Page 12 of The Enduring Universe
AHILYA
Behind the darkness of closed eyes, the Etherium overtook every other sensation.
A circular chamber full of mirrors appeared. Ahilya tried to anchor herself, but smoke coalesced, took form, and she was surrounded by a hundred Ahilyas. The Virohi were dressed exactly like her, in loose kurta and trousers, with expeditionary equipment strapped around them and a satchel to match. But they were not-her too, their expressions varying from sorrow to watchfulness to hunger, always thehunger.
The not-Ahilyas moved sinuously, and approached closer in the mirror. They tossed their hair behind a shoulder. It unnerved her how human they were now. If she shared this with any of the councilors, they would take it as a sure sign of her madness. Yet she had seen the Virohi evolve before her eyes. This was a way for the cosmic creatures to communicate. From buildings, and streams, and pathways and walls, to smoke-like entities with tentacles and vines, now the Virohi reflected her own image, the one thing they knew to be closest to the form they desired. Iravan’s warning reverberated in her head,They have already corrupted you.
, the Virohi said.
I never wished to escape you, she replied.I know it is impossible.
The Virohi threw their heads back and laughed, because there was truth in her statement, but fear too. The joy and freedom of seeing herself in these infinite forms, of being allowed to… She had always sought this, though she had not known it. After all, hadn’t that been the reason she had compared herself to architects once? Why she had sought the same equity? It had all been in the pursuit of freedom—not merely a political one, but the freedom tobe.The Virohi were showing her all the possibilities of everything available to her, beyond the limited measures of architects.
The thought was so twisted, her journey to this so convoluted, that her body shook. She forced her mind back to the task. She could not allow the Virohi to take control of her so stealthily.I have given you everything of me, she thought to them.Is it not enough?
The Virohi smiled at her.
Irshar is made of pure possibility, Ahilya thought back to them.Remember how it was created. Remember what you needed.
On the mirrors, she began to project a vision of a civilization, but the not-Ahilyas paced back and forth, dispelling it before it could form.
Nothing is more eternal than the ashram, Ahilya continued, a familiar litany.It has lasted thousands of years. It is the most abiding form there is. Even now, when we are in the jungle, an ashram survives. Our world has endured.
, the creatures said,
And the mirrors changed.
The Virohi-Ahilyas sparkled, some with stars, some full of rocks,others with turbulent oceans. A memory came to Ahilya of what Iravan had said, that her planet was only one of the many the Virohi had infiltrated in their fear from erasure.
A wistful sigh.
You have that here, Ahilya argued. She enforced her will, and the mirrors changed into scenes from Irshar: Airav and Rajiv tending to a meal; Tariya laughing as Arth pulled her hair; Chaiyya nestling with her wife, Lavanya. There was life in Irshar, the sweetness and pain of the citizens, their conflicts, their love, their joys and sorrows, a richness.
, the Virohi chafed.
To be immortal, Ahilya countered.That is your greatest desire, is it not? To live forever? Is that not why you seek form in us, carried by our endless cycle of birth and rebirth?
A considering weight grew between her brows. In the jungle, she was aware of the delicate trajection the architects were doing, but her focus remained in the Etherium, as the Virohi paced back and forth.
Remember what you were escaping, Ahilya said. The mirrors reflected her memory of the first time she and Iravan had learned of the destruction of the Virohi’s planet. Terror had rippled through the minds of the cosmic creatures at their erasure.
You have already won, she went on.Being Irshar is eternity. It is immortality. This ashram is the sum total of every experience of every human being. We are the last of humanity, and we are yours to see, to learn from, to watch.
the Ahilya-shaped creatures in the mirror shrieked.
She had no more warning.
***
Sudden emptiness. Splitting apart like fragments. Creation at the moment of birth, and blue-green tattoos that decohered… and she—theyfelt the pure rush of relief.
Ahilya was dimly aware that she was within the jungle, that the architects were building their structures, that Chaiyya and the nurses were monitoring her. Chaiyya was holding her hand, and Ahilya noticed that the healers’ equipment was beeping alarmingly, and the Senior Architect looked stricken.
But that awareness was a faint thing, like the hazy reality of a dream.
She could taste the circular room like a bitter tang. Smoke filled her nose, but it was not the clean scent of scorching wood. This was a decay of sorrowful partings. This was the burning of betrayed friendships, of thwarted expectations. It was not an alien scent, but her own familiar one. Why did she feel such fear and aversion? This was a confrontation with herself.
Complete, Ahilya thought frantically, fighting this realization.I am a complete being.
