Chapter Machu Picchu

Josh had only been on an aeroplane once before andthat time they had been crammed into narrow seats with all the other boisterousholiday makers bound for Spain. He and his sister had argued all the way and heremembered feeling poorly most of the time. Flying to Peru on Sir Trevor’sprivate jet was another experience entirely and Josh was luxuriating in theplush splendour of the long cabin with a cup of tea in a proper mug and apacket of chocolate biscuits. The layout wasn’t the same as a commercialaeroplane. There were a couple of rooms which could be used as offices orprivate bedrooms, a soft seating area that would put many sitting rooms toshame, a dining room, as well as a cabin that contained twenty or so of themore usual forward facing reclining seats, although even these were covered inthe softest leather Josh had ever felt. There were more rooms towards the rearof the plane which housed the kitchens and staff quarters.

Josh wassitting with Kat and Coel on one of the enormous sofas. Sir Trevor, ProfessorAckermann and his father were all locked in a meeting with some otherscientists in one of the meeting rooms. Six other men in dark suits and darkglasses sat silent and unapproachable at various points throughout the plane.

“I can’t believe you broke into Tech-Tonic’s secretlaboratory!” Kat chuckled. “That’s so unlike you.”

“Well, I didn’t get very far. The scientists there areall pretty gullible, but once I got inside the spaceship my powers were quiteuseless and the security guards caught me easily.”

“Didn’t you see anything?” Josh asked. “I bet theDinosaur chamber wasn’t the only interesting room in that place.” His voicepetered out as he remembered that Coel was blind.

“I saw a few chambers, but I’m afraid I know verylittle about technology, Josh. Either alien or terrestrial. I wandered aboutfor a bit and was captured in a room filled with floating eggs. I’ve no ideawhat it was though. It’s a good job you were around Josh, because I don’t thinkthat the guards would have been as gentle as they were if Sir Trevor hadn’tdecided to let me go.”

“I really believed him when he said he wanted youexecuted, but I suppose you read his mind and knew he was joking.”

“Far from it. As I said Josh, in that spaceship, Icould only feel the slightest vibration from the living minds within. Onlyenough for me to make out where I was going really. Your mind shone brightlyenough once I’d got close to you, but Sir Trevor’s was very dim indeed.”

“What does that mean?”

“Any number of things I’m afraid. Especially duringthese times. Some minds have a natural defence against intrusion, or perhapshis recent run in with the Gazetteer has left him peculiarly empty.”

“How do you do it? Sense people.”

“Well, that’s a very large question Josh that willtake many years to answer. Let’s just say that you are starting on the path oftrue enlightenment, and…”

“Oh, stop it.”

Coel grinned slyly. “It really isn’t the time Josh.You need to concentrate on enlisting the help of this Geigerzalion fellow,whatever he might be. Trinity Vale has already been attacked and we need allthe allies we can muster.”

Josh smiled ruefully. This was the first time he’dbeen able to talk to Coel since his initial meeting with the raven in the kitchenand he found that he really liked the blind man. He was not nearly as strangeas Josh had expected.

He looked out through one of the aeroplane’s smallwindows and saw the slender fingers of Manhattan’s skyline on the horizon.Quite suddenly he felt the massive presence of the bustling metropolis as if itwas a huge creature was looking back at him. He closed his eyes and found thatthe tall towers were still visible in his mind, shining with a golden, ethereallight.

He opened his eyes again quickly and shook his head toclear it. Coel was gazing through the window too.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

The druid had a strange look on his face that madeJosh unsure as to whether he was talking about the skyline or the ghostlyafterimage he had seen when he closed his eyes. He opened his mouth to saysomething but Coel winked at him and grinned. “I knew you’d start to see thingsproperly.”

“What am I seeing?”

“The inhabitants of Manhattan, from the smallestcockroach to the Mayor. You are seeing their thoughts.”

“That’s what you see all the time?”

“Yep.”

“But how?”

“It’s the Weave, Josh. It’s what this is all about.”

“What do you mean?” Josh instinctively looked around.

“You’ll see.” And that was all Coel would say.

After refuelling in New York they were served asumptuous meal, better than anything Josh had ever tasted. He stuffed moreinside him during that single meal than he had eaten during all of the previousweek and afterwards he drifted off to sleep curled up on one of the comfychairs.

Tendrils of grey mist drifted low on the ground and hecould hear a snarling undertone of agitation surrounding him. Josh felt exposedand cast about for some shelter from the lurking monsters just beyond hisvision. He turned around on the spot, always feeling that something wascreeping up on him from behind.

He decided to explore and, as there was nothing toindicate which way would be the most interesting, he just set off in thedirection he was facing. The mist seemed to drift away from him as he walked,but the creatures within the shadows always stayed within growling distance.

Josh tried to convince himself that he was gettingused to the savage snarls and ghostly shapes. Whatever was following him seemedloathe to show itself, and so he reasoned that he had little to fear. At leastthat’s what his mind told him; his heart thumped a different message though.

He had thought he was getting higher and the groundrockier, but he was not prepared for quite how high he was when he eventuallybroke through the mist and found himself standing on an outcrop of rock abovethe clouds. The view was spectacular, and as a gentle breeze blew away thethick mist he found himself looking out over an host of islands floating on aglistening sea.

He sat down quickly, putting a steadying hand oneither side of him. He remembered sitting on a beach with Findhorn the unicorn.

The growling figures had gone, or at least quietened,and Josh suddenly got the feeling that he had been herded to this place. He hadnot consciously avoided any particular direction but…

Symbols tumbled before his eyes. They were moresmoothly organic than he had ever seen them before. He twisted his shouldersround, not wanting to stand up because of the cliff, but desperate to see thesource.

An ancient African bushman leaned on a short spear. Helooked tired, but he was smiling, and his eyes gleamed brightly.

But Josh stopped abruptly. He was creating the symbolstoo. He had no idea how he was doing it. As soon as he realised he was thinkingabout it, his symbols fizzled out.

The old bushman limped forward, leaning heavily on hisspear and proffered a slender hand in greeting. Josh wondered at his blatantdisregard for the fatal drops all around him. Surely a mere gust of wind wouldbe enough to carry this frail old man over the edge to a crunching death farbelow. Josh reached up unsteadily.

N’rinde Bashala hauled him up easily and Josh felt alurching sensation in his throat that almost made him sick.

Josh looked around. “This place?” He had to speak thewords now because he couldn’t work out how to create the symbols again. “I’vebeen somewhere like this before.”

The old bushman chuckled.

“The little goblin?”

N’rinde smiled even more broadly.

“But what is he?”

“So they’re not real?”

“Well, what was he doing on my…mind island, then?”

“Yes, he told me that, but…” Josh had the strangefeeling that he had an itch on the inside of his mind. He looked away from theancient bushman, out over the glistening sea.

“So are all these islands other people’s minds?”

“Er…yes.”

N’rinde conjured up some rickety wooden chairs and apalm tree to shade them from the sun and gestured for Josh to sit down.

“Aren’t we destroying the world? Humans I mean.”

“So it doesn’t matter?”

N’rinde slouched back in his chair and rested hisspear against his knee.

“I still don’t understand what Gaia is though. I’msorry…” Josh had been leaning forward in his chair despite the plunging cliffssurrounding him, but his frustration with his lack understanding deflated him.He slumped back.

Josh nodded slowly. “And the control unit is Gaia?”

The symbols glowed pleasantly.

“But who would want to attack Gaia then?”

“But he’s been destroyed. I saw it happen.” Josh couldsense some other meaning buried within the symbols but he couldn’t decipherwhat it was. He thought for a moment that it might be deceit, but he dismissedthat thought hurriedly.

“Geigerzalion?”

Josh sensed something strange about the symbols again.

“What are these symbols?”

“But how do I know it?”

A complex pattern of symbols cascaded from N’rinde’shand and Josh felt a sudden elation, and fear mixed with something that waslike opening a mysterious Christmas present.

“Can it really be harmed?” Josh remembered the lushfields of Trinity Vale. He had seen nothing to make him think that it was underthreat from anything. “Surely the Doge is just one…thing.”

Josh saw how the pleading in the old man’s eyes wasreflected in the symbols and he nodded slowly. Although he could not quitebelieve that the whole world depended on his actions, he could see clearly thatthis old bushman was relying utterly on him.

“I’m sure he will. He’s already tried to destroy theDoge once already.”

N’rinde picked up his old spear and proffered it withboth hands. It was ornately decorated with beads strung around the blade. Ahalo, like a heat haze, flared up around it and continued up the bushman’s armsuntil it glowed around his entire body. He suddenly looked less tired and morealert.

Josh stretched out a hand and sparks flew between hispalm and the weapon. He felt the inherent power surging into him, and as hetook it the old man crumpled back in his chair. Josh lurched up.

“N’rinde? Are you alright?”

The bushman’s breathing had become shallow and hoarse,and the symbols that tumbled around him were faint now. Josh was kneeling byhis side, oblivious of the cliffs.

He coughed loudly, a crude rattle which sounded likethe sides being ripped out of his throat.

He reached a frail hand up to touch Josh’s cheek, butdidn’t have the strength.

Josh felt the ground trembling and heard thethunderous crash of an enormous boulder breaking away from the island.Frantically he tried to stand, but he felt himself sliding downwards, pickingup speed as he fell. He flailed his arms wildly, but kept a tight hold of thespear.

He careered down the cliff along with house sizedboulders, but before he crashed into the roiling sea below a different darknessenveloped him.

Josh woke up with a start just as they touched down inLima. He flexed his right hand as he sat up, trying to work out if it was stiffbecause he had slept on it or if he had been holding the spear in his dream tootightly.

“Are you alright, Josh?” Coel was sitting next to him.“You’ve been dreaming.” He looked as if he was going to say something else, butwas reluctant to continue.

“Yes. I’ve spoken to N’rinde. I think…” Josh found hismouth aching and a lump rose in his throat.

“Has he gone?”

“I don’t know. He gave me his spear and…”

Coel bowed his head. “He has passed on.”

Josh felt his own tears and wondered at them. He hadnot known N’rinde before meeting him in his dream and yet he felt a tremendoussense of loss.

“This is not the time to grieve. Trinity Vale hasnever needed him more. You have been given a great gift Josh, and with it agreat responsibility, but you do not yet have the wisdom to deal with suchpower. I will help as much as I can.” Coel put a comforting hand on Josh’sshoulder.

“Hello, hello, Josh. I trust you’ve enjoyed yourjourney so far?” Sir Trevor appeared. “We’ve got to change flights now. Thestaff will see to your luggage, but obviously we need to get you aboard the newplane.”

“Er, sure.” Josh’s voice was thick and he coughed totry and clear it.

“Are you alright, Josh? You sound terrible.” SirTrevor grinned at him.

“I’m okay. I’m always like this when I wake up.” Joshstruggled to control himself. He knew Sir Trevor had no idea what had happened,so it wasn’t his fault, but Josh thought he had no right to be grinning sohappily.

Coel seemed to have much more self control and, aftergiving Josh’s shoulder a quick squeeze he started asking Sir Trevor all sortsof questions about how they were going to get to Cuzco.

Josh saw Kat waking his dad up and excused himself togo and help. His dad could be a little more eccentric than usual in themornings and with lack of sleep and a different time zone, Josh thought heshould be on hand to help out with any misunderstandings that might occur. Alsohe felt he needed to be closer to people who loved him.

The waking up went well enough and before long theyhad settled into the cramped confines of a much smaller plane. Josh’s stomachheaved as they took off, which replaced the sense of loss he had felt atN’rinde’s passing, and he found when the plane levelled out that his insideshad stopped dancing about, and he actually felt better.

The dusty city streets quickly gave way to rollinghills and Josh marvelled at the mountains rising before them. The sun wasrising and they were travelling east which meant the huge peaks weresilhouetted against the clear, dawn sky, like a row of jagged teeth.

The engines whined louder as the plane gained altitudeand most of the other passengers settled down to get some more sleep. Joshcontinued to peer out of the small window at the mountains.

They landed a couple of hours later and once moreentered into the hustle and bustle of changing transport. This time theyclambered aboard a convoy of jeeps, which bounced them out of the airfield,through the streets of Cuzco and into the surrounding jungle.

The drivers of the jeeps seemed to have no fear asthey skidded over the dirt tracks and zoomed through the overhanging trees.Josh was in the same jeep as Kat, his father and Coel and every time theylurched around a corner they all held on tighter, until their knuckles werebone white with the strain.

Eventually they reached the staging camp for the finaltrek up to the lost city of Machu Picchu. Josh felt as though he had alreadyrun a marathon due to the rather intense nature of the journey in the jeep. Hisarms and legs ached from holding on and he groaned as he looked up the steeptrail.

Sir Trevor on the other had looked invigorated. He hadswapped his shirt and tie for more suitable jungle clothes and he grinnedhappily at everyone as he told them to keep everything ship shape. He clappedJosh on the back, nearly knocking him over, and asked him questions about thejourney.

When all the porters were loaded up with theexpeditions essentials and Sir Trevor had found a suitable walking stick, theyset off along the narrow dirt path.

It seemed there was something more spectacular to lookat over each and every peak, and Josh marvelled at the looming cliffs toppedwith a exotic flora and the mist shrouded chasms filled with rainbows. Hewondered what it had been like to live here when there were no aeroplanes orjeeps and realised that he could feel the maelstrom of life surrounding himwith a clarity that stunned him. He felt connected, as if here in the jungle,away from the dirty fumes of the Westernised world, he was finally home.

He was lost in these thoughts when they rounded thecorner into the valley that lead to Machu Picchu and the whole party stopped.

Perched high along a narrow ridge sat the ancientruins, and rising majestically beside it was the rocky triangular mountain ofWayna Picchu.

“It translates as the Young Peak. Do you see? TheYoung Peak.” Sir Trevor was enthusing.

“What do you mean?” Josh’s dad asked.

“Well. It all makes sense doesn’t it? The people whobuilt this place must have had some dim racial memory of the arrival of thismountain. The Young Peak. I think we’ve found our spacecraft.”

No one said a word. Mostly because of the lunaticassumption their employer had just made, but some of the party were juststaring in slack-jawed amazement at the enormous mountain before them,wondering.

Dusk had settled into the valley by the time they hadhiked up to the visitors’ centre, which was located on the outskirts of theruins. The building had been sympathetically constructed in an attempt to blendin with the style of the surrounding area, but it still stuck out against thesplendour of the scenery and the ancient grandeur of the ruins.

A small man in a cap had appeared from somewhere andinsisted that no one was permitted to camp nearby, but Sir Trevor had pressed apile of American dollars into the man’s hand and the porters had managed topitch the tents without any more interference. Now the bustle of activity haddied down and they all sat and watched the final rays of the sun disappearingbehind the rugged mountains.

Josh was sitting slightly apart from everyone else,drinking in the dramatic beauty of these remote ruins. His uncanny sense of thesurrounding life intensified as the light diminished until he could hardly tellwhether he had his eyes open or closed. He could easily make out the quick,bright thoughts of the larger animals and birds, and beneath those he couldfeel the delicate minds of the insects and the slow meandering consciousness ofthe plants and trees. And below that were other thoughts, too alien orponderous to comprehend, but there nevertheless.

“Can you feel it?” Coel whispered next to him.

Josh almost fell off the mossy log he was sitting on.He had not heard or sensed the blind man approach.

“How did you creep up on me? I thought I could feeleverything in this valley. It’s almost as if I can sense the mountainsthemselves and yet I had no idea that you were behind me.”

“You are powerful indeed, Josh, if you can connect tothe heart of the ancient rock. But you’ll have to learn to look differently ifyou want to see me when I am trying to be stealthy.”

Josh sighed gloomily. “It seems to me that there’s awhole world of stuff for me to learn.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t start worrying about that.” Coelchuckled and settled down on the log next to Josh. “There is much to learn forall of us. There always will be. I was N’rinde’s student for more than twentyyears and there are still many things of which I am ignorant.”

“Great.” Josh snorted, but Coel’s good humour wasinfectious. “I’m a student of Maths and English and Geography. I sort ofunderstand these subjects. This”, he waved his arms about emphatically, “thisis too big.”

“There are benefits, you know.”

“Yeah?” But then a sudden thought swelled his heartalmost knocking the wind from his lungs. “I met my mum in Trinity Vale. She’sbeen dead for just over a year and yet she’s there. She’s real.”

Coel smiled at Josh and allowed him to savour histhoughts before he continued. “Yes. That is the true miracle of the Vale.Everything lives on there. When a brain can no longer be used for processingthe problems of the World, the Weave uploads all the memories and feelings intothe neural network of living minds. Then that dying soul can live on forever inthe collective dream. It’s one of the reasons that humanity’s intelligence hasdeveloped so quickly.”

“Haven’t we got enough to do just living our ownlives?”

“Well, not really. You must have heard scientists saythat we only use ten percent of out brain’s capacity. And have you everwondered why we sleep?”

“Because we’re tired?”

“Couldn’t we just lie down and relax for a bit then?Physically that’d be just the same, and mentally it doesn’t sound too taxing tolaze around for a while. Yet if you do that you still get tired. In fact you’llfind you often get more tired. And that’s because the operating system of theworld which manages the threads of thought realises that your mind is availablefor processing some data. So you drift off to sleep and unconsciously work outhow many black ants should make their way across a stream to curb the suddenincrease in the population of red spiders on the other side. And when you wakeup, you remember a dream of ants, or streams or spiders.”

Josh nodded. “I suppose it makes sense. Although…” Hetrailed off.

“What?”

“Well if Trinity Vale stores everyone’s memories, thenhow can N’rinde be gone?”

Coel sighed heavily and turned to look away, whichstruck Josh as a strange gesture for a blind man to make. “N’rinde spent mostof his life in Trinity Vale. His body was just a shell for him. Now that he istruly free, he has a journey to make, but he will return when that iscomplete.”

It’s those answers that make it impossible for me tounderstand what’s going on.” Josh laughed as he said it, but when Coel turnedto him he looked hurt.

“I can’t tell you anymore, Josh. I really wish Icould, but I can’t.” He sounded genuinely sorry, but before Josh had time tosay anything Coel added brightly, “But I can start teaching you aboutTravelling.”

“Travelling?”

“Moving you mind from your own body and letting itride on winds of the Weave.”

“Really?” Josh sat bold upright, his mind alreadyracing with the possibility of flying high over the surrounding mountains as asoaring condor.

“Yes. But hang on. I can feel a certain amount of excitementcoming from you. In fact your mind is almost blinding my inner eye. Don’t bethinking that you’ll be able to fly around in a bird or anything just yet. Thisis difficult stuff and very hard to master.”

Josh felt his excitement ebb away a little at thesewords, and Coel nodded. “Hmmm. Just as I thought. Anyway we need to start withsomething simple, like a frog or an insect.”

A strange shifting next to him startled Josh and asphere of amber light fizzled out from Coel and darted into the surroundingvegetation. A moment later something came hopping back and sat on a rock beforethem. It was a tiny red frog.

“Now concentrate on the frog Josh. Not what you cansee with your eyes, but what you feel.”

Josh stared at the frog. It just sat there occasionallyturning its head or moving a webbed foot.

“I can’t see anything now. I can’t feel anything.”

“I told you it was difficult. But be patient. Justconcentrate on the frog.”

Once again Josh stared at the amphibian glisteningbefore him. His eyes started to sting and he blinked to clear them. In thatinstant he saw the frog as an ethereal outline of energy. Quickly he closed hiseyes again and examined the golden tendrils of light that were now visible.

“Good. Now imagine yourself going into the light.”Josh vaguely heard Coel’s soothing instruction and willed himself forward intothe swirling light. Suddenly he could see himself. He was enormous and sittingnext to an equally gigantic Coel. The sight was so surprising that heimmediately lost concentration and snapped back into his own mind and thenpromptly fell backwards onto the damp grass.

“Well done.” Coel was laughing as he hauled Josh backup.

“I didn’t… I… What happened?”

“You managed step one. Seeing through another’s eyes.”

“Oh.” Josh said.

“I think that’s enough to be going on with Josh. We’llbe able to practice this type of thing a lot if we get back home.”

“If?”

“When. When we get back home.” Coel had alreadystarted to make his way back to the tents, but Josh got the impression that he hadturned away deliberately.

Later,as Josh lay in his tent, he wondered what major crisis his brain would be usedfor that night. It was difficult not to think about it once he had started andso it was a long time before sleep finally took him.