When Trandi Romantic won a three day cruise with an internet quiz and she naturally invited the subterranean traveller to accompany her, they didn't realise they were going to end up on the largest ship of its type to have ever sailed the seven seas. The Harmony of the Oceans, as the monster was called, lay moored in the harbour of Barcelona, from where it was going to take them to Genoa, Roma and Napoli, after which they were supposed to take a non included flight back home. The Harmony's ten floors rose high above the city's skyline, its pipes belching out smoke even when it wasn't moving, adding the equivalent of a Friday afternoon rush hour to the already heavily polluted local atmosphere. On board, they were surrounded by 7,000 elderly Americans and the odd young family, making them feel utterly out of place. Let's get drunk, the traveller suggested after they had dropped their gear in the designated cabin on the lowest deck where the ongoing hum 'n' drum of the engines was very much present and then immediately got lost in the labyrinth of narrow corridors and staircases, unable to find any of the advertised exterior decks where they had hoped to enjoy the moonlit mediterranean night. Trandi at first resisted the idea, one of the thousands of doors they were passing had to be the right one, but after they had cornered the same bar for the third time, she gave in.
With a gin-tonic for her and a vodka for the subterranean, they noticed a passenger looking even more dislocated than they themselves felt. He was a tall, skinny and longhaired man in his early forties, seated alone at a large round table decorated with a rug styled cloth and metal vase with plastic roses. His eyes were big and round but not really looking outward.
Mind if we join you? the subterranean asked.
We're kind of lost, Trandi added.
The other smiled wrily. Welcome, he said, I've been lost ever since we left Miami. This ship is just too damn big for me.
Too big for everybody, the traveller gave reassuringly, presenting himself as a private reporter on underground developments.
John, as was his name, said he was a well-wisher.
As in listening to your echo? the subterranean traveller rather ingeniously inquired.
But John wasn't into joking. In a stern, if tired, voice he told he used to be an extremely frightened child, never trusting anybody, yet when he grew out of this condition with age had decided to dedicate his powers to the well-being of his fellow humans. He would think a lot about harmony, trying to balance all the positive and negative influences he felt around him and after a shaky initial stage had become quite succesful. I used to bring peace and prosperity in its wake wherever I chose to make my home, he claimed with that dead earnest honesty of his which seemed completely free of antics.
I happen to have a lot of energy and I never was going to spend it on a career, I mean I'm not like that, so I thought let's weigh in on the energy I feel around me, looking to quietly favour outcomes with some well-picked words, lend a hand where you feel you can carry the burden. But I'm not much of a carrier, so I quickly evolved into meditating, with evidential results. I was one of those silent forces keeping the people straight under the assault of their once admired business leaders.
Was?
Life has turned ugly in the States, people are completely poisoned, it's not their fault. Their greed and aggression are symptoms of the innate cruelty of capitalism. Whenever we succeed in repressing culturewide unfortunate manners, and these are slow processes, immediately a new disease emerges. We're hooked on problems. And you see, when you meditate, other people's problems are not the things you want to fixate on. So I decided to leave my countrymen behind and find new lands where to practice, somewhere there must still be some reality left to log onto.
Have you found it, Trandi weighed in.
Their informer laughed silently. A short cut to hell is what I found. I thought it would be a good idea, boarding a vessel called Harmony, it certainly felt so much better than taking a plane. Polluting is a very negative habit, see? Drains a lot of people's energy, who then get sick and die. Alas, turns out that Harmony is never more than a name. In fact, this ship is dirtier than thirty planes, which would carry a similar number of passengers, much filthier at that. You must understand I am totally helpless here. I never imagined it could be this bad.
It is, then, the subterranean tried. We kind of got a feeling.
It's certainly very easy to lose hope. Most people have lost hope, they cling on to a vague belief in life's redeeming tendencies. He leaned forwards. Have you any idea how many people die on this ship? It's the ultimate for ruined pensioners to bow out while travelling.
And there souls, what happens to those?
They will try to stay on board till home return, I guess, to go spook their loved ones a bit.
And the live ones?
They go up again in a couple months. In the meantime they indulge. Live the good life until it explodes in their faces.
For the first time John honestly produced what looked like a smile.
Rockers tend to age quite well, he admitted. They have a hard time rounding seventy, but they walk with a smile on their faces. I guess that's what large amounts of good music can do to you.
That last phrase was a clear allusion to the tedious soundbites coming from the bar's stereo system.
Why don't you come with us, Trandi invited after finishing her drink. Between the three of us we should be able to find a way out, not?
I'd rather stay right here, John declined. I missed our stop at Malaga, where I was supposed to get off, so I guess I had better lie low until they inevitably catch me. The longer it takes, the better.
Trandi's eyes met the traveller's. Realising they were not going to change their new acquaintance's mind, she wrote down their cabin number on a slip of paper.
If you're in need of help or you feel you would like to return with us to Barcelona, you now know where to find us. Take care.
Thank you.
If you honestly possess the powers you claim to have, it would be a waste to no longer use them, the subterranean added. I totally understand you feel at a loss in this hell hole, but please don't let the circumstances bog you down.
John shook his head. You don't know how bad it is for me.
I'm sure I don't, but remember you always have friends.
With those words, they rose and left the well-wisher behind.
It's the problem with many gifted people, Trandi remarked when they were going down another staircase, they are so much better at sharing than receiving.
