Drawing near to his chest, Evango pressed his arms against the wall of a candlelit mantelpiece that glimmered from side to side in the shadows. To his right, his slender hand touched a laiden out box of matches, while the heat of a flickering candle light tickled his left side, etching out a narrative across his skin.

 

The box had a celestial note upon his soul that evening, blazing out a constellation far brighter than anyone had ever seen in their lifetime.  Its warm, wicker bracelets gleamed a fury trudging across the moors of anyone’s souls.  The room was dark and silent, and the only source of light came from the shuffling  candlelight that scoured over the mantle piece in front of him. 

 

He had been here before.  He knew these oft-tailored surroundings like he had seen them long ago, many years before, in his intoilable dreams.  He shifted on his heels for just a moment and picked up a cigarette of bliss as he etched out a shadow across the room from behind the dwindling light source.

 

The brethren were in charge here, he uttered to himself mentally.  The jagged tree tops of Olympus would learn hail break lose as he emerged in the precipice.  He would awaken as the awakening source, and not untoward the merry go round of the system that he would conduct in front of them.  He drank through a glass of Xeon as the dawn flickered outside the windows ayonder. 

 

The hapless twinkle of Xeon shimmering in the twilight caught the merry whispers of the fluttering moths that serenaded the atmosphere outside.  Much obliged, on that occasion, only some would complete their task and carry them off sequentially into the endless sky.  But he was here.  On Earth!

 

 

*********

 

Bang sounded the school bell as the lesson came to an end.  Ellie yawned and took an opulent sip of water, as if she were the crystals that enriched the liquid.  The droplets sank down deep within her throat and instantly replenished her into the dreamy fairy scouting out her fellow dream flyers on the far side of the room beneath the window. 

 

Sat across the table and chairs, or as much as both pieces of furniture looked indescript compared to the gleaming, striking appearances of the young esquires, one of the forlorn looking gentlemen, Callum by name, who was perched upon the table, turned and gazed back across as if he had eternity in his eyes.  “I should say it would be a very fine morrow for a young lass like you to address me amongst my group of friends!”  He cried with a jaunting grin. 

 

Ellie shuffled in her chair and seemed to welcome the challenger in front of her.  “And suppose I wasn’t held back by those decadent customs of decorum,” denounced Ellie vivaciously.  She stretched forward and took a wry gulp of her water bottle.  “A young girl like me ain’t no worse than the junk they spray out of the western zones across this city.”  She stood up and grabbed her rucksack on the desk.  “Say,” she continued.  “How does a man with no knowledge of these lands end up in a school of this stature?” 

 

“Well that would be as a result of the winter’s congress on all these lands strutting above the canyons.”  He shoved his bag against another of the male students perched underneath the window, and rose up from behind the desk.  “It seems these cities of the high lands belong just as much to the canyon folk as they do to any tree top prophet.”

 

 Ellie, spurning this somewhat rude advancement, pulled her bag towards her and attempted to dart away into the crowd.  “Hey… wait!  Lassie!”  Cried Callum insolently as he managed to grapple her arm.  “You mountain folk better get used to it.  We’ve been spurned for decades and our kinsmen won’t take it any longer!”

 

“Get off me!!!”  Ellie screamed in defiance.  “It’s about time you folk from the basins knew who’s in charge in these realms.”  She turned back and seemed to viciously slur her words towards him aggressively.  “You’re twitcher scum… nothing more and nothing less!”

 

She escaped away into the enveloping skies.  She distanced herself into the retrograding stars.  The bouncing stairway beneath her cradled her abnormal insubordinate nightmare that scoured most of the hallway.  “You’ll get nowhere without our canyon folk!!!”  She could hear Callum screaming in the background.  “You need us more than you ever thought possible!”  One of the beautifully presented female teachers appeared rising up the stairway.  “What’s all this commotion?”  She uttered attentively.  “Why is everyone shouting?”

 

Ellie leant back, readying herself before uttering her plea.  “Some of the canyon boys started ridiculing me when I was in the classroom,” she murmured sombrely at last.  “It always gives me the worst kind of shivers.”  She perked up defiantly and gained an emotive courage.  “Every winter they come to these lands, scathing treachery across the moonlit streets, curtailing our way of life and breathing hate across our dreams!”  She took a sip of her water and looked proudly up at the teacher.  “These lands have belonged to the Orion clan… and no-one… nay no-one can take that away from us!”

 

The teacher shuffled her papers together and dotted out the heart aches found lingering within her soul.  Singular, twisted towers, the written notes of their hearths, were very common amongst the populace… and they need look no further than the school’s kinship to steady the battiments.  The teacher had an approach, a written microscope nonetheless, that reflected upon their lingering hardships facing the outward world, and was careful, as much, to intrigue too much into the foray.  “Pay every student the respect you would expect yourself,” she uttered astutely at last.  “And try as you might to stay out of harm’s way!”

 

Later that evening, Ellie took the subway home to her house in the suburbs of Dartmouth, a city of around 3 million people on the south east of the planet.  The subway was rarely over crowded these days but snaked away deep underground like a futuristic mono-rail.  Two hours later, after her mother had prepared a meal of cheese pasta, she found herself sat around the table with both her mother and father. 

 

“There’s non point voting for Hammat this election,” gesticulated Ellie’s mum, Sarah, as she passed some of the cheese pasta over to Ellie’s plate.  “No one knows what Duke would do to this planet if they were left in charge!”  She took a sip of wine and gathered herself to speak.  “Before we have the mid-year elections, it’s all frivolous rubbish to get engaged in any of this squabbling the press are going on about.”  She took a sip of the wine.  “I hardly think it’s worth watching anything that comes on the news these days!”

 

Ellie’s father, Ken, the older of Sarah by two years, possessed a hedonistic grin that seemed to lunge on any power-happy conversation like the eagles of the sky.  He anointed himself with a chauvinistic gulp of wine and looked at the pair of them like he were a wolf in front of a duck.  “For now,” he uttered solemnly.  “Yes, yes… for now, we must sit back and await Duke’s next move!”  He lunged forward like his breeding ground he was approaching.  “But see if the polls come out with Excelsus in front this month, we must take our chances swifter than an artic fox!” 

 

Ken was indeed employed, or should I say elected, in politics and was, in fact, in accordance with the grandeur of their dining room, not only just involved in politics but also a member of the cabinet that governed Earth 234.  He was very proudly and much obliged  the minister for the environment.

 

Ken would catch the train every morning that zoomed from Dartmouth towards Zenith, the capital of Earth 234.  The journey took a tranquil 45 minutes, that was felt most of the way as a tranquil, slithery comfort as the train slid superfluously fast across the landscape. 

 

 

*********

 

Ellie strolled towards the front gate of her school the following morning.  Earth 234 operated with an artificial atmosphere which utilised chemical machines that compensated for the absence of water and therefore the absence of plants and a sur-abundance of carbon dioxide.  However, the surface area was perfectly breathable and the absence of clouds gave everyone a sun-soaked holiday.

 

Undertaking an A-level course, as it was to their futuristic world, was akin to undertaking an academic course with all the techniques of studying in eternity laid out in front of them.  Their hologram laptops were equipped with all the Encyclopediae and video graphics to accompany the topics they were studying.  In this godly realm, the furthering of one’s knowledge was ripe and riotous in the centre of people’s preoccupations, and the location Ellie found herself in was a daily hub dub of exuberant business. 

 

Next came a lesson on the history of their planet.  Within Block A, Ellie unwound her hologram laptop on the far left side of the classroom, perched on top of a blue, plastic chair, facing lugubriously the hologram board at the front.  “So what is it?”  Cried the schoolteacher wholesomely, “that we all know about the literature produced by the 80s generation in West Zenith?”  She heaved a breath of oxygen into her lungs with a sigh and gazed around the room in front of her.  “Dunstan…” she glared towards him.  “How about you?  Do you know anything about the literature produced in West Zenith?”

 

“Not since Canstela stopped releasing music about ecstasy,” rebutted Dunstan gleefully.  “Why miss… if it ain’t gonna get me high, I don’t know why I’m bothering!”

 

“That‘s a pretty childish attitude to take, don’t you think??”  Denounced the school teacher adamantly in reply.  “As we all know, culture is a mechanism by which people can reflect and comment on their society.”  She continued.  She strolled back and forward on her heels before glaring at the left side of the room.  “It also gives us a rich insight of the lives of those who lived in the past.”  She peered over at Ellie in the corner of the room.  “How about you, young Ellie?  What do you think?

 

“I like it in King Richard, when the two lovers kiss despite the reproach of their families.  It always makes me think of the hardships those 80s Zenithers faced when they were trying to find romantic love.”  She paused and tried to muscle up the courage to continue speaking.  “I pray something like that never happens across this planet!”

 

“Perfect!”  Cried the schoolteacher blissfully.  “Young love ripening like apples is the delightful source of emotion it behoves us all to study.”  A wide grin grew across her face and she shoved her book on the desk beside her.  “Say!  How’s about you come to the front and act out your favourite passage from King Richard?”

 

Ellie strolled nervously to the front of the room.  The far side fell silent other than the scrunching of paper and the twittering of pens across the tables.    The schoolteacher turned around and peered at the room wolfishly.  “And now,” she bellowed forcefully, “who wants to come and play the role of Romeo?” 

 

The room fell silent, each pupil dumbstruck and cowering nervously away from her gaze.  Pouncing like an artic leopard, the schoolteacher’s gaze shot around the room, before matching Callum’s sight firmly beneath the window.  “Callum!”  She announced at last.  “Why don’t you come and play the part of Romeo?” 

 

“Sorry miss,” Callum stumbled in reply.  “I don’t want to.”

 

“Oh come now!” Persisted the schoolteacher adamantly.  “It will be a nice learning experience!”

 

“But I’ve never even read the book,” denounced Callum desperately in reply. 

 

“Doesn’t matter,” continued the schoolteacher.  “Here, you can read mine!”

 

The crowd of teenagers began to chant forcefully the name of Callum as he shirked away idly.  “Callum!  Callum!”  They cried until at last Callum stood up and paced towards the front of the room.

 

Callum emerged, hands firmly stifled in his trouser pockets, at the front of the room and grasped the book the schoolteacher produced in front of him.  He had a twitchiness across his face and seemed shrouded in his own guise as if embarrassed by the enforced spectacle.  “Now recite for me the start of Scene 3 Act 1!” Continued the schoolteacher. 

 

Ellie felt a wide grin grow across her face and she took a gulp of air before pronouncing the words she read from the book in front of her.  “Romeo!  Romeo!  Where art thou Romeo?”  She sounded into the foray gently.

 

Callum seemed to stutter and absently mumbled the lines of Romeo.  “I’m here my love, I’m here!”  He uttered.  “I have before me a rose petal, taken like a droplet from the garden of angels!”

 

Ellie blushed instantly, and her palms caressing the book seemed to sweat with slithering dampness as she gazed across at Callum.  She looked down at the following lines of Juliet from the book, and took a gulp of air before speaking.  “It is a fine honour from a man as compassionate as you!”  She cried at last. 

 

This time it was Callum who seemed to blush at the romantic gesture of the words and seemed beguiled by Ellie’s soft cheeks and vibrant hair.  He paused and gazed at her wholesomely, but not before a student sitting in the back could insolently shout out towards the pair of them.  “Two lovers, eh!  Why don’t you both get naked!”  He shouted. 

 

“Ahum, ahum!”  Decried the schoolteacher, turning around from her desk.  “No shouting from across the classroom if you please!”  And not only with that, it was on this merry occasion, that both Callum and Ellie stretched back across the schoolroom and sat back behind their desks.  There in front of them was their own trappings to journey them through the rest of the day.

 

 

*********

 

Five hours later and much anticipated by many of the students who preferred the adrenaline rush of a sporting contest compared to sitting behind a desk all day, the sporting games at the end of the day were highly popular, particularly amongst those who had been of that persuasion ever since they selected their corpus those many years ago.  And it was, as the leopards of the zoos stretch their awnings with a morning yawn, that the titans of the school emerged at the precipice ready to lead their battalions into victory.

 

The racetrack in front of them was a form of sun-soaked bronzed medallion, where all seemed to wrestle amongst themselves like Earthian pirates.  In the middle however, and in the middle, was a football pitch laid bare, where some of the finest would take up the position and play the enormously popular game of football.

 

It was, on this occasion, however, that some of the finest sportsmen were instead absent from the occasion, and what was being witnessed was rather a ragged contest between Rook house and Redwood house, played by both men and women, and jocosely plodding along under the winter sun.

 

An audacious left winger, Rick, picked up the ball on the left side after a pass from his team mate, Tom, at centre midfield.  He shimmied towards the touch line, before dummying and darting back towards the penalty area.  Skipping past two defenders, he was left with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.  Opening up his body, he slotted the bell into the far corner of the net.  He had scored!  It was now 5-0 to Redwood. 

 

Rook’s captain, James, came towards his despondent crowd of players resting forlornly behind the goal.  “This is going fucking shite!”  He bellowed dejectedly.  “Something’s gonna have to change fucking pronto if we’re gonna have any hope of winning this game!”  He turned and stared at Ellie hopefully.  “You’ve scored a few goals this season, Ellie?”  Continued James.  “Why don’t you take the position up front?”  He looked around the team like a dejected WWI colonel.  “Now is the moment to shine everyone!”

 

And so Ellie tied up her shoelaces and took her position as striker.  Left to right, side to side, top to bottom, different players of the two teams shimmied and swayed around her passing the ball amongst each other.  It had been ten minutes with the spectacle taking place around her, entertaining the grass like a time lapse as she stood silently engrossed on the far corner, when at last one of Rook’s midfielders passed her the ball. 

 

It was there.  It was there - underneath her feet.  Her attention dropped and she tapped the ball wretchedly with her two feet, before she looked up and searched for someone to pass to.  She could see a team mate up ahead on the right side.  She dribbled forward, glancing down at her feet.  She was ready to pass.  She was there about to pass.  “Ahhh!!!”  She screamed as one of Redwood’s players hacked her down.  Yes - suddenly, she stumbled wretchedly to the ground as one of Redwood’s players slid underneath her.

 

It felt like the gravity of two planets had taken its course.  A sudden, insufferable pain beamed out from her right ankle, tormenting her like the bloodily aching of bones.  Screaming in pain, she came to a huddle and reached out to feel her right ankle.  It was bruised and swollen.

 

Players gathered around her instantaneously, peering over her as they huffed and puffed to gather their breath.  Redwood’s player, stood up and strolled towards Ellie as a general crowd gathered around them.  “I don’t think I can play any longer,” announced Ellie at last dejectedly.  “I think I’ve pulled a muscle.” 

 

Standing still about three metres away, Callum, who had been playing in midfield throughout the game, emerged amongst the crowd of players standing around Ellie.  “Here,” he said, lunging into the foray.  “You can always tell how bad the injury is by moving the ankle from side to side.”  He paced forward and crouched down to speak to Ellie on the ground.  “Here,” he said shuffling the ankle gently from side to side.  “Does this hurt?” 

 

“No!”  Was Ellie’s adamant reply.

 

Callum then moved the ankle upwards and downwards.  “How about this instead?” 

 

“Argh!!!!”  Ellie screamed. 

 

“I thought as much!”  He turned around and looked up at the players.  “She’s got a torn ligament.  Someone needs to take her to A&E tonight and she’ll be fine!”

 

Ellie shuffled off the side of the pitch like a subdued household fox.  Limping at the speed of a congested queue at their local bar, she collapsed in a huddle on the grass beside the touch line.  She began to ferment in longing pain and bludgeoned out abuse from her sedentary position.

 

Indeed, Callum had substituted himself and strolled casually off the side of the pitch.  There, with no one else around, he sat down next to Ellie.  Matching his friendliness with her disorientated confusion, Ellie immediately perked up and began to utter some words in his direction.  “How did you come to learn that knowledge about ankle injuries?”  She asked immediately. 

 

Callum leant back and rested himself with his two arms.  “Life is difficult, you see, in the canyons,” he murmured despondently at last.  “It’s so mountainous people are often getting ankle injuries climbing up rock trails.”  He looked at her and sighed.  “It’s one of the biggest reasons I moved here in the first place.” 

 

“Maybe those canyon folk aren’t that bad after all!”  Gasped Ellie wretchedly.  “It makes a change from snot nosed Dave or angry Mike who we always have to spend most of our time with!” 

 

Callum chuckled and reached out to spud Ellie’s fist.  “Well it’s nice to break the ice at least!”  Murmured Callum in reply.   

 

“Here,” Cried Ellie.  “You’re welcome here with as much warmth as any of those ice pits in the canyons!  Hey,” she continued pulling out her water bottle.  “Let’s toast to breaking the ice!!!”

 

 

 

*********

 

Five months had passed absently like a perpetual Christmas vigour.  Being still a minor under the law of her planet, Ellie had continued to press on with her studies, sport alongside it, and generally engrossed herself in the toils of teenage life. 

 

Yet, far removed from this upon a destitute and wretched metaphysical scales, Ellie’s mother and father were completely unshackled by the requirements such as school brought and could carry out any form of commerce, barring that which was prohibited by the law.

 

So indeed Ellie’s father Ken was and could be proud to be employed as Environment Secretary.  Sporting a classical suit seemingly eternally, he found himself now having just jumped off the train at Dartmouth station and was in the process of ordering a hovering taxi to drop him off at his resplendent house.

 

And it was 30 minutes later that Sarah ladled a portion of Greek salad onto Ken’s plate as they sat at other ends of a metallic, glass table.  They were a family of one, richly united, and as venomous as a pack of wolves when congregated together in one room.

 

Ellie took a munch of rocket and sipped her wine like a snow angel wrapped up in the desert.  “There are some canyon boys who have just joined our school,” she mumbled into the foray, whilst munching on a cube of Feta cheese.  “At first I thought they were annoying but recently I’ve started to like them more and more.”  She took another mouthful of food from her plate before glancing over at Ken at the end of the table.  “Say, Ken,” she uttered. “When was the last time you went to the canyons campaigning for votes?” 

 

Ken shuddered and took a nervous, frail sip of wine.  “Those low lands are a dark place,” he growled tentatively.  “Best stayed away from.”  He reached for his wine glass and lent back in his chair.  “They’re rife with mischief makers, vagabonds and bandits.”  He placed his wine cup on the table.  “Why… when I was campaigning I could think of nothing of the sort… much too eager to stay out of harm’s way.”

 

“But surely you had a chance to look around the landscapes while you were there?”  Continued Ellie, unperturbed by his negativity.  “It’s only a two hour train away as well!”  She grinned to herself jocosely.  “Plus they say they have a nightlife as dark as the Wild West which shimmers across the entire land!” 

 

Ken took a long gestated strain and looked absent-minded at Ellie’s exuberance.  “You must understand,” he muttered at last, “that with over 100 billion citizens all across Earth 234, it is impossible to govern the whole planet with one government.  Trust me - men have tried.”  He scoffed on a piece of salad and looked at Ellie devoutly.  “In this way, it must therefore be right that some regions have a better quality of life than others.  It is the simple way of the world.”

 

“Surely you don’t believe any of that antiquated rubbish?!” Gasped Ellie with incredulity.  “They’re just as much Earthians as the rest of us!”  Say,” she continued adamantly, “say if I brought back a canyon boy, would you treat him any different to any other Dartmouth boy!?” 

 

“If he can sling a petrol bomb like the rest of those canyons, he sure as hell won’t find himself a welcome space in my abode!”

 

“Argh!!!”  Denounced Ellie viciously.  “It seems you’re a filthy bigot!”  She shoved her plate forward.  “No that is it,” she cried defiantly.  “I can’t sit around the same table as you any longer!”

 

That did indeed bring an obliging end to the family’s dinner, before they embarked on their separate ways, Sarah smoking a droplet of bliss outside, Ken washing the dishes, and Ellie sat upstairs in her bedroom fretting.

 

But hold your horses.  For within 10 minutes, Ellie’s hologram mobile would ring with the sound of her friend, Daisy, calling her for a chat.  With a simple “answer” word beckoning the hologram device to pick up the phone, she suddenly had Daisy on the line in front of her. 

 

“So you and Callum seemed to be getting quite intimate this afternoon,” Daisy murmured with a wide grin.  “What do you think is gonna happen between you two?”  She chuckled gleefully.  “He’s certainly good looking!”

 

“I don’t know,” replied Ellie with a note of shyness, plodding her fingers on the bed as if dumbstruck by her romantic ordeals.  “All the men is this town are preoccupied with playing sports.”  She sighed loudly down the phone.  “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to date a man from further afield!”

 

“Wells how’s about this,” interrupted Daisy viciously.  “There’s a fireworks show going on at the Grove park tomorrow evening.  Most of our class, in fact all of our class, are going.  It will be the perfect time to talk to Callum!” 

 

“Ooh bebadoobee!”  Mumbled Ellie in reply.   “That is indeed in fact something I’d been looking forward to.”  She paused for a moment and then perked up to make her decision.  “Alright… yeah,” she exclaimed joyfully. “Book me in and I’ll see you there!!!” 

 

“Alright… gotcha,” exclaimed here friend with a friendly note. 

 

“Ciao!” Replied both of the couple.

 

 

*********

 

The planet of Earth 234 had a diameter that induced a gravitational pull of exactly 1 newton, roughly similar to all the planets across the universe that had a oxygenated atmosphere.  It had been the 31st favourite of the creators and consequently had originally stored some of the water to be allotted across the whole of the universe.  As a result, the heights of the mountain tops and the depths of the canyons could create monumental cataclysmic differences in height.

 

The planet had been approached by their creators two million years ago, at which point the water had been extracted with a specialised funnel, and transported by whale cruisers off to planets throughout the cosmos.  Once a great metropolis of aborigine Earthians, the cities were filled with rising pale stone skyscrapers with viewing platforms on the side and on top that were decked with bars, restaurants and vibrant orchards.  Monorails circling around the heights came to a casual halt atop the disparate skyscraper platforms that filled the expanse like a Tetris game.

 

At moments like this, the populace was accustomed to strolling up the side of walls, climbing like minute ants as the marble walls glimmered against the sun.  Two and throw, two and throw, they charged, kaleidoscoping into a pyramid of synesthesia. 

 

It was with this bravado burning deep within his heart, that Callum emerged from his penthouse apartment and gazed out from the balcony at the city below.  He took a sip of his lightning bolt can and flicked on his hologram phone to contact his fellow school mates.  “Yep - all set!”  Were the absent general replies sent back in his direction, so he returned back to his penthouse and headed towards the sauna. 

 

Later that night, he and five of his friends gathered at the lower market forum of Zenith, which was a square of about 400 metres by 400 metres.  The location was surrounded by disparate heights of glass and pale stone skyscrapers.  In the centre rested a rising column within a fountain which commemorated the date when the creators met the aborigines on a nearby moon.  At the ground level, there were plentiful shops, bars and restaurants.

 

By this time a large crowd of about 5,000 Zenithers had filled the central market forum, while the side streets that snaked away on the outer edges also supported gatherers arriving and escaping away from the spectacles of the square.  Soothing the crowd, a loud progressive dubstep melody boomed across the revellers, while ecstatic colourful lights lit up the surroundings.  There, at the jam packed bar on the right side, Callum and his friends, Tom, Dave, Pete, John and Chris by name, joined the queue to buy some cans of Zenon. 

 

Brushing their wristwatches against the buzzer, the group of lads held their Zenon cans in their steady palms, opening and unlatching the euphoric inebriation for a moment. Gathered together they then jocosely turned and began untangling their way through the throng of people in front of them.  Arriving somewhere near the fountain at the centre, they came to a halt and lit up a cigarette of bliss.

 

 

*********

 

Meanwhile, Ellie had met Daisy and two other friends a stones’ throw away, beneath an almighty parapet of the Grand Central Station that found itself a few blocks away from Zenith central forum.  She felt eager and energetic, and bounced out of the confines of the train station with an undutiful excitement. 

 

“Let’s make our way to the forum!”  Badgered Daisy amidst the battering sound of music in the distance.  “The fireworks are due to start in twenty minutes!”

 

The group of four women circulated through the varied throngs of people, dodging and navigating their ways through the crowds of people.  Dazzled and electrified by the shimmering bars, restaurants, nightclubs, stalls and shops, they trudged away with mindless insanity.

 

There, across the forum in front of her, Daisy noticed one of the friends from her class, Jake, sipping a pint of Excelsus with three other friends surrounding him.  It looked as if he had a relaxed demeanour, cherishing the event that was taking place.  Daisy looked back at her friends bumbling their way through the crowd, and directed them to a halt beside the four gentlemen.

 

“It’s time like these I wish the fireworks could shoot me off to Mars!”  Bludgeoned Jake’s friend, Anthony, as the group gathered in a circle.   “But I suppose, alas, that we’ll have to make do with Jeremy’s annual routine as normal!”  He handed a can of lightning bolt to the four ladies.  “It’s not as if our school is aching for the pyrotechnics department to appeal more to the intelligentsia around here!”

 

“I know you’re still suffering from that twisted ankle, eh Ellie!”  Interrupted Dave vociferously into the conversation.  “That canyon bloke looked like he had it all worked out!”  Randolph, the most introverted of the group, took a sip of Excelsus and gathered himself to speak.  “The canyons are actually all here at the fireworks tonight!”  He said, taking a puff of bliss.  “Look!  They’re just over there!”

 

“Blasphemy!”  Cried Anthony.  “A haven of toil!”  He puffed on his cigarette of bliss and looked at the crowd wilfully.  “No hilltop spectre can ever recompense for the lewd gathering of men! Say,” he continued vociferously.  Say,” he said again.  “Call them over at once!”

 

The crowd joined together and grew into a group of over ten people.  Daisy strolled towards a canyon lad on the left side, who reached out to offer her a can of Excelsus.  In the middle, Jane began smoking on a droplet of bliss as one of the canyon lads showed her the vaping varieties he had stored in his pockets.  Thus, remaining subdued on the far right side, Ellie found herself with Callum in front of her.  

 

Callum gave Ellie a warm hug and then looked down at her ankle.  “Look… your ankle has healed in no time!” He exclaimed with a friendly gesture.  “We’d have you up on the mountains of the canyons in no time.”  He took a sip of Excelsus and looked at Ellie passionately.  “Say,” he continued.  “What is it you mountain folk get up to for fun in these parts?”

 

“Ahum!”  Chuckled Ellie absently.  “All everyone ever does is drink endless cans of lighting bolts.  It’s be the same fun every night for the past 12 years!” 

 

Callum stretched forward and looked at her devoutly in the face.   “What if I said there’s a way of stretching beyond what you know to be true to yourself.”  He paused and gathered himself.  “A higher plane is out there!  You just have to take it!”  He reached into his pockets and drew out a small packet with two pills inside.  “Here,” he continued.  “I have this pill of LSD with me from the depths of the canyon nightclubbing scene.  I can give it to you if you want?”

 

Yet no sooner had he reached forward with the packet of drugs, than Antony lunged forward interrupting the pair of them.  “Say… do you think that’s a suitable thing to be messing around with at a place like this?!”  He screamed vocally.  “That sort of intoxicant belongs in the depths of the canyons, never to be seen amongst these higher grounds.  Pray,” he said, looking astutely at Callum.  “Take your plight and plunder elsewhere!” 

 

“It’s only a bit of enjoyment!”  Bludgeoned Ellie, lurching forward.  “Why don’t you get off your high horse and let us have a bit of enjoyment once in a while!”  She screamed.

 

Callum patted his hand against Ellie’s shoulder and looked at her sombrely.  “It’s okay.  It’s fine.”  He said at last.  “We’ll go and spare you any trouble.”  He turned and glanced dejectedly at the rest of the canyon boys.  “You lot enjoy the rest of your evening.  We’ll get out of your way.”

 

The group seemed to disperse into the crowd around them, as the canyon boys stretched away smoking their cigarettes of bliss.  How the depths of intrigue does threaten pastures new!  How loneliness can often turn into plight!  Mustering the courage within her, Ellie perked up and shouted to the group of canyon boys.  “Wait!”  She screamed at last.  “Take me with you!”  She stared at the canyon boys adoringly.  “I’ll go with you for the rest of the night!”

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Serpent dwellers tend to ignite with the flames.  They rise and climb through the depths of humanity, scathing only at the degradation they find above them.  There is nowt written in the absence of humanity nor pedestals turning asunder when absence found.  So, do not mistake here, all ye daft fools, a reckoning of plight emerging before their eyes -  but rather a cataclysm of the sun gleaming out earnestly for their tomorrows. 

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The breakaway group serenaded across the horizons, refuting the reckless clamours of those they had left behind, diving instead into their souls with twinkling ecstasy.  They were there, thereupon and there on the moon.  They clambered up through the rainforests of nervousness, arose higher that the dwindling caverns of their emotions.  Ellie stretched her neck into the skies and all she could see was an infinite wonder of sheer joy.  She was there.  She was written. She was the almighty elephant rising higher above them all. 

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They climbed and they fell. There was a rushing dream painted across their inhibitions. One moment they were superfluous to the clouds, another moment they were tree dropping off their own merry wands. 

 

As do the rainbow rains hit their souls. They find the slow groves of their teenage years and launch them into the motherfucking stratosphere. A world splendid, a night resplendent like the overgrown cityscape and thrills deep within their bones sweeping them joyfully and endlessly into euphoria.

 

The world seemed a cataclysm of emotions. Disparate colours and sensations swarmed her mind, kaleidoscoping into a whirlwind of ecstasy. She fluttered that night. She fluttered into a coral reef of wonder. 

 

The rainbow rains were sending her into an inebriated feeling of reward and success. The group clambered through the entranceway to a nightclub and found themselves at the centre of the dance floor. Blowing a puff of her bliss cigarette, she remained steady on the dance floor, circulating her euphoria endlessly around like she were a floating angel in the sky. She was pedalling the swooping troops of a billion Earthian insects all under her grasp.

 

The next moment she woke up in the sky minibus ten minutes away from her home in Dartmouth. Opening her way through the door, she collapsed lethargically onto her bed, tired, but with a thrill greater than she’d ever felt before.

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*********

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Laden with the daggers of the past, restitute with the righteousness he had sworn to his dwindling catacombs, Ellie’s father, Ken, had usurped wretchedly as the ruler of their family. A knife edge moment as they opened their eyes amongst his cave, the toils of their nightmares laid very much bare for them all to see, a morning’s breakfast with the monolith was a like a battle with a dragon guarding his gold. 

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“I’m very worried about you, Ellie!” He stretched forward instantly, covering his Atom cup. “You shouldn’t be rushing around all these nights, every night, as you do, mindless with strangers!“. He poured himself another cup of Atom and took a large sip, arching forward. “When I was your age, all I did was sit in the library.” He paused and stared at her in dismay. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said adamantly, “for you to be spending any of your time with these canyon boys.” He shook his head from side to side. “All they mean is trouble!”

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Ellie shot her eyes to the side and looked at the man aggressively. “You mean you want me to follow your ancient, bigoted ways and not spend any time with people I actually like!” She blurted forcefully. She seemed swarmed in her anger and shouted towards him again. “Well how’s about this,” she uttered proudly, “As soon as I graduate from school, I’m gonna move to Zenith with the canyon boys! There is nothing you can do to stop me!”

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And, indeed, later that evening, Ellie and Callum met under the twinkling of the stars. Rich with a lunar moonlight, they found themselves in front of each other, gazing up at their perfection. With their gentle brows touching each other’s, they reached forward and kissed.

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PART 2

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Two years had passed sequentially like an ongoing butterfly. Diving out of their hardships, all members of Dartmouth’s school had graduated from their high school and were free to entertain their leisures at their will. All the compatriots Ellie had met at the fireworks, along with the rest of her class and the canyon boys, had graduated with adequate grades, and, on this occasion, the lot of them had decided to migrate to Zenith to embark on higher trophies. 

 

It was a situation that appealed to the crowd like an overgrown patch of butterflies. The weather was always calm, and the winds only grew to mechanically spread circulation across the planet. Earth was like a manicured garden that soothed their jocose, dainty and vibrant spirits. 

 

The beverages these folk were accustomed to drink were nothing less than super-powered Rainbow Rains that catapulted their low brow horizons to austere castles lubricated with sexy and seducing serotonin levels. The rush of dopamine and serotonin within them caroused them like a cerulean sky. Yes, yes, they were like aphrodisiacs with their slenderly chosen corpi as they all shimmered against the resplendent back drop.

 

Accustomed as they were, in these stages of their lives, the group often went attending nightclubs, slithering and cavorting with the Rainbow Rains raging forcefully within their bloodstreams. In the age they found themselves in, the nightclubs stood at the top of the pale white skyscrapers, while the journey taking them constituted a rising, snaking mono-rail, filled with anticipatory, boisterous and loud revellers awaiting.

 

It was on this occasion that the group were halfway through a night in a nightclub. The melodic booming of House music reverberated through their inebriated minds as they dazzled on the dance floor. To her right, Ellie could see Callum throwing his arms around to the music in a hypnotic spectre, while her friends on her left seemed stuck in a trance. She raised her hands up in the air, awe-struck like an invisible cloud, and saluted the burgeoning euphoria gripping her mind. 

 

Three hours later the nightclub’s lights swarmed over the room and the music reluctantly came to a close. The room remained jam-packed with revellers, who extolled the enormity of their joy wondrously throughout the room. Screaming and shouting hooligan chants, they exited out of the building and prepared to take the subway back home to their abodes.

 

There, back at Callum’s penthouse, the group of five them sat down on the sofa, still buzzing their metaphorical tits of. At last, Callum’s friend, Steve, perked up and turned the hologram TV onto the film “Lord of the Rings” as the group remained catatonic on the sofa. After several minutes, they reclined calmly back on the sofa as the TV beamed in front of them. 

 

After 15 minutes durably permeating the lounge they were sitting in, Daisy finally perked up and peered at Steve adventurously. “Hey,” she murmured absently. “You canyon folk have certainly left a mark on the place since you’ve been here.” She blew a puff of bliss and chuckled to herself. “Say… why don’t you set up a political party and lead Zenith to glory… as you say!?”

 

“Hah!” Chuckled Callum absently. “Tis a fool hardy ambition unalike a destitute camel ride… nothing more and nothing less,” he decried wishfully. “Ain’t as much of an arsenal in my left knuckle than all this Zenith land could be pleased with.” He took a dainty sip of lighting bolt and peered at the crowd. “Say,” he uttered. “Best I take a wholesome toke of this bliss to see the morning arrive tomorrow!” 

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*********

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The following morning Callum looked glum and dejected sitting on the table in the middle of his kitchen. He puffed relentlessly on his bliss cigarette and shoved his feet onto the table with a lacklustre perturbance. It took several minutes of him idly wishing his life away, before Steve strolled into the room and appeared before him. “Hey!” He gestured as he took out a lightning bolt can from the fridge. “Why are you looking so glum old chap!” He pressed wilfully, opening up the can. 

 

“I’m too bored to even live these days!” Mumbled Callum lethargically. 

 

“Hey!” Snapped Steve lethargically, as Callum almost seemed to collapse more into a huddle beside the table. “Let me into me brighten your horizons with a little update I have come across in the daily news.” He perched down on the table beside him. “Yes. You see the Royal Army is recruiting soldiers as we speak.” He picked up his lightning bolt can and pointed at Callum with his finger. “Say… surely a jaunting young fellow like yourself would be right at home amongst the army!” 

 

Callum seemed to collapse further into a huddle. “Alright! Alright!” He bludgeoned before collapsing into more of a huddle. “Count me in! Count me in! Anything to get me away from this endless revelry!”

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So later that night, conjoined as if friendly nighttime scouts, both Callum and Steve ventured via subway, amidst the night sky, towards the Territorial Army division near the centre of Zenith. Reaching a queue of about twenty people stood at the entranceway, the pair of them finally reached an astute man wearing a khaki outfit and claiming to be soldier. Making their way inside, they reached the Sergeant in charge of conscription and enlisted themselves both. Standing in the middle of the hall, they were instructed to meet in a week’s time, ready to be given their next assignment.

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*********

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A week later Callum and Steve made their way back to the Territorial Army centre near the centre of Zenith. Over 30 people, from disparate regions across the city, had congregated for the event. Sauntering into the building, Callum and Steve took their seats near the back, awaiting the arrival of the evening’s speaker. 

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A soldier at the front dimmed the lights and switched on a sort of hologram projector. There, guiding the audience through a range of slides, he detailed the latest objectives of the territorial army. “As you can see,” he uttered, pointing to a globe on the hologram TV. “The territorial army is preoccupied with overseeing the far reaches of this planet… the like of which,” he continued proudly, “has been reached by few people!” He paced back and forth pointing to the hologram. “It is the job of the territorial army,” he continued, “to ensure the security of the polar regions, both on a surface level and in space.” He paused and clapped his hands together. “Which means Earth 234’s magnetic field as well!” The soldier then rested his pointer and looked at them forlornly. “Which l’m afraid,” he uttered further. “Is a prime breeding ground for insurgents!” 

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There, having addressed the crowd, the soldier left the room and the meeting was continued by other spokespeople for the remaining 30 minutes. Callum and Steve sat subdued at the back of the room, listening attentively, until at last the evening’s proceedings came to an end. There, exiting out of the building, they were stopped by a sergeant at the side of the door, who looked at them eagerly. “Excuse me,” uttered the soldier attentively. “Am I right in saying you currently reside with a young mademoiselle, Ellie Stranger, by name?” 

 

“Why yes,” mumbled Callum in reply. “Why do you ask?”

 

“Come with me,” uttered the soldier in reply. “There is something I need to be done with haste,” he said further as he ushered them into a side room. Within the shrouded chambers, he turned around and looked like a cavernous bat ready to seize upon them like prey. “What I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance,” he murmured viciously. “It must be kept a secret and guarded from any untrustworthy source!” He shook his head and then reached forward to speak to them. “We’ve had a distress signal from someone on Mars.” He uttered finally. “It seems we’ve had an anonymous tip off that Earth’s magnetic field is in trouble. What we could be facing is earthquake after earthquake across this planet!”

 

“And where do we come in?” Murmured Callum on edge. 

 

The soldier stretched back and reached into his pocket for a small electronic device. “The tip off was anonymous, but we’ve been able to trace where the source came from with our GPS tracker.” He flicked on the small item. “The signal seems to be coming from a small city on Mars.” He stretched forward eagerly. “The message mentions an Ellie Stranger, the daughter of the Environment Secretary, which is why we think it’s genuine.”

 

“Some genius out on the red deserts!” Chuckled Callum.

 

“No. Not quite,” rebutted the soldier. “But he’s the best lead we’ve got to protecting this planet!” He stared at the two them with a muscular vigour. “We need you travel to Mars and locate this mysterious messenger. Take Ellie Stranger with you, and track down the assailant!” He threw his pointer aside and looked at them adamantly. “Do I have your allegiance?”

 

There with the courageous venture ahead of them, the pair felt as if they had an insidious bravery ready to lead them onwards like a pack of wolves. “Sir, yes sir!” They indeed both cried.

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*********

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Subdued and on edge at what seemed to be a preparatory gathering, Callum, Daisy, Steve and Ellie found themselves hunched around table in a pub nearby to Callum’s penthouse in Zenith. The building’s walls rose tall with high ceilings like a dystopian “Wild West” image and the thinner arm chairs rested beneath an impressive bar table. In the corner, on the far side, was a dance floor and DJ, but not yet occupied by any revellers of any kind.

 

“Take it as an honour, my dear friend,” Steve announced. “That I’ve sat here and got through a fourth pint of Excelsus with you.” He took a sip of his glass and studied what he was drinking. “Many, much like yourself, draw a line at these cavernous Excelsus pints relentlessly going down one’s throat like by-gone temples. Mais, alas!” We’re here and this is what we are drinking!” 

 

“Or should I say at the bed of passion no less!” Exclaimed Daisy virtuously. She peered around the room like a drunken sailor. “Or art thou be-smitten from the confines of these walls!” 

 

“Tis a merry whisper!” Cried Callum. “‘Tis a merry whisper! That is all!”

 

“Argh…!!! Dounce thou at the beads of honour I say!” Extolled Ellie, diving into the conversation. “I should be very much mistaken if you didn’t further the night’s entertainment!”

 

“Well a token for us all!” Applauded Steve. “Venture with me, young scaly wags, to the dance floor ayonder!” The group gathered over on the dance floor, inebriated beyond measure. “Pray thee…” he exclaimed, “take a shot of Tuglo from me for good measure!” He grabbed four tall shot glasses from the table and shoved them in the direction of his friends. 

 

Yet this, as much as it seemed, was too much for Daisy to overcome. She had an inebriated soul that was much more partial, as are many, to the delights of Rainbow Rains and them alone. These vibrant chocolate inebriations left her soul with a wretched lethargy. Thus, as such, she refuted the Tuglo shot and bid farewell to the three drinkers in the pub.

 

Gifted with their psyches, the undeniable wolf pound of their awnings, the threesome magicked their way through the shots of Tuglo like magical fairies.  A world evaporating, the backdrop disappearing, they swarmed into a ripe and riotous magical world of adrenaline. Touching the end of his shot glass, before discarding it wilfully on the ground, Callum reached up and exclaimed loudly throughout the room. “To Mars we will rise!”​​​​​​​​