The Blue People of Cloud Planet (20 page)

Serenite Culture

And now the astronauts turned their attention to the huge triangular structure on the floor of the pyramid and they walked up a ramp that led towards the top.

‘It must be 40 metres wide and 50 in length!’ whistled Scott, ‘and 4 metres high.’

When they reached the top, they could see that the inside was a series of ledges leading down to a flat clay floor about half the size of the overall space.

Their attention was caught by the sight of three massive vertical pillars at the points of the raised triangle.

They stood in front of one of them and looked up in sheer amazement, unable to take in what they were seeing.

 ‘The block of wood is 3 metres square and 40 metres high. It is cut into triangular shapes from midway up to the top. The angles and shapes seem surreal. The colours are black, red on black, black on red and stretch up to the roof of the pyramid. The way the light interplays with the angled surfaces creates a mesmerising effect. These sculptures do not seem to obey our rules of perspective!’

It was now nearly an hour before noon and the shafts of light were pouring in from the front and rear walls into the pyramid. The illumination was soft and dramatic and changed as the sun moved across the huge structure housing the pyramid dwelling. Now their gaze was drawn to the side walls.

Looking across the four hot pools, Olivia could see that they were ‘painted’ from floor to apex with huge gashes of red on black, black on red in rising triangular shapes with the predominant colour being red. The dramatic impact of the colour scheme was bright and hot.

Scott turned and looked at the opposite side walls. These had similar designs but with a reverse colour scheme. Black was now dominant and the effect was austere and cold.

‘Why is their art so different on opposite sides?’ mused Olivia.

‘I don’t know,’ replied Scott, ‘but who’d have thought we’d be critiquing art on another planet?’

Serenite sculpture

Serenite art

The beat of a drum from outside the pyramid caught Olivia’s and Scott’s attention and they walked out into the hot, humid sunshine. They watched, enthralled, as this time two farming groups of blue female workers assembled. They marched through the huge door and disappeared into the rain and mist with their young group of reapers and sowers.

The oppressive atmosphere quickly forced Olivia and Scott back into the relative cool of the pyramid where they could clearly hear the incessant beat of the three drummers.

‘I reckon its 25 degrees inside and it must be 10 degrees hotter outside. Have you noticed it’s less humid in here,’ he said as he lowered his mask, ‘and there’s definitely less chlorine in the air – this is about the same as a commercial swimming pool – I don’t think we need our masks or goggles in this pyramid – what a relief! But I wonder why?’

Olivia gladly removed her protection, and walked to the black structure that rose to the top of the roof.’

‘It’s ventilation! Scott! And see,’ Olivia stood on the edge of the 2 metre square of black protruding from the ground, ‘this is floating! Like the lift screw. This 1 metre square shaft in the middle goes all the way to the octagonal block in the opening – it’s a chimney effect. But it doesn’t really explain the lowered chlorine levels – there must be something else.’

‘And over here,’ Scott added, ‘there’s five of those drum structures against the wall of the screw lift platform and what are those? - they look like small, square pipes by each drum.’

Meanwhile Olivia had made her way to the large fourth pool as she had noticed the Serenites using it frequently. She tested the water.

‘Ooh! Scott! This is cool, let’s go in.’ So they walked down the ramp into the inviting waters.

‘It must be about 22 degrees,’ agreed Scott, and they bathed and relaxed whilst around them the Serenite females, and an occasional male, happily enjoyed their company.

The drumming outside had stopped and the blue female workers brought food to the Serenites who fed and drank before they entered the channel to wash.

‘We’re getting low on fresh water, Olivia, you must start taking their milk, it’s really nourishing and you’re in danger of dehydrating.’

Stubbornly she wouldn’t agree to this. She could not explain but she still had an aversion to drinking something from inside these creatures’ bodies.

Lunch over and Olivia and Scott sat as the Serenite females and males formed groups around the inside of the pyramid and their ritual of mating commenced. In comparison to the blue workers, it was done in a more caring and sensitive manner. Again each female mated in turn with their male and this intimacy was repeated several times during the course of the afternoon.

Scott noticed that Seren sat apart from these groups whilst she sent and received telepathic messages.

Olivia and Scott found the overall spectacle quite moving and they also found the mating ritual of these beautiful people very erotic. They put their arms around one another, kissed and, quite unembarrassed, walked down the ramp into the cool waters and made love.

After, Olivia relaxed on the edge of the pool and closed her eyes. Seren then walked towards Scott and as she passed by, her eyes sparkled,

>> is your female feeling better >>

Now, with a jolt, he realised what had woken him in the middle of the night in that black tunnel when Olivia had nearly fallen out of the boat. He had seen in his mind,

>> your female is ill > she is in DANGER > DANGER >>

and he realised that Seren’s telepathy had woken him up in time to save Olivia’s life. His mind said ‘yes’ and ‘thank you, thank you’ and Seren responded to him with a smile that rocked him with emotion.

By mid afternoon, the mating had finished and the groups were lazing around and behaving in a soporific way. The astronauts were dozing when they suddenly jerked their heads around to the sound of drum beats from within the pyramid.

Five blue female workers were now in front of the drums each accompanied by a young Serenite female. Two of the workers were drumming - a deep off-beat sound similar to the call for farming.

After a short time, a column of about 100 adult female workers filed through the door into the pyramid dwelling. They stamped the ground and smacked together short wooden sticks as they jigged to the beat and made their way upwards and into the large triangular plinth surrounded by the three monolithic sculptures. When they arrived at the lower floor they formed perfect concentric triangles which moved in opposing directions.

Olivia and Scott had a birds’ eye view from the edge of the third pool into the three-sided ‘theatre’.

‘Look at them moving to the rhythm of the drums, Olivia, this is incredible!’

When the beat stopped every blue female halted. The electric silence was interrupted by a high pitch reed-like sound caused by the young people as they blew into the small square tubes at the side of the drums. As the sound resonated around the pyramid, all the young female Serenites stood up and waved their arms aloft. Then they moved gracefully and slowly towards the triangle. They filed down onto the ledges forming their own concentric triangles which moved in different directions and heights.

In the late afternoon sun, with the dozens of shafts of light playing over their light blue bodies, it was a spectacular sight.

‘Lovely!’ Olivia whispered, and when the piping stopped the young dancers froze like statues.