Caino's Alphabet, R

Removing his hood, Aaron led Caino 
and Gail into Xalwo’s small cell.
    “Xalwo, may I introduce my novice, Gail?  
I believe you and Caino have already met.”             
    Xalwo nodded and closed the door.  
This time she took the chair, 
allowing her guests to crowd together onto the bed.  
    “We will be holding an informal workshop tonight in the forest beyond the Abbey, 
and we would be most honoured 
if you could join us,” 
requested Aaron ceremoniously.
    “What sort of workshop?  
I’ve no desire to stir up trouble,” 
replied Xalwo cautiously, 
giving Caino a suspicious glance.
    “Nothing troublesome, no—nothing of the sort!” laughed Aaron, “we will merely 
be testing some ideas I have regarding 
this invisible friend of Caino’s. 
We’ll need several subjects for Darius 
to observe while isolated from Caino’s Path 
and a few learned monks to oversee the experiment.  
The only risk involved is boredom—
but I expect the results to be fascinating!”
    Xalwo, swayed by Aaron’s charm, 
agreed to attend, as did Vincent and Wayne 
when similarly persuaded.  For his part, 
Caino recruited the novices—
Leo, Monty, Neil, Orion and Paulo—
who were glad of any break 
from the tedium of their lessons.
    And so they all agreed to meet that evening 
in a clearing just beyond the ridge 
from which Caino had first spotted the Abbey.  
The purpose of their gathering was, ostensibly, 
to divine the nature of Caino’s unusual friend, 
but all eight of their guests were well aware 
that Caino, Aaron and Gail had an ulterior motive for that evening’s rendezvous. —
    The novices were allowed what was described 
as the ‘first experiment’ 
and predictably elected for it 
to involve the game with which they were obsessed. 
     Leo, Monty, Orion and Paolo were 
to remain in their quarters playing a game of poker while Niel accompanied Caino and the adults 
to the clearing to act as their representative.  
Darius would observe the many Paths 
on which the game was played, 
taking note of any repeating themes 
or inconsistencies that might be of interest.  
After finishing their game, 
the players would make their way 
to the clearing and Darius would report what 
he had observed to Caino.
    It was a silly experiment 
and in any other situation 
would have been a waste of time.  
In this instance, however, 
it provided a convenient excuse 
to limit the number of novices present 
at the onset of the council,
 when their youthful exuberance 
could prove a distraction.
    Caino cared nothing for the outcome 
of the experiment.  He knew all he needed 
to know about his friend, Darius—
or at least he thought he did.  
What he did care about was the fact
that he had gathered some of the best minds 
of the Abbey in a location beyond the reach 
of its theological constraints, 
a place where he could speak openly
without fear of censure.
    When they had arrived, 
(all save the four novices 
who had stayed behind playing cards) 
Caino retreated into a copse of small trees where, unobserved by the others, 
he was able to give Darius his instructions 
regarding the novices and their game.  
    When Caino returned 
he found Gail eagerly quizzing Vincent and Wayne about their observations of the Day.  
She had previously learned from Aaron 
that the two monks spent a great deal 
of their time reporting on the activities 
of the Second Science, 
and she had many questions 
to ask them about what her compatriots 
had been doing in her absence.  
The two monks, unaware of her true identity, 
were able to tell her a few real secrets 
and a whole lot of gossip regarding 
the colleagues she had left in the future. 
    A large part of the mission that Gail 
and her two comrades would be sent to carry out would be to investigate this peering into the future, and whether it was the cause 
of her own peoples’ captive Points being attracted 
to this locality. While she had since 
been reconsidering her relationship 
with the Second Science and its ethos, 
the anomaly that would be the Day 
still held her interest, 
and When Wayne explained the phenomenon 
of the Day’s Hardening and how he had used it 
to approximate the date 
of the Machine’s activation, 
she was secretly impressed by his accuracy.  However, she found other ideas 
on the subject less inspiring.
    “Why don’t we send our people 
to possess those Second Scientists?” 
asked Niel of Vincent and Wayne, 
“we could send someone to kill them 
and reset the Machine.”
    “The Abbey has only one Point,” replied Vincent, “and no means to make another.  
To lose it on such an uncertain mission 
would be too heavy a cost.  Furthermore, 
with our single Point expended, 
we would have no means of communicating 
with our agent—
or even observing the results of his actions.”
    “Worse still,” added Wayne, 
“the Points are biased towards the past.  
This eases the travel of information towards us 
from the Day, but at the same time would hinder any Point we tried to send into the future.”
    “You mean the Points move backwards?” 
asked Niel, “then why doesn’t the Abbot’s Point 
just disappear back into yesterday?”
    “It’s doing just that,” explained Vincent, 
“but it’s replaced by tomorrow’s incarnation 
of itself, just as our own yesterdays push us 
into the future.”    
    When Niel paused to digest this concept, 
Caino judged the moment had, at last, 
come to announce his true purpose 
for the evening’s gathering.   
    “I was thinking about that bias toward the past,” Caino broke in, nervously and a bit loudly, 
“It’s what drove me to call you all here tonight.
    “You see, I have this Idea.  
If a Point is seeking out our longest Path, 
wouldn’t it make sense for it to move from death 
to birth?  To travel back from the Day 
and join our Mind when first it is encountered—
at the zenith of its Path?  
There are many ways a life can end, 
but we all have just the one Beginning.”  
    “That would certainly save the Point 
from making any wrong turns,” said Xalwo, 
“but from a First Science perspective we’ll 
still have to collect all those other Paths of ours, 
so why talk about the great one? 
that distinction concerns only heri-“, 
she corrected herself— “Second Scientists.” 
    “The Point would move 
past all those branching Paths as it travelled” replied Caino.  “Moving against time, 
the Paths would join together 
as they’re drawn towards our Beginning, 
ultimately being transmitted back to the Machine 
as a single entity.
        “Both Sciences have been thinking 
of the Mind as a tree that endlessly 
sprouts new branches, but experienced in reverse, it’s more like a river joined 
by its many smaller tributaries.”
    Gail looked up sharply at this, “that’s not how…” she began, but Caino turned to Aaron 
and continued.                     
    “Not long after I met you, Aaron, 
I saw an old hunter die.  He fell directly after 
making his kill—as if he’d used up his very last bit 
of strength in the effort.  
I saw the blinding blackness 
of a Point leave his hea-”
    “How would you know it was a Point?” 
cut in Wayne, “You can’t have seen one before, 
The Abbot guards ours like a dragon.”
    Caino felt Xalwo's gaze fall upon him, 
telling him he would have to trust these others 
as he had trusted her if he wanted 
their trust in return.  He steeled himself 
and removed the small metal box from his robe, gripping it tightly for a moment.  
He opened his hand, 
then he opened the box. 
    Amongst those assembled, 
only Niel had yet to see a singularity, 
and he stared wide-eyed through his fingers 
as Caino’s Point sucked the light 
from the world about them.