Colony
by SpunSilk
Part two : Diagnosis
A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illness.
–– Hippocrates
You will enjoy this story more if you first read Lodestone. Do take the time.
"A problem with my aura? You've got to be kidding. What now?"
"I know it's unusual. And a human affected this way is actually unprecedented. But you are... rather unique as humans go, shall we say. In addition to the normal aura, your magnetism bends–"
"I know what it does," I scowled, "I've seen it. But it's not real. It's just lights! ...And tastes and stuff," I added weakly. My mind was now fully awake.
"You're incorrect about the nature of the human aura. It is certainly more than 'just lights', I don't expect you to fully understand. I don't understand this fully myself – Colony usually affects... others; non-human beings.. The problem is a serious one–
"How? Why?" I asked with more irritation than was called for.
"Mr. Kolchak, There's no need to be short, I'm going to try to describe something to you that you have never heard of , and do it in terms that are familiar to you. The metaphors available to me, between the things you know, and therefore understand, and the Ether, are few. My explanations will therefore be somewhat limited.
"The aura is complex. Take for example your hand; your eye sees the structure and function of the hand, it appears simple, but there are many many layers of bones, muscles, tendons, and nerves that are hidden to the eye yet important to give the hand its end function. Think of the aura this way. Now in your unique case, in addition to the normal aura, we find a bubble of magnetism. This may be what attracted the problem, I've really never seen this condition in a human aura before–"
"Don't call it a bubble," I frowned. "That makes it sound... cute."
"It is quite lovely." Her large eyes scanned the empty air around me.
"It's nearly cost me my life many times over."
She nodded. "Yes, that I can understand. You must attract quite a variety of extra attention in the Ether."
"Unwanted attention. And how do you know about this problem? About me?"
"My charge is the health of the populous, similar to... a caretaker."
"So... are you like a doctor? A doctor in the Ether?"
She considered carefully. "Not exactly. More like a... a large animal vet."
That comment took me down a notch or two. I scowled. "What kind of problem have I got with my aura?"
"A less-than-optimal metaphor for your condition would be, your aura has a... hmm... viral infection."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I walked. I walked a lot that first afternoon. I walked to kill time and to familiarize myself with my new neighborhood. Mostly to kill time. I walked country roads that in some places were really no more than paired-footpaths. The weeds grew enthusiastically in the middle of the road. I met not a soul – that was the goal of this little expedition after all – only birds. And they yakked up a ruckus as I passed by. A more godforsaken piece of mountainside I'd not yet seen in all my days. It was all too enthusiastically green. I walked on in a foul mood. All this nature was just unnatural. A man should feel concrete under his feet, the way God intended!
I kicked a stone out of my way with my hands deep in my pockets, and frowned out at the world from under my hat brim. The injustice of it all twisted my gut. I didn't feel sick...
That evening, through trial and error – I won't go into how many – I learned to build a fire that would stay lit. I spent a lot of that first night just staring into it, my mind hollow, watching as the yellow tongues of flame ate away at the old wood, and the dark outside deepened slowly to black...