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Elisa hated the dogscape too. At the Maam ceremonies, as tribesmen rallied against the ways of the Aduke worshippers, the young couple would steal away and watch the stars from the coast. Their dreams would interweave, without saying a word their consciousnesses intertwined. Her disappearance was too much for Rexus to take. He was sure they could have carried on dreaming into old age, wishing the dogscape away. If that were what fate had in mind for him, he often told himself he’d never have become a root addict. But what difference did it make? Staggering through the radio district, the quarters that had clung desperately to the look of the old world, men hacking dogflesh from concrete every day, Rexus would seek his peace. He was an outsider, both tribal in origin and an undesirable as a junkie. Bearded, ragged and dark eyed. Nobody ever stopped to ask his story. But Rexus often recited it to himself. Breaking puppyfruits beside the sea, the only commonly available sustenance across the scape. Elisa would describe strange old world devices, small, floating machines. He remembered her stories, they became part of his story. Those old world machines that she swore were monitoring her. It was passed down through centuries that ships once arrived on the shores of the dogscape, their crews were met with hostility and violence. Some sailors, however, survived. The tribes of Maam and Aduke had different versions of events, tailored to favour themselves. The Maam described the ships as carrying old world forces of destruction, men who had arrived to destroy the dogscape. The wise leaders of Maam understood this arrival to be a test. They believed the dogscape would ultimately defeat the old world arrivals, and if the tribe failed to act the dogscape would consume the tribe of Maam too. So Maam sent their warriors to slay the arrivals from across the sea. According the Maam mythology, the survivors of the tragic expedition to the dogscape would go into hiding, they would form the tribe of Aduke to ensure their survival, and would have vengeance in their hearts towards the loyal tribe of Maam. The tribe of Aduke raised their children with different stories. Stories Rexus had never heard. According to Adukes tribal leaders, the sailors were faithful to the dogscape and had fled the mythic old world territory, to return to the fold of the dogscape. They belonged to a faithful spiritual elite, who were moved by the howls of the dogscape to return. They were special because they chose the dogscape, they gave up the luxuries of the old world to serve under the watchful eyes of their single canine deity, Aduke. The sailors who survived the attack from the Maam worshippers bought the name Aduke with them and soon inspired a following among those rejected by the Maam. This story would be expanded over generations, with each tribe adding new details, increasingly favouring their own side and demonising the other. With each generation reconciliation seemed all the more impossible. Elisa was the first skeptic Rexus had encountered. She questioned the notion that anybody other than the absolutely insane would choose the dogscape. She believed they were in a state of permanent quarantine, and if there was anything else out there, it would take a sea to keep it safe. It was possible the ships were sent for research purposes, but there was no evidence they had ever existed at all. Other than those strange machines that she swore had followed her, shooting away as soon as she began to approach them, only they cast doubt and uncertainty in her mind. She became solemn and unsure of everything when she bought up the machines. It made no sense that nobody else had seen them. That she was always alone when they appeared. Years later, Rexus would attribute her disappearance to something involving the machines. In a drug addled stupor he would make reference to them, drawling ‘she was took by the machines’. Wanderers of the dogscape did not form enduring friendships, they used one another to get by. He would talk of the machines to bemused and indifferent vagrants, as they waited impatiently for him to pass a match. ‘Sure man, the machines took her away. It’s mean out there.’ And soon enough their bodies and emotions would be numb, but warm and content. And for a few moments the howls would be silenced and Elisa would be within reach, however fleetingly. What other way would Rexus have chosen to go? |