Canticle Blue

11. Like Heaven

Music - Lydia by Tim Story

As crater work was ending for the day, those who were available hung door frames and tarps in the tunnel. Havilan, Annibet, and Elyse set up the lower door, just inside the waterfall area while Geddes, Syl, and Cian assembled the upper one near the entrance to the crater. By using the slender canes of recently fallen trees, they were even able to follow the curvature of the tunnel roof. Once completed, both doors had vertical and horizontal support members and tied flaps to allow for passage.

At one point, Havilan set out to find smaller tarps to use for meeting room curtains, and Annibet took the opportunity to privately ask Elyse, "Do you know Grahmen Ravi?"

"Not personally," she answered, "but I know he's a minister and professor at the Bryn. He's good friends with Havilan. They're about the same age. Why?"

"I heard him speak last year. At one point he said that, if the heavens were telling us about God, then it was intentional. And that meant that God was reaching out to us. I still couldn't manage to apply that to myself, though.

"But after I climbed out of the crater yesterday, I suddenly felt that I wasn't alone. There was this majestic seascape in front of me, and probably no one had stood there for hundreds of years. I couldn't see anyone else or even hear the digging in the crater. I felt very small, but somehow still significant. And, more than that, it was as if what I was experiencing had been prepared for me, a kind of timeless moment that went beyond belief. It was like knowing. When that happened, the joy of it was just overwhelming. I even had a good, hard cry, and I'm glad no one was there to see it...except God, of course. It was... like heaven, maybe. And I couldn't think of anyone I could talk to about it but you..."

Elyse was smiling, with tears in her eyes. She gave Annibet a long hug and said, "Okay, I'm sure I don't know how to respond to that. I could say I understand, but I don't. I'll tell you what, I don't like making promises because I'm always afraid I'll forget them. But I'm going to make you one anyway, that I'll always try to help you remember what happened, and that it was real. Maybe you could promise yourself that too, so you would never try to make light of it." Then she added, "You know how you can be sometimes."

By evening, everyone being very tired, the whole team worked to throw together a meal. Elyse and Syl were concocting a stew in a large container. Geddes had brought them what was left of their fresh produce, not wanting it to go to waste. As Elyse stirred vegetables into the broth, Havilan, obviously hungry, craned his neck over her shoulder.

She laughed and told him, "You are to eat this and call it good."

Havilan replied, "Certainly. I tend to favor the adage 'The one with an empty
stomach should be full of compliments.'"

Amused, she asked, "From the Per'sa, I suppose?"

"No," he laughed. "That's one of mine."

After the meal, they convened a short meeting, hoping to allow enough time for
Havilan's talk about the Per'sa. Os began by describing something of considerable interest to him.

"The walls our crater are lined with the same shiny material as the curtain pegs. Like the other strange materials we've found, it looks like it was deposited or grown on the surfaces. In sunlight especially, it reflects rainbow-like hues, not unlike the layers of nacre in the shells of some marine animals, but less pronounced. I've taken to calling it "N- type" for that reason. It appears to be extremely hard. We found very few scratches or dents in it from rocks.

"Also, we removed so much material from the crater that we can confirm that there is an opening on the north side. We think we can open a way to it tomorrow if we get an early start."