Caino's Alphabet, O

Only a few women now served 
the order of the First Science, 
though there was no rule to limit their participation.  Indeed, it was said that before the desolation 
of the Last War, for a time nuns outnumbered 
the monks, but in this age of darkness 
the First Science, like much of the world, 
had retreated into patriarchy.
        Xalwo was one of the few nuns 
that remained.  She was still young and pretty, 
and thus a favourite of the Abbot, 
who employed her as his assistant.
    Xalwo loathed the Abbot.  
She would feel his hungry gaze upon her 
when she worked in his chambers 
and although he made no attempt to molest her, 
she was all too aware of her role 
as an object of his voyeurism.  
        Darius had sensed Xalwo’s discontent 
and brought it to Caino’s attention; 
that very night Caino snuck off in the direction 
of her cell.  This time his intention was 
no longer just to spy, but to conspire and to recruit.
    Xalwo’s cell was in a small cave at the bottom 
of the hill, one of dozens of private rooms 
where nuns and monks of the order slept, 
studied, and worked in seclusion.  
Caino arrived unseen outside of this cave and, seeing his friend clearly, knew himself 
to be alone and unobserved. 
    Darius padded ahead of Caino 
and returned with a toothy grin 
to tell him the coast was clear.  
Caino silently thanked his friend, 
stole into the cave and, 
counting three doors down, he knocked.
    There was a shuffle of paper, 
a chair scraped the floor, and the door opened.
—
Xalwo looked down to find a scruffy boy, 
barely in his teens, standing before her. 
    “My name is Caino,” said the boy, 
“I am novice to brother Hall.  Can we talk?”
    “You shouldn’t be out at night or talking, 
novice.  Go back to your room,” 
said Xalwo and she began to close the door.
    “I need your help with the Abbot,” 
Caino implored her, “Please!  
He’s keeping me from something I need 
for my work on the Machine!”
    Xalwo paused, her loathing 
for the Abbot inspiring within her 
a feeling of solidarity with the boy.
    “A sheaf of manuscripts,” Caino said quickly, ”Brother Aaron brought them back 
from his travels and I need them for my work, 
but the Abbot has kept them from the library 
and Hall won’t retrieve them—
or even let me ask the Abbot myself.”  
(Here Caino told an un-truth, 
for he had not dared to ask either Hall or the Abbot for the manuscripts, for fear 
of revealing the secret within his little metal box).
    “It is not for a novice to demand a thing of the…” Xalwo began, then looking down 
at the boy’s pleading eyes—“oh come in then.”
—    
    Unlike most other cells in the Abbey, 
Xalwo’s door had a lock, as did the cells 
of the other nuns.  There was no vow 
of celibacy amongst the First Scientists, 
and it seemed prudent 
to provide an extra measure 
of privacy for the women.
    Once inside Xalwo locked the door and, 
offering Caino her only chair, sat on the bed.
    “Now, what is your name, boy?”
    “Caino.”
    “And what of these manuscripts?  
Aaron brought back instructions regarding 
the manipulation of Points, is that what you want?  I’ve read parts of it.  It’s an instruction manual 
and of little academic value.  
What would a novice want with a manual 
for wielding Points?”
    Caino had anticipated this question 
and he knew it had only one good answer.  
It was risky, but there was no point 
in holding back now.  He could either 
trust Xalwo or not, and further delay 
would only serve to 
make the conversation awkward 
and her less likely to be of help.  
He took a deep breath, reached into his robe 
and produced a small metal box.  
He looked up at Xalwo and, 
seeing the surprise on her face, 
he knew that she had already intuited 
what lay within.  Caino closed his eyes
 and opened the box. 
    The candle that lit the room dimmed 
and drifted toward the box as if blown by a wind, 
as a violet blackness as intense as any light 
emerged from it, forcing Xalwo to shield her eyes.  Then Caino replaced the lid, and it was gone.
    “Was that…?”
    “A Point.  Yes.”
    Xalwo felt off-balance, how could a child obtain so rare and powerful a thing?
    “How did you get it?” she asked sharply.
    Caino told her of how he had met Aaron, 
his rescue, and their chance finding of the Point.  
He told of the exorcism of the one Second Scientist and Aaron’s debates with the other— 
omitting only that Gail was a woman 
and had gone from being their prisoner 
to a companion.
    “I see,” said the nun, 
“I’ve not encountered an agent of that cult myself.  You do know it’s forbidden 
to consort with heretics?”
    “So I’ve heard the Abbot say,” replied Caino 
“but to my inexperienced ear 
it seemed a healthy debate, and I don't see that here,
just rules and dogma.  
I think the glimpse we’ve been afforded 
of the Machine has caused us 
to complacently put our faith in destiny, 
where it should instead have given us hope 
and the drive to strive harder towards our goal.  
    “When we saw there was conflict on that Day, 
we took one side when we could have weighed 
the arguments of both.”  Caino paused, 
he had been alone with these thoughts for so long, he feared he might be ranting, 
but Xalwo was listening without protest 
so he continued.
    “I think both sects have their rights 
and their wrongs, but they are both misbegotten.  
I believe there is another way.”  
Caino paused again, this time to catch his breath.
    “So our sect has become corrupt,” 
Xalwo put in, “corrupt and desperate 
in these desperate times.  
What else do we have but faith these days?  
We can but guard what knowledge 

we have garnered so far, 
and preserve it for a brighter day.”
    “Maybe you’re right,” said Caino, 
looking down at his little box, “but I think 
I might know how 
to bring the two Sciences together, 
only I’ll need those manuscripts if I’m 
to prove my ideas.  Will you help me?”
    “You’re the child Aaron found in the wilderness?  You talk like an old man, but that doesn’t 
make you wise like one.  What insight do you have that could challenge the stubborn doctrines 
of our two learned cults?”
    “I have no special insight,  but I do have 
a special friend,” replied the boy, 
and Caino told Xalwo about Darius 
and how he would fall into the confusion 
of many Paths when they were apart.  
Then he told her what he thought he could do.
        Xalwo thought of the old Abbot’s preoccupation with heresy.  She thought 
of her own part in devising the Machine to be, 
and what it would mean to once again 
see all the people she had lost to the filthy 
and perilous dark age in which she lived.  
Then she looked down at a young novice who 
spoke with a wisdom beyond his years 
and for the first time she could remember, 
the dull faith that sustained her was
 joined by a feeling of hope.
    “Yes, Caino.  I will help.”