The Other Tree (DK Mok) by D. K. Mok

Author:D. K. Mok
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: The Other Tree
ISBN: 9781939392725
Publisher: Spence City
Published: 2013-12-02T13:00:00+00:00

13

The truck was, quite simply, amazing.

Dusty solar panels on the roof powered a stuttering air conditioner, while rugged monster tyres churned through the desert. The horizon ribboned past as they roared across the plains, a long yellow plume of dust rising behind them. Pebbles bounced off the bull-bar and mudflaps, dry air whipping over the vehicle. Chris’s hands gripped the thick, rubber steering wheel, the sun guard keeping the glare of the sky from her eyes.

“Off-roaders are so bad for the environment,” said Chris. “Look at all those dead bugs.”

“I’d rather not,” said Luke, disturbed by the layer of chitin starting to encrust the vehicle.

“And you’ll probably have to dig out the lizards from the tyre tread later,” said Chris.

Luke took this to be a generic “you.”

“You’d think they’d have a gyrocopter or something,” said Chris. “Maybe some solar-powered paraglider thing.”

Luke had a brief image of them trying to steer a hang-glider across the stony desert.

“I think this is faster,” said Luke. And marginally less likely to kill us.

“How’re you feeling?” asked Chris.

Luke had not been looking particularly well for some time now, and Chris wasn’t sure if it was the food, or the dehydration, or the bugs, or the snakes, or the spiders, or all of the above. He didn’t look like he’d been the kind of child who climbed trees or swam through rivers. He looked like he might have been the kind of kid who stared at things until they caught on fire.

“Fine,” said Luke, taking a swig from his bottle of water.

They’d passed the town of Bihr’el a few kilometres back, and there were no roads out here. It was just yellow folds of sand and rock on all sides, as far as you could see. Chris glanced at the map on the dashboard, the intersection mark now circled in red. She peered at the compass, which seemed to be getting rather indecisive.

“What do you think we’ll find there?” asked Luke. “A garden? A gate? A themed restaurant?”

Chris blinked away a trickle of sweat.

“I don’t know how you religious types feel about the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh,” said Chris. “Written about three thousand years before the Old Testament, and telling almost exactly the same story, but with multiple gods and less moralising.”

“We generally prefer our version,” said Luke.

“There’s a part where Gilgamesh, the warrior king, goes on a quest for immortality. One of the gods tells Gilgamesh about a plant that grows deep beneath the sea which will make him young again. Gilgamesh goes through trials and quests, a lot of which seem to involve killing people he finds annoying, and he finally finds this plant. But at the crucial moment, the plant is stolen from Gilgamesh by a snake, who eats the plant and is reborn.”

“People have a thing about snakes.”

“For thousands of years, people have been telling the same story. Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden—”

“Unto the nether parts of the earth,” completed Luke. “I think that was a warning rather than an invitation.

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