The Helianx Proposition/page 43
When Noe returned to full consciousness and opened hir eyes
sHe found hirself alone and sprawled across a flat, sandy plain,
very similar to the desert sHe had so often visited in the hold of the Great Ship.
Whether this placement was purely fortuitous, or more likely, that it had been programmed
into the Hub as the optimal destination of the localized wormhole, Noe could only guess.
But, sHe was grateful for the unexpected familiarity.
SHe was unable to retain any memory of hir transit through the space/time continuum
except for an overpowering inner sense of the color blue.
Even now, as sHe gazed around at hir arid new surroundings, sHe could still see
a vague sheen of ethereal blue shimmering around the edges of the distant mountains.
As the computers had assured hir, Noe was able to absorb the surface atmosphere through her skin. Although the composition of the air was slightly different from what sHe had been told, it appeared to be perfectly viable for short periods out of the water. Not having air-breathing lungs in the manner of the many indigenous creatures sHe was later to encounter, Noe was grateful for all the times sHe had been able to spend in the simulated desert, getting accustomed to life out of the water. She soon noticed a definite shift in hir consciousness. Whether this was caused by diminished oxygenation, or more likely, by hir delight in the considerably lessened gravitational field of the planet, sHe did not want to consider until sHe had fully recovered from the transit.
Noe's thoughts turned back to hir life on the ship and how sHe had been shunned by so many of hir companions for flouting the strictly-held taboo surrounding hir activities in the simulacra. Even though sHe always made sure to close down hir access to the Web before sHe set out for the desert, news of hir short flights had leaked out and it had become increasingly difficult to disguise the growth of the small wings along the length of hir body. With the exception of a few of the more enlightened Elders, who had silently encouraged Noe to trust the wisdom of hir heart, most of the Helianx had been horrified. Nightmarish memories of the crushing forces they had encountered back on Womb Planet flooded through the Web, throwing the younger ones into a panicked overreaction. This had not endeared Noe to the others.
Alone on a strange world and out of contact with the Web, Noe was able to more fully appreciate how elegantly sHe had been trained for this mission. After growing accustomed to the strong gravitational field in the simulated desert, sHe could now revel in this new lightness of being. At last sHe could flex hir small wings without fear of censure, the rays of the single sun glinting off iridescent scales as spasms of pure pleasure rippled down hir massive body. A soft wind blew in from what Noe's sensitive skin told hir was a nearby ocean, the slight salinity in the air stimulating rather more pleasant memories of life on the Great Ship.
The warming rays of the sun; the scented air; the resilience of the sand under hir soft, white body; and a perfectly natural exhaustion; all this came together to draw Noe into a deeply introspective and meditative state.
