A Decent Land — Chapter Five (PREVIEW)

The Pink Crystal

NOTE: This is merely the opening “introduction” section of Chapter Five. The full piece will publish soon, and act as a final part to the ongoing “Maian Tiger Trilogy”.

A Decent fortnight lasts — by our current calculations — for a further eight days than its cosmic counterpart. A week in space might seem asinine to measure, but we consider timekeeping vital to society. Throughout The Syndicate — a catch-all term for arkbound working classes — operatives rely on regular breaks from smog production (or whatever manual trade their family taught them). Even Office workers drift t’ward refreshments in their scheduled Hour of Sustenance, when rumours are conceived. Politicians need a clock to time their questions, and all is subtly synchronised by Right Side Eye.

Each morning, during the fortnight we remained about the hut, I sang a song of prayer to our mechanical deity. As the Captain of the first manned scout crew to finger the fjords of a prophesied paradise, I have concerns beyond societal minutiae. We lost a number of my people to the Maian Tiger, and all surviving science specialists are currently missing. Islā and my second-in-command have been invaluable; preparing salve to treat the injured, and leading the fit through hunting efforts.