Caino's Alphabet, P

Patiently, while he waited for Xalwo 
to fetch the manuscripts, Caino began 
to contact the few dissidents in the Abbey 
he felt he could trust. 
    He joined his fellow novices 
at their nocturnal council, comparing notes 
on the meanness of their respective wards 
and learning to play poker: a card game 
with which they were obsessed.
        He arranged a chance encounter 
with Vincent in the library, asking his help 
in researching the day on which the Machine 
will be activated.  Vincent invited him 
to meet together with Wayne, 
and the three discussed the enigma 
of the Day long into the night. 
    The two monks elaborated 
upon the opaque explanation of the Day 
that Caino had received from the Abbot; 
they explained that this day alone 
could be observed from the past because 
when the Machine will gather its harvest of Minds, their respective Paths will meet 
at the single Place and time of the Day.  
This convergence will create an island 
of certainty in the otherwise chaotic future—
certain enough to be viewed from the past 
with the aid of a Point. 
    Caino told the pair about Darius 
and how he fell into the multitude of Paths 
when they were parted.  The two monks 
were intrigued and begged to be allowed 
to study this friend of his, 
so Caino promised to provide a demonstration 
of Darius’s abilities when next they met.
—
    Three days passed before 
Caino again saw Xalwo.  He was on his way 
to the dining hall in the Abbot’s large cave 
when she matched pace with him 
and caught him by the arm.
    “Novice,” said Xalwo, addressing Caino briskly, “Hall tells me you have a head for figures.  
I will need your assistance 
in assigning dark-child values 
to some mineral samples.  
Please present yourself at my 
cell when you have finished your dinner.” 
    After eating in silence with his fellow novices, Caino left the hall and headed towards Xalwo’s cell, but before he had taken two steps outside 
of the cave, he saw something 
that stopped him dead in his tracks.  
There with the Abbot stood Aaron, caked 
with the dust of his travels, and Gail—
clad in the garb of a novice, 
with two fully laden mules in tow.
    Caino raised his hood to cover his face 
as he shuffled past his old companions, 
worried that if Aaron were to recognise him, 
he might ask for the return of the small box 
with which he had entrusted him.  
He feared that this would both rob him 
of the Point and reveal his duplicity 
to an Abbot who could be both vengeful 
and cruel.
    It was not until he had reached Xalwo’s cell
 that Caino remembered Aaron had secrets 
of his own to keep: a Second Scientist 
in a stolen body, Gail was unbound 
and clothed in the robes of a novice, 
perhaps not so important a thing 
as Caino’s possession of one 
of only two captive Points known to exist 
on this Path and time—
but surely no less scandalous. 
—    
    Caino arrived at Xalwo’s door and, 
finding it unlocked, he entered 
to find that her talk of dark-child values 
had not been a front.  There was a scale, 
a bucket of water with notches to measure its depth (hence the volume of an object placed within it) 
and a pile of different materials 
awaiting assessment.  There was slate 
and chalk for calculations and pen 
and parchment for results.
    With this meagre kit, he was 
to find the size to which each sample would need 
to be compressed for it to form a singularity.  
Such was the simplicity of methodology 
and technique employed by the First science 
during the long dark age 
which followed the Last War.
    Xalwo locked the door and motioned 
for Caino to sit.
    “You’ll have to copy the document 
before you leave.  The Abbot refers to it often, 
so it should be returned by morning.  
Your writing will be small and compact 
as I have little parchment to spare.”  
    There was an air of brisk efficiency about Xalwo, and Caino felt compelled to follow her instructions without question or delay.     Several hours later Caino had transcribed the entire manuscript.  
Once blotted and dry, he folded his copy 
and secreted it in his robe.            
    The rest of the night was a busy one.  
Caino had an evening’s worth of dark-child values 
to calculate, despite having spent several hours 
and a whole sheet of parchment 
on his own manuscript.  His results were written 
in cramped, dense columns, but they were accurate, and in their own small way contributed 
to the eventual realisation of the Machine. 
—
    Leaving Xalwo’s cave, Caino’s thoughts returned to his old comrades.  
He was on the one hand eager to see them, 
but on the other, he was loath to risk 
losing the Point that he now needed 
to test his theories.  
    Caino missed his time with Aaron and Gail.  
As his first human companions 
after his emergence from the wild, 
their time together was a cherished memory 
for him, but more than a year had passed 
since their parting and he had changed much 
during his time at the Abbey.  Moreover, 
he had no way of telling what changes they 
had themselves undergone.  
    Once again he knew he would have 
to make a leap of faith as he had 
done with Xalwo if he meant to regain 
the help of these two old friends.