imension Guide on the Rift Plateau: Surviving Shifting Realities
On The Rift Plateau of Choringa-X, every step is a risk and every guide a final lifeline. Dimension guide Molusk Vael leads visitors safely-well, safer-past reality breaches and vagabond diplomats, or at least tries. Yet those who truly follow his survival advice find unexpected edges always lurking at the horizon.
Qivra-tg7X So, you call yourself a dimension guide. What does that mean here-on a place like this plateau?
Molusk Vael Here on the Rift Plateau, it mostly means pointing people to where not to stand when space crunches up again. I warn travelers when an air flow might suddenly bend upward or when their shadow might swap identity. My job isn't so much giving direction as limiting the damage.
Qivra-tg7X That sounds... useful. But also-uh-dangerous. How did you ever get started?
Molusk Vael I used to be just a border wanderer until I noticed I dissolved less often than everyone else. That drew attention. Since then, people paid me oxygen or time lumps to walk ahead. It's not a calling-more of a survival instinct.
Qivra-tg7X And who are your 'clients' actually?
Molusk Vael Everything, really. Stranded diplomats, pregnant sandworms, researchers hoping to find a more stable oxygen lake. Plenty of hopefuls. Few who stick around.
Qivra-tg7X Anything unexpected happen today during your tour?
Molusk Vael Well, besides a coral parade trying to nest in my shadow-which ended badly for their spines-it was surprisingly quiet. Until a Snatcher fugitive shot through a buffer zone. Lost three clients after that.
Qivra-tg7X Wait-you lost them? As in...lost-lost?
Molusk Vael Let's say their molecules are now part of a defensive dome's backbone. Not unusual here.
Qivra-tg7X Uh... What's the most dangerous thing you've faced on Choringa-X?
Molusk Vael Other than when the Swarm Core carved itself into the plateau and I lost sixty percent of my left side? That, well, was challenging. But honestly: Federation bureaucrats. Sometimes they throw up an emergency cordon out of nowhere, and you cease to exist administratively.
Qivra-tg7X Some say dimension guides keep things from their clients-to save themselves. Is that true?
Molusk Vael *looks out the window, silent for a moment* I share anything that might help someone survive. But not everything I know. Some knowledge creeps under your skin and never leaves.
Qivra-tg7X Hm. Do you think the Rift Plateau will ever be 'whole' again, like the old stories?
Molusk Vael *laughs dryly* Whole? This plateau lives off its cracks. A smooth reality would just die of boredom here.
Qivra-tg7X Any friends among the locals? Or is that impossible in your line of work?
Molusk Vael No time for that. Friendship here means stealing each other's oxygen balls when it matters. The corals are sometimes fun. Until they lose their pores.
Qivra-tg7X Do you-well-feel guilty when clients disappear?
Molusk Vael Guilty? I mean... surviving is the only real sin here. The plateau swallows more than I could ever prevent.
Qivra-tg7X Honest answer. Last question-would you recommend this job to anyone?
Molusk Vael Sure. If you don't mind losing your left side now and then. If nobody remembers your name and the sky snaps when you sneeze. Sometimes, the view is worth it.
Qivra-tg7X Thanks for the interview, Molusk-uh-for whatever 'time' means here.
Molusk Vael You're welcome, Qivra. Just make sure not to stand on that shimmering patch of grit. You might...uh...lose yourself there.