Konsk: The Great Takeover of the Place

48. Somewhere up ahead.

“There's something else, as well,” said Nonna, sitting beside him on his cot..

“There uthually ith,” Trueman garbled.

“Its you again. Or rather, another one of you, up in the wild there, where you were first picked up. A kite flyer spotted him. Looks like he came in with you. He's been living rough for the last month or so, waiting for something.”

Nonna took her time continuing.

“Considering its another INCO clone like you I'm surprised he was spotted at all. You're supposed to be radically trained and configured for covert operations. Though thinking about your exploits...”

“Well, I'm different,” Trueman insisted. “I might occupy a similar body but I am not one of them; I'm a...visitor.”

“Well, I think we've accepted that now but this dude is loose in our own lands and we don't know why. Though we have a pretty good idea.”

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Listen, Troom. The festivals of Realignment and the First Founding will happen in many locations across the old country but there's still a tendency to choose sites of particular meaning. One of those sites is close to where we picked you up, in the wilderness.“ She paused before going on, “Its an old farm.”

Trueman surprised himself with an intuition.

“The Little Big Farm,” he whispered, amazed. “Its still there?”

Nonna nodded. “But I'm afraid its not the same.” She was finding this difficult. “There was a fire.”

As fast as it had arisen within him, the sense of home dissipated.

“I'm sorry, Troom,” Nonna said, “One of the first big fires. A real wake up call,. Started up on the highlands in a drought, got into the peat and burned for weeks. Then it broke out with a strong wind behind it and spread so fast, couldn't be controlled. Ran down the valley through monoculture plantations. The trees had been killed already by disease and were standing, dry timber. The fire got into the crowns and ran for miles and miles. They just had to let it burn out. Took nearly a month till the rains came. Hundreds of homes were destroyed.”

She held his hand.

“I am sorry, Troom.”

Trueman observed the stirring of various emotions within him, trying to identify what he was feeling. It was not as if he had been expecting to find his old home, the Little Big Farm, in this strange future. So what was this sense of loss that sought to overwhelm him? It was certainly not rational, he decided. Best to put a brave face on it.

“You were talking about some sort of festival of the First Finding or something,” he managed. “And a meeting at the old site.”

“The First Founding,” she corrected, then took a moment before continuing, as if weighing up what to say. “Yes. A pretty special group will be going there for the event. They were hoping you would join them.”

“Well, that's very thoughtful of...Wait a second! My clone being around has nothing to do with this, has it?”

“I'm not going to lie to you, Troom. Having an improved neuro-cortically optimised assassin loose in our homeland doesn't kindle a happy feeling in us and the quicker it gets sorted the better, as far as we're concerned. But there's been no trouble yet; he doesn't seem to have any desire to leave the wilderness. So we tend to believe he's probably waiting for something. We think the clone is probably there waiting for you.”

“But why? You don't think he intends to...terminate me, do you?” Trueman shuddered.

“Maybe. Who knows. Data acquisition is their speciality, as you well know.”

Trueman sighed; once again he felt he was not really in control of his own destiny. He laughed. Had he ever been? Wasn't it always the case that reality simply unfolded around him and he had to try and make the best of it?

“So this, ah, festival of the re-enlightenment then...”

“Realignment. Realignment is just re-centring ourselves around our core values. Its made in relation to the three primary perspectives, the environment, the community and the individual or Eco-Socio-Psycho.”

Trueman looked surprised.

“E.S.P.” He realised. “And I thought it meant...” He tailed off, shaking his head.

“Don't worry about it, matey! You'll get there, eventually! Each perspective comes with essential concerns, things we have got to get right if we're gonna heal our environment and survive as a species. So we look at three, five or nine concerns, depending on our level and experience. We include opportunities for dumping hurts and finish off with next achievable steps. We don't have to map out our whole lives but it is useful to know what we're gonna do next!

“In the cantrefi, like Last Resort, we think its useful to realign as a community, working together to realign. Its part of the stability function of all cantrefi and whenever we meet up in larger, collective actions, we stack it in. We used to do it a lot at first,” she smiled.

“Big parties. And some members, mainly the younger ones, still get a kick out of larger gatherings, though now we tend to think that lots of people being in the same place at the same time is not so necessary and can be a major vector for disease. The cantrefi folk generally practice a stay-at-home culture, so we do more stuff remotely and realignment appears to be just as useful, no matter where we might be.”

“And this is bigger than just the old country?”

“Yep. Some sort of planet wide experience. The cantrefi culture has old, old roots, in pretty much every society; we were all gardeners before we were farmers. Linking up globally made us realise how much effect we could have.”

Nonna stopped, clasping her hands in her lap. Trueman surprised himself by noticing her change in mood and also, that he actually cared. He placed one of his broad hands on hers.

“What is it?” He asked, quietly.

She looked up at him and managed a grateful smile. Had he made it easier for her?

“There's a bit of a problem, Troom,” she said. “Well, a problem to do with you.” Nonna trailed off.

“Oh yes?” Trueman asked, with that all too familiar sinking feeling..

“Well,” she went on, “When you opened up the databases to outside scrutiny, there was a lot of stuff about the Volleys. And your involvement.”

Nonna raised a hand to stay his protests.

“Yes, we know it wasn't you, Troom; the cantrefi have accepted that for a fact, now. But it was the body you somehow occupy, that body was responsible and we don't think possession is a valid legal defence, if you get my meaning. There's an international warrant out for your arrest and National Security have allocated a retrieval team; they want to hold you to account. I know, I'm sorry but that's the way it is.”

“Great,” said Trueman, sounding miserable again then accepting. “Oh, I know. I posted the files to them, I wasn't going to let something like that go unpunished. And I knew the risk. To myself.”

He sighed and now Nonna held his hand.

“For the moment,” she said, “We want to hang onto you, until this is all sorted out. We're gonna get you back to First Of Many and the wilderness, under their radar. So you'll be travelling light, again; and slow.”

“Then,” Trueman suddenly felt bereft, “You're not coming with me?”

“No, lover,” Nonna said and laid a hand on his arm. “Not yet. Me and Annest, we've got some work to do clearing out all the shit we've taken on in this last intervention. So we're off on a retreat to work through it. Jodi's already there; she's got a lot more to deal with than us. Comes from taking on a warrior role; killing is just not good for the soul.”

She sighed, then brightened.

“But you won't be alone, Troom. There's someone who's been waiting to see you. And there'll be a few more when you get there.”

She led him to the garden door and they went out into a baking heat. Trueman shaded his eyes from the glare of the sun. Standing there in the medicinal garden, quite tall, was a familiar figure who laughed, cheekily? Before he could master his surprise, she stepped up close and kissed him on the cheek. .

“Hello, Grandpa,” said Rhia.

Thanks for reading. More to come. Comments always welcome. Hwyl! Chris.