The Rahz Ascendancy - A Novel

Chapter One: Restless Rocks (Part 2/3)

The director grinned as he gripped the limestone railing, surveying Growing Room One from above. A red glow from below lit his gray cloak and wry smile. He felt warm, but not only because these rooms were kept warmer, for the plants, than others in the city. “I’ve done well in my first season,” he said out loud to himself.

“Yes you have, Director Dimas,” said a voice in his head. The director turned to the shadowed hallway leading to this overlook.

Whoa, thought Dimas. Even though the other directors had warned him, the voice in his head was strange, like his own thoughts at higher volume. He must have heard me, thought Dimas. Or else how did he respond?

Out of the hallway a shadowed figure emerged, arms folded in what seemed to be robes. But they weren’t. The light should reveal him, but it just…disappears into his swirling shadow.

The Rahz approached Dimas. The director noticed his heart beating as he turned and bowed; he had never seen a Rahz before.

Satisfied, the Rahz nodded, or seemed to. The director stood straight, looking into the mysterious, shadowed face. But he couldn’t make out features. Perhaps my eyes play tricks?, thought Dimas.

The Rahz moved to the railing next to Dimas, then shifted its attention to the stacks of plants beneath red lights. “Is the crop on schedule?” said a voice in the director’s head. It was commanding. 

Dimas nodded. “We are ahead of schedule thanks to improved light angles and an adjusted spray solution I tested earlier this cycle.” I can’t tell him how I actually did it…not yet. 

“And the workers?” asked the voice in Dimas’s head.

“I built a brief training regimen to educate them on the new process—it requires slightly more time, but the workers are still completing work well ahead of the first toll.” The director lifted his eyes from the turma plants and the rectangular obsidian scaffolding supporting them, stealing a glance at the Rahz’s dark shape beside him. The light should reveal it. But it doesn’t. 

The light flowed up from the glowing room, where workers checked the status of the plants, adjusted settings on lights, or fitted spray valves under circles of turma root structures, all oblivious to the conversation four levels above them in the shadows of the cavern carved from stone.  

“Your crop is proceeding faster than Director Hwed’s,” said the Rahz inside Dimas’s head. “The Rahz Circle will receive a positive report from me.”

The director gripped the railing to stop his hands from shaking. He didn’t want to reveal his relief. He had taken a chance by experimenting in between Rahz updates. But he’d wished to impress this powerful leader on their first meeting. And, as Dimas had taken over part way through the season for a descended director and revitalized his crop, the Rahz was sure to notice.

As if reading his thoughts, the Rahz added, “Experimentation can be dangerous. When you set your thoughts on the unknown, it can swallow you whole.”

The director noted the Rahz’s reference to the Abyss, the black chasm stretching down into nothingness below the chasm bridge. It was where the descended went. 

“And yet,” said the Rahz, “I am familiar with experimentation—deliberate exploration is what we Rahz commit our lives to doing…in search of the Truth.”

“And everything we do,” said the director, “is in support of that aim.” Whatever the Truth is, anyway, thought Dimas. From the corner of his eye, the director noted the shadowed figure seeming to nod. But maybe I’m only seeing what I hope to see, thought Dimas. 

“There is one other thing I’d like you to watch for,” said the Rahz.

“Of course, anything at all,” said Director Dimas. Slow down, he thought, regretting speaking so quickly. 

“There are some workers who may exhibit strange behavior—perhaps you have noticed it already?”

A trap?, thought Dimas. “Not yet.”

“The Rahz Circle has often looked Back seeking the Truth. But there is talk about looking Forward now.”

Looking…forward? This was not something Director Hwed, the Head Director, had shared after his frequent meetings with the Rahz Circle. Why is this Rahz telling me this and not the others? As for the content of what the Rahz said, Dimas didn’t understand. But trying new things was a trademark of his own experiments to improve the spice-growing process for higher yields. “The workers are key to this…experiment?”

“Several in particular.”

“I will keep both eyes on it.”

The shadowed figure seemed to nod again. “Speaking of eyes, are there any female workers that have caught yours?”

So it is true, thought Dimas. The Rahz do provide this benefit. He was glad to have worked so hard, to stand out amongst his peers in the chemical lab, so as to be worthy of promotion to director overseeing one of the four vegetation rooms. Even though I didn’t realize how well I was doing until after the effects of the turma root soup wore off. 

“The approach that led you to promotion,” said the Rahz, “has continued to serve you well—for this you should be rewarded.”

There are many, thought Dimas. Since his promotion he had begun noticing the females in a way he had not before. If he had known about these changes he might have worked even harder to gain promotion. Then again,he thought, the prospect of promotion didn’t really cross my mind before it happened. It was surprising, in fact. But as he woke up from the turma root soup diet of the workers, he regained the memories leading to his promotion. Surprising…yet inevitable.

Dimas turned his mind back to the Rahz’s question. “There is a woman,” said the Director. “She works in the third row.”

“Consider it done,” said the Rahz. “She will meet you in the Directors’ Quarters this dark phase. 

So soon! “But what if she tells the other workers?” asked Dimas.

“Don’t worry, we will make sure she doesn’t remember. This way, with time, you can try many of the female workers assuming your productivity this season is predictive of future ones. Does that appeal to you?”

“It does,” said the director. He wondered, though, how the workers would forget such a physical interaction. Especially since it was forbidden outside of the Reproduction Room. But this thought was soon trumped by imagining the possibilities with additional females. Who would he choose next?

“I will be going,” said the Rahz’s voice in his head.

“So soon?” said the director. He had hoped to walk the length of the room’s balcony, showing off the progress of his turma crop under the red light tubes. It would only take a few minutes to walk around the rectangular perimeter. The plants’ stalks were waist high and the leaves stretched an arm’s length. But the bulbs were most important—they contained the turma spice, which the Rahz presumably used in their experiments. Why else would they need so much?

“There are duties to which I must attend,” said the Rahz.

“I will see you for the harvest,” said Dimas. By then he might be able to squeeze out more yield than the Rhaz currently expected. He was testing experiments he had begun in the chemicals lab—experiments that, if successful, would increase yield dramatically.

“You will do well,” said a scratchy voice outside Dimas’s head. It came from the shadowed figure through the air between them. The Rahz had spoken out loud with its own voice.

Seized by fear, the director gripped the railing tighter. Why am I afraid?, Dimas thought. The Rahz had finally spoken as a man. And yet it surprised me because it was different. I’d gotten used to the voice in my head.

As Dimas watched the shadowed figure disappear into the dark opening, he wondered why the Rahz had shared the secrets about looking Forward. He also considered when he, Director Dimas, would reveal his own secret to growing more of the precious spice. Not yet.