Episode 38
Travelling Light E038S01 Transcript
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light: Episode Thirty Eight.
[The music fades out.]
The Traveller
Entry BA85007-6: An impromptu visit aboard the Silkspinner, and an account of the religious and social practices of its passengers.
Key words: community; ethnography; philosophy and theology; Spinners and spinning; The Silkspinner.
Notes:
We had been sailing the black for a little over a week when Wolph discovered a fault in the engine's lumital intakes. Unfortunately, it was not the kind of repair he could make while the Tola was in transit.
There were no space stations within range, but there was a behemoth class transport which identified itself as the Silkspinner. Aman explained the situation over the comm and in short order, we received permission to dock.
The Silkspinner is a generation ship, built to survive for centuries as its inhabitants live out their entire lives aboard. According to its local directory, it was home to thousands of people, doing just that.
But as I made my way around, exploring the little I could while waiting for Wolph's repairs to be done, I saw almost nobody.
The docking bay, fitted out with space for several ships at once, contained nothing but the Tola, a few repair droids, and a boiler-suited person with a toolkit here and there.
Beyond the bay, the corridors were well-kept and very tidy – and nearly deserted. Those people I did encounter seemed perfectly at ease. Their clothes were clean and in good repair, their demeanours no different than the people of any other place in the galaxy. It was only that there were so few of them.
Eventually I passed through a courtyard space where there some play equipment installed, and to my relief, found a parcel of children playing there, with attendant adults keeping an eye on things from the benches spotted about the place.
I cannot tell you how soothed I felt to hear the cheerful racket of the children's games after so much silence. I considered exploring further but decided against it. Instead, I settled down on one of the free benches, and began to read the book I had brought with me.
I was not very far into my reading when a movement caught my eye. I saw a tall, somewhat tired-looking person dressed in yellow making a beeline straight for me.
“Hello, hello, hello! You're new!” she said, spreading her hands in a gesture of greeting. “My name's Jinora.”
She seemed keen to talk to me, and I had no objection. I moved over on the bench to let her sit down, and put my book away so that we could introduce ourselves properly.
Jinora chatted quite happily about this and that, keeping me very well entertained. But she seemed always to have half an eye on something else. I wondered if perhaps she was minding one of the children, but apparently not.
Eventually, I brought the conversation around to the matter that had been nagging at me since I came aboard.
“Have we arrived on some kind of holy day?” I asked. Jinora blinked at me, confused. “I am wondering where everyone is. Are they in prayer, perhaps?”
“Oh! I suppose some people might put it that way,” she said, rather ambiguously. “The others are dreaming,” she added, as if that were an explanation.
I confessed that I did not understand her meaning. And so, Jinora told me the story of her home.
[sighing] “The Silkspinner,” she sighed, a note of reverence in her voice. “Some people call it a ship, but to us, it's home, hearth, and temple.
We left our home system centuries ago. And ever since, the Spinners have been providing entertainment and connection to the whole community.
Spinners are usually identified from a fairly young age. My own abilities came to light because I was, uh. Well frankly, driving my care-givers up the wall! [laughs]
They brought me to a Spinner named Rakh, to drive him up the wall instead. And I'm pleased to say, I still do, to this day! [laughs]
Rakh was the first person to realise that all my problems – my distraction, my disruptive behaviour, my constant hunt for more and more stimulation – the were because of my latent abilities as a Spinner.
You've never heard of us, have you? It's alright, don't worry – I'm not offended! [laughs] It's like this.
Spinners have the ability to create and sustain entire worlds, complete and coherent, and existing solely in our minds. Beyond that, we're able to be active in the worlds we sustain, moving through them just as we do the physical world.
It's like being in two places at once – or three, or four! [laughs] I'm not saying this to brag but it is an enormous feat of mental acuity and energy.
It's not just an ability though. It's a need. It's as if our brains have this excess of energy, and without something to feed it into, we get… restless, at best. [sighs] One reality just isn't enough. We need more, just to keep our minds at peace.
For instance, Rakh is a puzzle enthusiast and he's terribly good at it! The more games he has access to, the better. He's always organising tournaments or playing a thousand different games with a thousand different people – all at the same time he's having his breakfast!
My dreamscape is more narrative. I use a lot of historical elements, from our home world or from the ship's history – and, as we meet different people, I take more and more inspiration from their home planets and systems.
I take them, and I weave them into a gritty, crime-filled universe where people can play at being the rakish thief or a glamorous crime boss, or just flirt and dance the night away!
There have always been some concerns about spinning. But I really think it helps people decompress. You just have to look at how much people enjoy it! At any given time, there's thousands of people aboard, all dreaming together.
And it's versatile. Hop into a dreaming pod and you can go anywhere, do anything. You could sequester yourself on a holy island and meditate all day, or play puzzles and games, or visit other worlds – real ones that you might never get the chance to see in person, or realms of pure imagination.
Not everybody is enthusiastic about our abilities. In fact, there are some systems where the Silkspinner and its inhabitants, or even people who've visited with us for an extended period of time, are outright forbidden to enter.
Most of that anxiety comes from species who cannot dream naturally. The thing is, anyone who can sleep will become capable of dreaming once they come into contact with us.
Which, yes, I can imagine that would be rather startling! [laughs] All your ancestors, everyone you know, everyone in your entire species has never dealt with this thing before… And now suddenly, you're hallucinating when you got rest. [laughs[ So, yes, I understand the anxiety.
As far as we can tell, though, it isn't some sort of virus or anything dangerous. Honestly, we don't really know why our abilities affect people the way they do.
But I know the more religious members of our community would give me an earful if I didn't give you the theological explanation.
The belief is that this entire ship is a religious artefact – a kind of vessel for two livings gods, who came with us from the home world. I can't tell you their names, holy secrets and all that! [laughs] But they're responsible for the miracle of spinning.
Unfortunately, that doesn't really help the people who are already nervous about us. [laughs] They already think contact with our kind is, uh, suspect. I've heard them accuse us of being a cult which is absurd!
We don't force anyone to do things they don't want to, and, while, yes, the religious side of things is important its not compulsory or anything. I'm not nearly as religious as some of my fellows, and Rakh is even less so than me!
I think a lot of people's concerns stem from misunderstanding how Spinners actually work. People say it's dangerous, to have so many people inhabiting worlds constructed by other mortal beings.
But that's not how it works. All Spinners have at least two other people supporting their worlds at all times. They're called 'foundations', and they help protect a dreamscape if anything goes wrong.
Rakh, for instance, is one of my foundations and I'm one of his. If something were to happen to him, I would be able to support his existing dreamscapes – at least long enough to get the dreamers out in an orderly fashion. [laughs]
I know I can't convince people who are determined to see the worst in us. But it does make me sad. They'll never know the wonders we can offer. They'll never take that leap and delve into a dreamscape, safe in the Spinner's hands.
I'm sorry you're not staying long enough to try it for yourself. Please, if you're ever feeling lonely, or just curious, drop in, won't you? Just because we're a religious site, doesn't mean we don't welcome visitors!
And I know at least one person who would be delighted to see you – in the flesh or the dream.”
Jinora walked me back to the docks, and I reboarded the Tola, considering her offer.
It would be something, to explore a whole world dreamt up for my own delight. And I can see why the people of the Silkspinner would find such a reality so… tempting. Perhaps I-I will visit again, some time in the future.
Perhaps.
[The sound of the data stick whirring fades in, cutting out when the data stick is removed with a click.]
The Traveller
7th Bahna 850
To the community at Emerraine, who carry the Light.
Oh, my friends. So much has happened since last I wrote. It has been almost three weeks by my count, and it feels like longer still. I hardly know where to begin! I suppose, where I left off – with our mad dash to keep ourselves from the Guillemot's sights.
The evidence of Scarry's continued pursuit lit a fire under Aman. Never one to shirk her duties, she threw herself into her work like never before, poring over navigation charts and star plans to find our way forward.
“Nobody flies like Aman,” Wolph declared over dinner one evening. There was an undeniable note of familial pride in his voice, but I did not think he was boasting. He was merely stating a fact. “She don't want us found? Won't be found.”
Poor Hesje, whose nerves have been even more ragged than usual, gave a sharp, high laugh. [laughs] “I hope you're right. Oh, I do hope so.”
We plunged into the black, making use of every evasive manoeuvre in Aman's repertoire. This was not only a matter of out-running the Guillemot. We had to cover our tracks as we went.
First, Aman sent docking requests to as many ports and stations as were within range. She confirmed our arrival date at each one and so laid a false trail to throw Scarry off the scent.
In practice, we could of course not risk landing in any such place. Even in the most lawless settlement, basic port security would make it impossible to pass unnoticed – or prohibitively expensive to pay for our passage to be occluded.
Instead, the plan was to burn hot all the way to Kerrin. Hot – and quiet.
I mentioned the communications interdict in my last missive. I also spent a few uncomfortable, delicate hours working on the communications array, altering the Tola's integrated ID signal so that we would be obscured from external scans.
“If they manage to get within visual range, we were done for,” Aman said, once the work was done. “But space is vast, and we have a good head start.”
Wolph gave a gruff nod. “And, best pilot in the galaxy.”
It was not a comfortable journey. At every moment, I felt sure I would hear the announcement on the tannoy to tell us it had all been for nought. That the Guillemot was closing in and Scarry was going to get whatever it was he so badly wanted from us.
But the days passed, and then, weeks. We heard nothing. And with each passing day, we drew closer and closer to Kerrin. The place I have been aiming at since I left home almost five months ago.
I mentioned lawless settlements earlier. Kerrin is not quite of a type with the rough and tumble frontier towns found in the entertainments, out at the ragged edge of civilised. But it is a far cry indeed from the sedate stability of Okku or Port Limanos.
On the day of our arrival, Aman put us down in the tiny, ramshackle planetary port. We gathered, all of us, in the Tola's entry hatch.
It was as if there were some signal calling us to huddle close before we went our separate ways. Aman hit the release on the hatch, and we stood there, looking out at the city.
I say 'city' – it was hardly even a town, so small you could see out of it in every direction to the looming hills that surrounded it. Or at, make out the dark, hunched shapes that were presumably hills.
It was hard to tell for certain. It was raining heavily, coming down in a thick, oppressive curtain. The drops rattled off the Tola's hull plating and blew into the hatchway in gusts. The light was weak and grey, the watery dimness of late afternoon in a place where the days are short and the nights are cold.
For a while, nobody spoke. We watched the rain, and wondered at where we had found ourselves and how we had got there.
Then, Wolph leant forwards, peering at the blur of lights beyond the port offices.
“That a tavern?” he said.
“I could go for a pint,” Duytren admitted.
I could have kissed them both. I did not want to leave the Tola yet, and I certainly did not want to do it alone! Let us say goodbye over a drink and something to eat, with a fire in the hearth and all the pleasures of each other's company.
We pushed through the downpour and tumbled into the tavern, bedraggled and half-drowned, but all the keener for that. I threw down my hood, shook the rain from my hair…
And found myself looking at the crew of Guillemot, all of them warm and dry, half-emptied glasses filling the table between them.
Captain Scarry raised his glass. “Cheers,” he said, black eyes glittering with humour. “I was beginning to think you weren't coming.”
[Title music: rhythmic instrumental folk. It plays throughout the closing credits.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light was created by H.R. Owen and Matt McDyre, and is a Monstrous Productions podcast. This episode was written and performed by H.R. Owen.
This week’s entry to the archives was based on an idea by Valentine, with accompanying artwork available on our social media accounts.
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