The Sinners of Erspia

A troubled look came over Histrina. She changed the subject. “Do you know what happens when you die? If you have listened to the Good Lord during your life then your soul goes to paradise and you are given everlasting happiness. But if you gave yourself over to Ahriman then you have everlasting torment.”

She shuddered and seemed to shrivel. Laedo found the spectacle remarkable.

“Oh but you're wrong there, my dear,” Gollopy's talkative wife assured her. “Anyone lucky enough to be one of Voluptus's favourites goes to the Heavenly Mansion, and for them it is the Mansion of Pleasure where they do live forever, that's true. But as for the rest of us, well, one lifetime of blessings is enough. It would be ungrateful to expect more."

Histrina only looked confused on hearing this. Laedo thought it unusual for a primitive culture not to have some conception of life after death. Perhaps it went along with the villagers’ contentment, their lack of excitement and absence of anything more than superficial curiosity. Many of them spoke of having walked out to Butterly Meadow to view the projector station. Apart from its awesome size they simply saw it as a dull-coloured lump, its metal surface scored and pitted as it was by micrometeorites. Its stated role as a vehicle for travelling between worlds fell flat in their imaginations.

Laedo sighed to himself. Perhaps a life without change or stress was best after all.

Despite offers of shelter for the night, he persuaded Histrina to return to the station. Saying goodnight to their new friends, they staggered in tipsy fashion across the meadow. The moon was once again lifting itself above the horizon. To Laedo's surprise Histrina took his hand in hers as they walked along. In the main lounge, she threw off the drab all-covering gown and threw herself on a couch.

“It's funny,” she said, “I don't feel the way I have been feeling lately."

Her voice was subdued, almost plaintive.

“What do you mean?” Laedo asked.

“Well, all that ... dreadfulness. The bad things I've done. The people I've killed. I don't feel like doing such things any more."

He looked at her quizzically, recalling his earlier idea that the murder and suicide rays might have burned the badness out of her.

Or maybe she was just exhausted. He couldn't take anything for granted.

“What about fornication?” he asked her. “Do you still want to do that?"

She blinked. “I don't see why not."

“You seemed to think it's almost as bad as murder before."

“Did I? I don't know why. What harm does it do? I wouldn't like to do the other things any more, though."

Invitingly she smiled at him.

But he was tired.

And still not sure of Histrina.

He yawned. They slept separately.

He awoke late next day. If Erspia-5 followed the pattern of the other Erspias it had a day of twenty-eight hours. For some still unexplained reason this more accurately represented the natural sleeping and waking cycle of human beings than did the home planet Earth's day of twenty-four hours. Which meant that Laedo had slept long indeed. He recognised that he was getting tired: a tiredness born of frustration.

Still, that frustration might be coming to an end. It could be that Erspia-5's moon would be the end of the projector station's manic search.

He had eaten breakfast before he discovered that Histrina was not in any of the sleeping chambers. The gown given her by Nellie Fong was missing, too. She had left the station.

Outside, men worked in the fields, as before. They waved to him. Brio Fong was not among them, however. Laedo walked into the village and took himself to the Fongs's house.

The two youngest Fong children were playing on the doorstep. The door was ajar. Laedo knocked politely and peered within.

Histrina was already there, assisting Nellie, who was dressing the quiet young girl Laedo had noticed the day before. She was clearly being prepared for a special occasion, not in everyday wear, but in a shiny dress of bright colours, flounces and frills. The two older children were sitting beside their father, watching in silence.

The girl in the dress appeared to be almost in a state of shock.

“We're getting Helsey ready for the Festival of Light!” Histrina announced gaily as Laedo entered.

“Oh, indeed, this is her special day,” Nellie Fong added with pride, fussing with pins and tucks.

So that was it. The girl had been chosen to play a role in a religious ceremony. Evidently she was nervous of the attention she was to receive, which to a shy young girl could be intimidating.

Don't love the third one. Laedo thought he had an explanation now. There must be a myth or legend which made every third child especially favoured by Voluptus, so much so that it rendered the parents’

love almost superfluous.

The fitting finished, Nellie combed out Helsey's long, fair hair and tied it with ribbons. Brio and the older children clapped and complimented her. She did indeed look pretty, but Laedo wished she would smile occasionally.