“After all that, I’ve ended up with the gun and uniform as a souvenir. Crazy that I can’t get rid of them.”
“Yeah, that is a little odd. I am curious though, after your death how long did it take to you to learn about being a Transient?”
“Well it wasn’t until I got here. I was briefly a hedgehog that got run over by a tractor. Then I was a sparrow and got killed by an angry cat and then I ended up here. They told me about everything and I didn’t want to go back into the fray, least of all go back into the physical world. It was bad enough the first time.”
“I’m not sure I could commit to an eternity here though. Maybe it’ll change if I get exhausted of going round in circles through different transient states. On the other hand I might just give in and stay as an animal after my time expires out there. I wonder what happens then, if I do go over the time limit and die at a later point?”
“I think that takes you out of the transient cycle and you just cease to exist. None of us have ever met a Transient who has done that and ended up down here. I guess the human soul dies when we cease to be aware of it, don’t you think?”
“Possibly. But you cease to be a Transient by staying here permanently, isn’t that much the same as opting to remain an animal?”
“Not really because we remain aware of ourselves. This might be the key.”
“You might be right. Maybe there are also other options when we die in the first place. Maybe this transient cycle is not the only alternative. Maybe there is a selection process or something based on a judgement of the lives we lived. Did you ever wonder how you wound up as a Transient?”
“Yes, Ed, I did,” replied the private as they turned another corner and continued walking along the maze of tunnels, all equally covered in the dense vines.
“I don’t think there’s a selection process or that it’s to do with sin or punishment or anything like that. To be honest, there are so many people down here who’ve lived completely different lives that I can’t see anything to suggest they might be here for similar reasons. I think it’s random, just like life was. I never thought that my human life had any cause other than the lottery of who my parents were, or where and when I was born. I don’t see why I should adopt a different frame of mind regarding any ‘after life’ or ‘other lives’, Ed.”
“Good point. I’d also prefer to believe it’s random like you suggest, although the first Transient I met seemed to think there was some sort of puzzle to solve.”
“Well we all want to believe at some point that there is some god, head, or extra meaning for everything. What about it all being just as it is? That’ll do me,” said Donald as they turned into yet another tunnel.
“How do you know your way? All this looks identical,” queried Ed.
“You get to know. Anyway, we’ve been chatting away a long time. We only have a little way to go and we’ll be there.”
“Good, I’m getting a bit knackered,” replied Ed.
“Try these fucking boots, mate, then keep them on for ninety years. That’ll teach you what tired is. Unfortunately we can still get tired down here, as you’ve probably noticed.”
“Yes, I did. No hunger though, that’s something, don’t you think?”
“Certainly is. An eternity of hunger would really be hard to bear. As it is, a bit of tiredness and the occasional backache, isn’t a problem for me.”
The duo turned a final corner which opened out onto an impressively large dome-shaped hall, five times larger than St Paul’s cathedral. All around there were balconies and tiers created in double spiral configuration, two spirals both starting at the same lower point going up towards the roof in opposite directions, crisscrossing at various points for easy access to all the levels. The outside of the walkways had small walls which seemed to be made from perfect, shiny, black granite. Behind them, the inner walls were covered with the tapestry of vines, back lit and casting an evocative illuminated texture across the whole dome. All along the walls were tiny doors with black curtains, similar to the rooms from the previous tunnel experience with Thomas.
“There are about three thousand rooms here, Ed. We’re only about seventy percent full though at the moment,” stated Donald as they walked over to the edge of the walkway. Ed could see they were about halfway up the height of the dome as he looked up at the marvellous back lit vine-covered dome and down into the large, red, sandy, open area below. There were dozens of people milling around and he couldn’t help but feel he was in the biggest fancy dress party in the history of the world. Everything from sixteenth century policemen to cowboys, doctors, Chinese labourers, Baltic fishermen, pirates and Nazi guards, all happily intermingling.