I Fell From The Dark

17

Mia woke to the noise of water and flames. She opened her eyes.

She was lying on her side, facing a campfire. It flickered and crackled and spat, and its heat washed over her, both uncomfortable and a welcome contrast to the sharp cold of the air.

Behind her was the overwhelming white noise of a waterfall. At first she thought it was the engines of the ship, that she was somehow back on the Solar Pilgrim; but she rolled over, and saw it in the twilight, a relentless grey column of tumbling water.

She sat up.

She was on an outcropping of rock, covered with scrubby grass, sea stretching away below it. The sun was setting to her left, a blaze of red and gold crowned with slate clouds. To her right, a cliff face obscured the night sky. Stone steps were cut into it, shadows sharp and angular in the orange light.

She turned back to the face the fire, and noticed for the first time: on the other side, his back to the drop behind him, was a man.

She started, alarmed, and scrambled half up, but he made no move. Instead, he held a cup of something hot, and the steam curled up around him. He looked up at her.

'It's OK. I don't know who you were expecting, but I'm not them.'

His voice was as calm as a summer sky. He held up the cup.

'This is hot chocolate. If you want some, it's just to your left. There's a blanket behind you.'

She frowned, unsure. Then, she reached to her eyes, to see if there were goggles on her head. Her fingers didn't bump into plastic; instead, she touched her eyelids.

She took her hands down, feeling a bit stupid, and checked to her left. There was indeed a wooden cup, pouring out water vapour like a chimney, filled with dark liquid.

She didn't touch it, and instead faced the man again, his face half-lit from the fire light.

'Who are you?' she asked.

'My name is Jean. I'm a worker like you. By the way, the chocolate's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about,' he said.

He lifted his cup, and took a sip of it. He put it down next to the fire, between them. Then he reached over and picked up the one next to her, and drank from that. As he leaned over it, the fire lit him up, and she saw him properly: deep brown skin, a black beard stippled with grey, glasses on a wide face.

'There, I've tried them both. Pick whichever you like and I'll have the other one.'

'Like The Princess Bride.'

'What? What's that?' confusion flashed across his face.

'It's a film. It doesn't matter.'

'I've never heard of it. But then, I think you're quite a lot older than me.'

Mia frowned. 'What's going on? Where am I?'

He smiled. 'This is my favourite place. I like to wake up dormant workers here. It's a nice little reintroduction to reality.' Then his smile faded, and he looked out across the sea. 'Goodness only knows that's hard enough.'

'You used that word, worker, twice now. What is it?' And then another thought flashed through her. 'And where's Pilgrim?'

Jean picked up one of the chocolates, and sipped from it.

'I'd put the blanket on, if I were you. It's going to get cold. The fact that you're asking those questions surprises me. Let's see if I can answer them.'

Mia reached behind her, and found the blanket. It was soft and heavy, and long enough that she could fold it around her. While she did that, Jean kept talking.