4.10: In the Pod

Lottie climbs into the Pod with some relief. Once she is safely inside, her vertigo abates. As far as she knows, she is the only non-pea ever to have been invited into the Pod. 

Lottie can feel the presence of the Pod’s mind, directly without the mediation of a pea. Another first. The others will be so envious! 

The Pod tells her that the world is awry and that something needs to be done about it. 

“There have been modifications! A power has awoken with an authority over the land, and also over creatures. It seeks to undo the damage already caused to the Earth but it will do this in a terrible way. A middle way must be found.” 

Lottie listens to this and thinks it all sounds quite reasonable. Slightly worrying, too, of course. But she also likes the feeling of safety of being in the Pod. She has never felt so safe before. Surely she can simply sleep here for a day or two or a fortnight or a year? She won’t take up much more space than a pea. Surely one of the peas can be sent to the salt mines, like a good minion slave, to make space for her? That is little enough to ask. 

She wakes from her dozing to find that Emlyn, the Pod’s notorious enforcer, is pushing her forcibly back into the world below, stamping on her large feet. In some pain, she falls out of the Pod and into space.