2.

Lord Tanu, Hereditary Architect, trudged slowly toward the underground council chambers of Eridu. The cooling of the planet's surface had already sucked most of the moisture out of the air, and the dry air was sucking the moisture from his flesh. Too soon, too soon, his body seemed to protest. Tanu looked down at his withered forearms as he walked on, turning his darkened, wrinkled hands to look at their parched backs and palms. But what could be done? The question plagued him. This cycle he had caused the living chambers to be dug deeper than ever, but even so it was plain their alive time was being shortened once again. What more could he do?

As Tanu continued down the long underground corridor toward the council chambers he overtook Ishnu, who was trudging even more slowly than himself. Lord Ishnu, the Hereditary Astronomer, driven underground early in the cycle by the encroaching cold, so that he could no longer maintain his constant vigil on the circling of the other planets or the positions of the stars.

"Ah, Tanu," Ishnu croaked as he approached, "The cycles grow ever shorter, ever shorter. We are barely beyond the seventh circle, and already it has grown too cold in my observatory for me to stay there. Only last cycle we were approaching the ninth circle before I was forced to leave my station. And I remember cycles past when we were well beyond even that, well beyond, and still our world was warm. What is happening to our world, Tanu? What is to become of our way of life?"

"Ishnu, my friend, I cannot say," Tanu replied tiredly. "This globe that spawned our ancestors and kept them through all the long ages may be growing colder at its core. Without the added energy provided by that sun we are once again moving away from, it can no longer sustain us. Were it not for these deep caverns that allow us to dwell closer to its still-warm heart we would even now be entering our long sleep."

"Indeed, and when the caverns cool, what then? Are we all to die?" a querulous voice called out to them. This was Lord Loki, Hereditary Keeper of the Archives, speaking from the door of the council chamber they were approaching at that moment. Tanu and Ishnu joined him and went inside. Lord Loki was if possible darker and more withered than either of them, but then Loki was of a wiry build and never did flesh out as fully as most others. His weary bones sank as gratefully as theirs onto one of the cloth-padded stone benches of the chamber.

"I truly fear that is to be our fate," said Ishnu, "We who have seen so many cycles may have not so many remaining."

"Indeed, in all those long cycles and even before our own beginnings, so the Archives say, there has never been a time such as this. Never has there been a cycle so short," said Loki.

"The inner planets have circled the sun mere dozens of times while we have watched them, not hundreds as in the cycles of our youth," added Ishnu. "It does seem that an end is approaching."

"You both speak as if all were lost!" Tanu complained somewhat irritably. "Yet our planet swings on the same long path as always. It is only the cold that we have to contend with, and there must be ways to do that. Much can yet be done this cycle, and if we plan now, much more can be done when we next arise!"

Ishnu stared wistfully into some private distance, and said almost in a whisper, "But who is to say what more might be done elsewhere, with no need to fight the cold? Perhaps we would all be better off if we did not rise again here."

Loki sneered. "And just where is this 'elsewhere' of which you speak, Lord Ishnu? And how will you find it while you are dead and dreaming? Your dream tales of finding other bodies to inhabit are just that, dreams and tales, without substance. My archives tell the whole history of our planet, from the time it spun out along the star trail until the end of the endless day; from the beginning of the dream times to the end of the last cycle, and nowhere do they tell of dreamers venturing bodiless to new worlds. If they do not awaken here, they awaken nowhere."

"Your archives, Lord Loki, cannot tell you what has not been written in them. Perhaps those who have gone have simply not been fool enough to return and write of it. Their absence alone should be enough to tell us they have found a better place."

"Or a worse, perhaps, from which there is no escape," Loki replied scornfully. "We cannot know. All we can know and all we can have or be is here, on this dying world." A small tremor of fear entered his voice as he spoke.

"Come," said Tanu, "Let us speak of living, not of dying. I have been exploring the deep chambers. They will stay warm for some time, and I have found that some are warmer than others. I want to learn why this is so. With luck perhaps next cycle I can learn to improve the other chambers also."

"Improve the chambers! How do you propose to do that?" Loki's mocking tone had returned. "I don't know which of you is the bigger fool, Ishnu for hoping to find a better world, or you, Tanu, for hoping to improve this one!"

"What is life without hope, Loki? I have already learned much; the energies that rise from the heart of the world flow in channels. If I can learn why this is so, perhaps I can guide these channels to our chambers. For endless long cycles the energies have been rising. Once they warmed the whole surface and lit up the skies equally everywhere, shedding their energies lavishly on all from the lowest to the highest forms of life. Now the flows have dwindled, and so has life. But much of the energies that remain flow out, light the sky briefly, and are lost without benefit to anyone. If they can be captured and controlled rather than wasted, they will serve us for many cycles yet to come."

"Bah! You are a dreamer, Tanu. Perhaps worse than Ishnu. He only pretends to know what can't be known. You seek to control what can't be controlled!"

On that sour note their discussion turned to the more mundane matters of preparing for the next long sleep, as Queen Ilyanu and other Lords of the High Council joined them. The queen retained her regal bearing despite the withering of her limbs, but her sunken eyes and sunken cheeks made her high cheek-bones look more prominent than ever. As Hereditary Matriarch she presided at the Council.

Lord Rama, Hereditary Provider, gave an account of the stocks that had been set aside, and plans were made for their distribution to the dream chambers. There was as usual much discussion of details that were beyond the ability of the gathered lords to manage, Tanu noted. This tendency was symptomatic of the anxiety the approach of the dream time engendered.

Tanu spoke no more of his plans for studying the energy flows that were the age-old fount of life for this ancient world. He did not wish to stir false hopes, nor to hear more doubts raised of the kind Loki had voiced.