PROLOGUE: The Storyteller

It was the year 229 in the new calendar, a "year" meaning the sun had revolved 365 times around the horizon of Terra Hexa.

Henna and Gala, the two daughters of Geraldine Maaterschiff, had never seen the sun set. For as long as they could remember, the sun had always moved slowly along the horizon, rising a little higher in the dry summers, sinking a little lower in the cold winters. Each circle the sun made around the sky was called a "day."

Every twenty hours, the sun would sink and roll just above the horizon, turning a deep pink for ten hours. This period was called "dusk."

And the rest of the time, the sun shone brightly orange-yellow, and everything in this land was colored by this orange-yellow hue.

Every day was an afternoon.

This was their world, and it had always been called Terra Hexa.

One day, Henna and Gala heard about the thing called "night" in a fairy-tale told by Uncle Ingo.

Ingo came to visit them at least once every year. One could never tell just when he would arrive to their little village. Ingo lived a busy life in far-off provinces. But this time, he had had the foresight to send a message in advance...

The two girls lived with their mother Geraldine in a small house just outside the village. Geraldine made a meager living from washing clothes and linens for the other villagers.

This day, like any other day, Henna and Gala were helping their mother take down the clothes and linens that were hanging to dry outside their house. Row upon row of sheets fluttered in the breeze. They heard a single, faint trumpet-signal: it was the call of the express rider, who came galloping down the gravel track. The sun was just beginning to shift into dusk-color pink, and the girls knew their mother would soon be sending them to bed.

Gala shouted, "Mother, it's the mail!" and dropped her clothes basket. She rushed to the gate and waved at the approaching express rider in the red jacket.

He grinned at her, slowed down his pony, and called out: "Catch!"

The man tossed a thick envelope at the girl. Gala stretched her hands up above her head and caught the envelope, like she had done so many times before. The rider waved goodbye, snapped the reins and shouted "Hiya!" at his horse; the pony raced into another gallop. Rider and pony speeded away beyond the next hill, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Gala ran into the small courtyard with the express package.

"It's from Uncle Ingo! Can I open it now? Please, mother?"

Geraldine, who was loaded down with two laundry baskets, nodded wearily. Henna picked up the full basket that Gala had dropped; she wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to speak. Henna was the older sister, brown-skinned and black-haired, just twelve years old and terribly shy. Everyone used to tell her she was going to become as tall and beautiful as her mother - but for the time being she thought she was ugly, short and chubby. Her sister Gala was two years younger, blond, fair-skinned, and full of energy. She never worried about what people thought of her - it seemed everyone had always thought she was charming and cute, no matter how she behaved. Gala couldn't imagine that things would ever be different, while Henna tried her best to hope, that her own life would somehow, someday, change for the better.

Gala opened the envelope and read the letter from Uncle Ingo out loud to the family. They were all glad to hear he would arrive for a brief visit to the village, within five to ten days. Henna looked forward to the presents Ingo would bring, or the stories about the world and the cities... places where exciting and new things happened, where change was possible. It wasn't that she hated the village where she had grown up, but she was getting more and more bored with living there.

"Mother, when can we follow Uncle Ingo on a tour to the big cities?" Henna asked, as they were eating their dusk meal after work.

"Yeah," said her younger sister, waving her spoon in the air, "we wanna go with him to Northtown, and see all the things he's told us about!"

Their mother looked tired even as she smiled at them.

"I don't think Uncle Ingo has the time to bring us along," she said. "He's got too much business, too many people to meet. If you followed him around, you would be left out most of the time. How much fun is that, having to wait for him while he's off to work?"

Both girls moaned in protest.

"But he's rich!" said Gala. "He can afford not to work sometimes."

"Yeah," Henna added, "Uncle Ingo can pay for our trips to Northtown and back. The journey only takes one day."

Their mother stood up and patted the girls' backs, then she nudged them off the kitchen chairs.

"We'll see. No promises, no tears, right? Now go brush your teeth, then put on your blindfolds and off to bed."

Reluctantly, the girls went to brush their teeth.

A little later they were tucked up in their beds, and their mother came to kiss them good dusk. They were well off enough to have two bedchambers - one for Geraldine, and one shared by the two sisters. Henna had recently asked to get a bedchamber of her own, but her mother used to just shake her head and explain how poor they were.

Since she knew the word "poor" would make Geraldine think of her dead husband, Henna decided to wait some time before asking again. Mother adjusted the blindfolds over the girls' eyes and the black curtains across their window, so that they could sleep for seven or eight hours. The children were only a little sleepy because of the dusk, but they still couldn't relax.

When their mother had left the room and shut the door, Gala whispered to Henna, "Do you think Uncle Ingo will ever settle down and live with Mother in our town?"

"They're relatives, silly", Henna whispered back to her. "Why would they want to live with a relative all their lives?"

"I'm not silly, silly," whispered Gala, and twinned a lock of blond hair around her finger. "With all his money, Uncle Ingo could get married to some lady and have her living in the house next to ours - then he could come and see us every day."

Henna shook her head.

"You're too young to understand, Gala. Maybe Uncle Ingo isn't as rich as we think. He gives us expensive presents every time he's here… but he comes here just once a year. Maybe while he's away, he's working hard to save up the money he needs to buy things for us and Mother."

"Now you're just being mean, Henna."

Gala said nothing more, and they both lay silent in bed and twiddled their thumbs, thinking of when Uncle Ingo would come to see them, trying to imagine the stories he would tell, and what beautiful gifts he would bring from the big city... and so they fell asleep.

A few days later Uncle Ingo did arrive, as a passenger in the six-seater stagecoach from Northtown. Geraldine gave him a hearty welcome and hugged him. He laughed and brought presents for her and her children, talked about what was happening in the big city, and played with the children in the courtyard. The hours flew from one dusk to the next, and Uncle Ingo was forced to sleep over in the guest chamber until the next stagecoach due north would pass by.

At this time, Ingo Maaterschiff was a full-grown man, much paler than his sister Geraldine, but like her he had dark-brown, large eyes and a smile that looked kind of sad. He always came dressed like a wealthy man, except for his shoes - they were always rough and worn by travel. Ingo used to joke with Gala and Henna, pull faces during dinner, play board games and eat a lot. Then sometimes, the girls would notice a dreaming, melancholy expression on his face, and he would look out at the horizon. Henna wondered then, whether Ingo longed to escape the ordinary boring world, like she did, whether he too wanted to see more of the world, see what lay beyond the blue hills.

Then Gala would usually jump at him, and ask him to play or tell a story. And as Henna had expected, Gala did so this time too.

"Come on, uncle, tell us another story from Northtown!"

But this time, Ingo replied, "So you want another story? Okay, I'll give you a story you'll never forget. It's secret - you can't tell it to your mother, or your friends, or write it down. Not yet, anyway. Come along."

He told their mother to go about her errands in the village, while he would take her daughters on a hike in the forest nearby. Their house lay just at the rim of the pine trees. The small forest grew at the edge of a shallow lake, from which a small river winded away to the north. The three of them walked along the edge of the lake, until they came to an enormous, thick tree that grew on the top of a small hill. It was early fall, and the leaves of the trees were yellow and red. In Terra Hexa, fall was not very cold but lasted at least four months. All leaves would fall within a month, after which the trees would stand naked for three whole months - and then came one single, icy-cold month of winter.

Uncle Ingo put his hand on the bark of the large tree, and pointed out the notches he had carved into the bark the last few times they visited this place.

"Henna - can you remember how tall you were back then, when you first came to this tree and I carved this notch?" he asked.

The lowest notch in the bark showed how tall Henna had been five years ago. She placed herself next to the tree and compared the notch with her present height.

"I've grown again," she said, and she felt happier.

"See? And you will grow even taller in the years to come."

"So will I!" said Gala, sounding a little surly.

"What's the story you were going to tell, uncle?" asked Henna. "You sound so serious all of a sudden."

"What I'm trying to tell you, children..." He hesitated, rubbed his bearded chin with one hand, and peered out across the lake. "How tall can one grow, before one will see beyond the horizon… no, forget that for now. Sit down, and listen to this story my grandmother told me when I was a little tyke. You've never heard anything like it."

They sat down by the foot of the big tree, and shared some of the food and drink they had brought along. Uncle Ingo ate with good appetite, as did Henna, but he said nothing. After a while, Ingo saw how eagerly Gala and Henna were watching him. The sun was just an hour from going pink, and their mother had surely returned home. He nodded to them: it was time.

"There was a time," he began, "many, many generations ago, when all of mankind lived on another world than this one. It had many names, but it was the world that mankind originated from."

"What's 'origiginate' mean?" asked Gala; her older sister hushed her down.

Ingo went on, "This was such a long time ago, that the sun itself was different - it used to rise in a high arc every day, up to the top of the sky, then sink down below the horizon after dusk, and not rise back into sight for several hours. While the sun was hiding under the horizon, the sky went so dark you could hardly see anything!"

Gala gasped, and clutched her older sister's arm. Henna didn't know what to think - she felt both afraid and excited, and only wanted to hear more.

Ingo's eyes became big and round and his voice dramatic as he explained.

"People called these periods of darkness 'night.' And if you think that sounds strange, listen to this: while the sun was out of sight, the dark sky became filled with bright things called 'stars.'"

"I know what a star is," said Henna. "When people in the village gossip about theater performers and singers, they say: 'She's a new star, she's going to be famous in Northtown,' and stuff."

Uncle Ingo chuckled. "Well, I've seen a few such stars in Northtown but I don't think it's the same thing. These stars were bright points of light in the sky, in countless numbers, like distant candlelights - not that I've ever spotted one.

"Anyway," he continued, "the old home-world was getting too small, too familiar. There were too many people living there, they were getting pushed and edgy, wanted to discover new lands… so the people decided to move to another world, and make it their new home. This was a time when people were incredibly powerful. There was no end to the wonders they could create. So they built a huge ship, big enough to house all the people in the world... all the animals, all the plants, all the trees… everything they needed. The ship had a sail, as big as… as…"

"From here to the other end of the lake?" Gala suggested excitedly.

"Bigger!" he dared them.

"As big as from here to the horizon," said Henna calmly.

"Precisely!" Ingo said, and he laughed. "All the people got on board, gathered all the animals and plants with them - even the little insects and worms, because even the smallest animals are important. And they were all put into a deep, deep, sleep, that would last until the ship had reached its destination.

"But this was to be a very very long journey, so long that a human would grow old and die before the ship arrived... so who was going steer the ship safely across to the new world?"

He waited for them to suggest a solution. Gala thought hard but couldn't come up with an answer.

After a minute, Henna said, "I know! They had to raise little children to steer the ship… and when the children grew up, they would raise their children into captains, and so on."

"You're very bright, Henna," said Ingo encouragingly.

Henna was delighted that she had impressed Uncle Ingo - he didn't care about how ugly and chubby she thought she was, as long as she was smart. She wanted to become the smartest person in the world - that would make him proud of her.

"But unfortunately," he explained, "the journey was going to last so long, that all the food, air and water would run out if any passenger stayed awake. So they had to build an artificial captain for the ship! They built a man out of purest metal - with a heart of the magic metal plutonium, a body of gold, and eyes made of diamonds. He didn't have to breathe or drink, and would never grow rusty or old.

"This Golden Captain took the wheel of the giant ship, sailed out, and set course for the new world. The captain did not eat or sleep - for a metal man needs no such things. His diamond eyes cast rays of light through the darkness, and brought the ship safely across the vast cosmic ocean.

"And as the ship sailed on, an enormity of time passed - no one knows how long. Then, at long last, the captain sighted an unknown coast!

"First, he sowed the seeds of life onto the coast, that would make the new world habitable. Trees, animals, insects, even small germs - everything people would need, the captain planted there in good time before he could awaken them. Then, when he had seen the coast turn green with life, he quickly stirred the passengers awake, told them to get into their lifeboats and head for the shore. And they were still half asleep, so they thought they had just sailed off.

"The passengers looked out through the portholes of their lifeboats, and only then did they realize just how much time had passed... for the sun itself had grown old and heavy. Instead of lifting itself to the top of the sky each day, it could now only drag along the horizon - as it does now.

"But the people were happy, for they had found a new world, where no one else lived, where there was plenty of room for everyone. They named the world, this world, Terra Hexa, and they built its first city - Northtown."

Ingo paused, and the girls were speechless for a while.

"What happened to the big ship, and the Golden Captain?" asked Henna eagerly. "Where are they now?"

Ingo frowned, and told them the rest of the story, "A storm blew up. The big ship didn't lie safe at the angular shores of Terra Hexa, so the captain had to sail off to find a calm harbor with less wind. From Northtown, people could see the huge sail slowly, slowly, go down below the horizon. The Golden Captain turned around and shouted back to them: 'Do not be afraid! I shall sail you all the way yet!'

"And it's been said ever since, that when that giant sail again appears over the horizon, the Golden Captain will return and sail us all the way."

Uncle Ingo stopped there, and it seemed he'd become lost in his own thoughts. The story fascinated Henna, but she couldn't quite understand what it meant, and many things about it were confusing.

"What a strange story," she said.

"Yes. I haven't changed anything in it. This was the way my grandmother told it to me, the way her father told it to her. And she also said this: 'You must not tell this story to anyone else or write it down, until you grow old enough to have children. Then you can pass it on to your brightest, most intelligent child. If you don't do as I say, the story will be forgotten or someone will change it - and then something terrible shall happen to mankind.'"

"What, uncle? What shall happen?" asked Henna, suddenly anxious. This had to be important, she could feel it - it was not like any other of his stories.

But Uncle Ingo just smiled his sad smile at her.

"You're such a wonderfully bright person, Henna. I trust the story to you. Hush! Look, your sister's fallen asleep. I wonder if she heard all I said."

He lifted up the sleeping Gala over his shoulder and took Henna by the hand. Ingo was not particularly strong and Gala was not particularly thin, but on Terra Hexa all people could lift heavy weights without too much strain. The sun turned pink and colored the landscape pink, orange and brown; the sky around the sun turned golden. It was well into dusk, and time to return home.

As they walked back to their house at the edge of the small village, Henna thought about Ingo's story. She turned it around in her head, tried to picture all the details in her imagination: The old world, the sun that sank below the horizon, the 'night' and the 'stars', a man made of gold, the cosmic ocean, the angular shores of Terra Hexa, the captain's last words.

All those things seemed to be connected... but not to the things she could see around her. The only sun she knew was the one that never, ever sank below the horizon. The only world her people had ever seen was this one, Terra Hexa. The only thing of gold she had ever seen was the thin necklace her mother used to wear with her best clothes. Could all those fantastic things in the story have anything to do with the reality she saw?

Even after Uncle Ingo had said goodbye and went away with the stagecoach in the next day-period, she couldn't stop wondering.

And not too long afterward, Henna made a decision: she was going to travel to Northtown, go to the university, and learn everything there was to know.

Then, maybe, she would understand the legend of the Golden Captain.

(TO CHAPTER 1)