Loria: A fantasy of outer space by Gunnar Hedman

Author:Gunnar Hedman [Hedman, Gunnar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gunnar Hedman
Published: 2019-07-30T22:00:00+00:00

The next morning, they were wakened by a careful but distinct knocking on the door. Baria stared terrified at Shay for an instant, until she realized where she was, then broke out into a broad grin. When Shay opened the door, he found a short woman there, her eyes bright and round, who invited them to come down to breakfast. They spent a few more minutes on the bed, play-wrestling and giggling, then dressed and went down to join the others in the dining room.

“We wish to extend a warm welcome to you,” Dirazif exclaimed when she had eventually joined them, Errak at her side, “and we hope you’ve slept well and recovered somewhat after yesterday’s trials. Our hope is that you will enjoy being in Riverland, which is a very tiny country squeezed in between the bacteria sea to the east and the forest of monsters to the west. According to the scriptures, a ship crash-landed out in the swamp long ago, much as yours did, and a few survivors managed to evade the monsters and cross the river to a small strip of land, called Ganza, not covered by the sea of bacteria. When curiosity eventually drove them to explore their surroundings, they travelled north on the river through the desolate sea of bacteria to a large lake, which they called Ardaka, with a verdant island they called Leido.

“What is the sea of bacteria?” asked Shay.

“You said it. It’s been there forever, as far as we know, but it can be likened to a layer of black bacteria, anywhere between a few decimetres to several metres deep, which destroys all organic material that encounters it.”

"But what do they feed on? Do not bacteria need live food?

“No, not these, since they have a constitution that is able to supply its vital functions from the surrounding atmosphere. If they get a bit of meat they’re happy to consume that, too. Well, well,” she continued, “it wasn’t possible for them to travel any further, since the sea forms the upper reaches of the river, which emerges from underground springs. When they made their way south, everything was just as desolate, until they heard the roar of an enormous waterfall, so that they were forced to turn around to avoid being dragged over the edge. They called it ‘Hell’s Falls’ and even today there’s still nobody who’s ever managed to pass the test of continuing any further in that direction. Once they’d settled on the island of Leido, which was out of reach of the monsters, they lived a carefree and happy life. As the years went by, the island’s resources were no longer sufficient to feed everybody, so finally a number of them were forced to return to Ganza, where they planted crops on the other side of the river, in the shelter of dikes and high palisades. Through new plantations and by adding soil, whenever rain makes the bacteria withdraw temporarily, the Riverlands have become increasingly important and today also include the villages of Kalljo and Rubin.

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