelo was flat on his back, trying to drag in breath after
painful breath. It was a very long time before they could eventually sit up and
take stock of their surroundings.
They were on a little round island some fifty metres
across in the middle of a vast and deadly sea of ice. It was white as far as
the eye could see with the black horizon going up into the sky. When they finally
tired of this sight, they turned their attention to the outcrop of rock that
had saved their lives. It was uniformly round from many years of being ground
down by the ice sheet, and in the centre was the source of the strange light
they had seen. Perched on a rocky plinth some six feet high, was a crudely
carved bone statue that glowed with an intense light that was almost too bright
to look at directly. They soon noticed that it emitted a substantial amount of
heat too, enough to keep them alive as the temperatures plummeted to many
degrees below zero. No one said anything, and, having been pushed far beyond
their limits, physically as well as mentally – they all of a common accord
crept up to the base of the plinth and huddled close under the strange statue,
hugging each other for extra warmth.
WHAT WILL BECOME OF THEM NOW? HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE THIS HOSTILE PLANET? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK IN THE FOLLOWING EPISODE.
