The Silk Road Saga: Part I - Silkworm

12 - The Course of Human History

Yue ran his hand along the side of the empty goods train, darkening his fingers with flakes of rust. The train had broken down this afternoon and it was waiting until a repair man could be brought up the line from the depot near Tashkent. Old Soviet era lines with old Soviet era trains, ashes from which the new highspeed line would rise like a phoenix. At least that's what the Chinese Railway Corporation literature said. A sharp rattle from the metal fence interrupted his thoughts.

Someone was climbing over it. Yue's view was blocked by the train, so he dropped to all fours and peered under the tracks. A pair of tatty boots landed on the gravel with a thud. Yue carefully edged towards a gap between carriages to get a better view. It was the Uzbek from the night before, the one who had chased him across the river and followed him onto the railway line. He carried with him the same spear that Yue had sworn he'd seen last night. The base of the spear hit the ground with a rhythmic thud as the Uzbek made his way along the track, heading in the same direction as Yue. He had no choice but to follow him. Uzbek or no Uzbek he needed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Yue followed the Uzbek as stealthily as possible. Only moving when he moved, trying to mask the sound of his feet on the gravel by mirroring his steps. This proved difficult as the Uzbek had a longer stride than Yue and frequently stopped to check his bearings. He was looking for signs in the gravel, something to point him in the right direction. Eventually Yue came to the last carriage. He was unable to follow the Uzbek any further without being seen.

He lay flat on his stomach and sidled underneath the train in order to watch the Uzbek unobserved. About ten metres or so from Yue's hiding place the Uzbek came to an abrupt halt. He crouched down and peered intently at the ground. Then he walked towards the metal fence and lifted up the bottom section, before nodding to himself and returning to squat besides the railway track. This must have been where they came through last night. Yue held his breath, only letting it out again after a minute passed without incident.

One minute turned to ten, then thirty and finally a whole hour. The hands on his luminescent watch face showed that it was close to midnight. The gravel dug painfully into the elbows and knees, but Yue was unable to shift position for fear of being heard by the Uzbek. His foe had sat in the exact same position for the past hour, squatting on his haunches while gazing intently at the railway track. Eventually he stood up and stretched out his arms, cracking the bones in his shoulders. It seemed that he too had given up hope. The Uzbek glanced once more at the railway then started to make his way towards the fence. I better be off too, thought Yue with a mixture of relief and disappointment.

Just as the Uzbek reached the fence the moon broke through the clouds for the first time all night. A chill breeze accompanied the moon, creeping through the heavy heat of summer. As the moonlight shone onto the railway tracks, the very air seemed to warp and stretch, like plastic being held over a naked flame. Yue had to clasp a hand over his mouth to stop himself from crying out. Hanging above the railway line, bathed in the light of the moon, appeared a portal. Its outer edge was composed of thousands of tiny purple worm-like strands that writhed and curled as if they were a living breathing organism. The Uzbek had spotted the portal as well and he turned away from the fence and made his way towards it with faltering steps.

He stood on its threshold, peering inquisitively through to the other side. Even from this distance Yue could feel the icy wind that blew out of the portal. It was winter on the other side. The Uzbek took a tentative step towards the portal and gingerly placed one leg through it. Yue didn't know what to expect, but the Uzbek seemed unharmed. Although now he appeared to only have one leg, as the other had disappeared from view completely, cut in half by the circle in the air.

If Yue was going to act it had to be now. He didn't know how long the portal would stay there for before it disappeared. He crawled out from underneath the train and started to run towards the portal. The Uzbek was too distracted to hear his approach and soon he disappeared from view completely, swallowed whole by the mysterious circle. As Yue drew closer to the portal he checked himself. There was a stench, a terrible stench, like the smell of rotting flesh. It was so putrid Yue almost gagged. How the Uzbek had managed to avoid retching, Yue didn't know. The smell was undoubtedly coming from the portal and Yue was reminded of a worm. It seemed to writhe in the air like a mouth gasping for breath. It made Yue's skin crawl. The thought of touching it revolted him. He took a step back. He wasn't sure he wanted to find out what was on the other side. Perhaps he should return home.

A sudden cry rang out from the other side of the portal. It was a girl's voice. She needed help. The face from the night before flashed up before Yue. There was little doubt in his mind now. The person lying on the snow drift was a girl. Yue hadn't seen a girl since he'd left Beijing. He probably wouldn't see a girl for as long as he lived at the railway camp. Women and trains tended not to mix. Damn, damn, damn. Yue cursed out loud. This was it. Now or never. Blocking out the stench and his better judgement, Yue closed his eyes and stepped through the portal.

The world he left behind looked much the same as it had always done. The blackbirds sung their nighttime song. The cicadas hummed. Back at their cabin, Yue's father slept soundly. But in that moment, at precisely midnight, on a railway track at the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains, when a boy heard a girl calling for help, the course of human history changed forever.